Liberty & power

The red doors and mossy stones of Trinity Cathedral.

The red doors represent blood spilled by the Church throughout the ages and also the Precious Blood of the sacrament.
The green stones represent the Church's moldy doctrines and also its life-giving spirit.

Chantler63 Shakespeare Challenge and National Poetry Writing Month
Plays & their themes
Day 27: Julius Caesar (liberty & power)

Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
Spirit is usually capitalized, but there are no capital letters in Greek.
Paul could also have meant that there is liberty wherever the spirit in us,
we who are 'made in the image and likeness of God,'
is awake — when we are paying attention, fully conscious.

This cathedral is my image today because the Church throughout the millennia has been both a seat of power, often misused in dreadful ways, and a place of freedom.

Religion has paradox at its heart. It's impossible to have an institution without the exercise of power, which inevitably limits freedom. And yet the greatest freedom possible comes from a connection with the Spirit.

Natan Sharansky, now an Israeli politician, wrote a book about his time in a Soviet prison, Fear No Evil, in which he described his success in maintaining his inner freedom in the face of cruel power that had complete control over his physical body. It's an inspiring account of how faith set him free and gave him power over those who had power over him.

Today the Catholic Church celebrates its newest saints.
Pope John XXIII, known as 'Good Pope John,' used his power to open doors that had been shut and possibilities of thought that had been closed off.
Pope John Paul II burst free from the power of Polish Communism only to exercise power in the Church in unloving ways, shutting down the liberty that Pope John had promised.

No one thought Pope Francis could ever be pope, let alone that he would turn out to be the kind of pope who by an exercise of power strives to reconcile these great differences by making them both saints on the same day.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.


For today's poem, I offer this haiku poem I wrote on the day Pope John Paul II passed to his reward during the Octave of Easter 2005.

EASTER DEATH, RESURRECTION HOPE

Pope John Paul is gone.
Now may the Roman Empire
release its death grip.

Now may priests marry.
Now may women's dignity
be crowned with mitres.

Now may communion
be blessed and distributed
to all outstretched hands.

Now may the scriptures
be a clear channel to God
without constriction.

Now may the scholars
explore the holy mysteries
free from silencing.

Now may the lawless,
corrupt in lavish vestments,
be cast from their thrones.

Now may the hungry,
driven from the sacraments,
be well satisfied.

Now may the meek ones
glimpse the kingdom of heaven,
their inheritance.

Now may the light pierce
twenty-six years of darkness.
Now may the Church thrive.


Power to the people!