your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion,
like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;[165 (#ulink_a87a7d60-cc96-518b-b4fb-df7f8f76285e)]
and the obedience of the peoples is his.
Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he washes his garments in wine
and his robe in the blood of grapes;
his eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth whiter than milk.
Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea;
he shall be a haven for ships,
and his border shall be at Sidon.
Issachar is a strong donkey,
lying down between the sheepfolds;
he saw that a resting place was good,
and that the land was pleasant;
so he bowed his shoulder to the burden,
and became a slave at forced labor.
Dan shall judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a snake by the roadside,
a viper along the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that its rider falls backward.
I wait for your salvation, O LORD.
Gad shall be raided by raiders,
but he shall raid at their heels.
Asher’s [166 (#ulink_2a81c9a3-2c21-5a1f-bb1b-d0a5ea5c00c4)] food shall be rich,
and he shall provide royal delicacies.
Naphtali is a doe let loose
that bears lovely fawns. [167 (#ulink_4d6f80b1-e6c4-5c2e-ba99-d9980a02bff9)]
Joseph is a fruitful bough,
a fruitful bough by a spring;
his branches run over the wall. [168 (#ulink_8c6fda40-6ca0-568e-831e-9f6a47d134d6)]
The archers fiercely attacked him;
they shot at him and pressed him hard.
Yet his bow remained taut,
and his arms [169 (#ulink_04012521-0ea9-55ad-82d6-6e245c853ad3)] were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
PILGRIM STATUS
About death, I go through different moods, but the times when I can desire it are never, I think, those when this world seems harshest. On the contrary, it is just when there seems to be most of Heaven already here that I come nearest to longing for the patria. It is the bright frontispiece [which] whets one to read the story itself. All joy (as distinct from mere pleasure, still more amusement) emphasises our pilgrim status: always reminds, beckons, awakes desire. Our best havings are wantings.
—from a letter to Dom Bede Griffiths OSB, November 5, 1954
For reflection
