The Light of Tragedy

I walk through the day

Knowing where I'm going

What to do next.

My tasks seem clear

When I cannot avoid them,

And the day goes by so fast

When others take on my yoke.

So my eyes sag

My vision wanes as my sight grows dim

The world becomes but a haze

Of tasks to endure

And success to gain.

The bright blue sky

Just another road to my destination;

The soft green grass

Just stepping-stones in my life;

The living color of faces I have seen

Each unique and bright

So profoundly alive

Become but the pale visage

Of lights diminished and drained

Crushed by the indomitable tempest

Of those enamored by this world

Its promise of pleasure and success

At the expense of life itself.

How many hearts are broken and pierced?

How many souls feel abandoned and lost,

Discarded and trampled under the feet

Of those too important to care?

I am often overwhelmed

At the reality of countless lives

Without family, friends or loved ones

Stricken in body, mind and heart

Alone in the dark without recourse or home

Or the spirit of compassion

To suffer with those who suffer

Just wanting to know

They have not been forgotten

That they are not alone;

A friend in this fallen world

This world of tragedy.

It is so hard to see

The Eucatastrophe that began

Two millennia ago,

And has yet to end,

In the heart of the desert

Of this fallen world.

The sorrow of this world

The thirst for justice

Are so easily confused -

At once swords of truth

Or poisons of wrath and despair.

As pests pollute the crops

And drought chokes the earth,

As fire turns soil to ash

And floods wash away all life,

New soil is made

Fresher and more fertile than before

Greater than has ever been known

Beyond all works of men.

A new life is birthed

In the labor pangs of death -

Confusion dies away

All sadness is comforted

All wounds healed

None are alone

None are in need

For Living Water grants the fullness of life

And the Blood of the Lamb sets us free

From the chains of the tyranny of sin

Calling us from the darkness

Of separation from God

Returning us to our Heavenly home.

Let us not see the pains of this life

As the random chaos of an empty cosmos

Or the arbitrary whim of an imperial god

Without purpose or meaning,

Our sufferings naught but the effects of a cause

Or undeserved punishments

Cast out from a Paradise just vaguely recalled -

No - this is not our life

For the world has been Crucified

And Resurrected to new life.

Truth has exorcized the world

Of the paradoxes of chaos

And innumerable evils hitherto unmet by justice.

No longer do we live

In the shadow of the evil one.

Let pain become the chastisement of a loving Father

The guidance of a caring Brother

And the opportunity of a wise Mother

For charity and growth

Amongst Her children.

Let confusion and doubt become pathways

To wisdom and faith

Seeing past the illusion of certainty

Or the ease of valuing just what can be seen

With these weak and narrow eyes,

To the authority of God

Who has led us out of darkness

Into the uncertainty of love

And the blindness of trust.

And let us see His Church

Not as a mafia

Or a political organization

Or a business

Or a self-help program

But as the voice of love and truth

In a world without either

But desperate for both,

And as the preview of the Holy Liturgy

At work now in Heaven

Amidst angels and saints -

Our promised Paradise.

Let us all be the Body of Christ

The Light of the World

The Salt of the Earth

Called to holiness, to be set apart

From this age of sin and darkness

Unto the eternal Light of Christ.

This is not apologetic

This is not theological

This is not ideology or argument -

This is a love letter

To God and man

From the depths of my heart

Broken and blind as it is

One sinner to others

In the mercy of Christ

My God and King

Whose love endures forever -

The Lamb of God.