My Proposal: A New Sin (Hardly Original)

The last thing I want to do, especially during this season of Lent, long used to make people feel flawed and failed, is to lay a new source of guilt on anyone. But bear with me, as I propose a new sin---solely for the purpose of having people steer away from treacherous waters.

I propose a new sin, one that should be the "ultra-cardinal" sin. That sin is FEAR. After "loving God and one's neighbor", "BE NOT AFRAID" is Jesus' top command. He says it often enough to His disciples. Experts say it appears throughout the Bible, including variations, between 200 and 300 times. It is said to Mary at the Annunciation,to the shepherds at the Nativity, to the women at the tomb on Easter Morning.

Here is a quote that says it better than I can:

“Be not afraid” does not mean we cannot have fear. Everyone has fear, and people who embrace the call to leadership often find fear abounding. Instead, the words say we do not need to be the fear we have. We have places of fear inside us, but we have other places as well----- places with names like trust and hope and faith.
We can choose to lead from one of those places, to stand on ground that is not riddled with the fault lines of fear.”
-----Parker J. Palmer

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us
&
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages, amen.

Very Funny and Litugically Astute

Desire change. Be enthusiastic for that flame
in which a thing escapes your grasp
while it makes a glorious display of transformation.
That designing Spirit, the master mind of all things on earth
loves nothing so much in the sweeping movement of the dance
as the turning point.


SONNETS TO ORPHEUS: II, 12 (stanza 1)
-- Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Br. David Steindl-Rast

A Prayer from Antonin Artaud.

O for skulls of burning coal
singed by lightning from on high,
and you, lucid one, to keep us real
and sanitize us when you stop by.

Deliver us afresh to skies
of within whose chasms fall like showers;
shoot us through with dizzy surprise
where your nails plant their aching fires.

Feed us, give us this day our daily
intersidereal kerfuffle.
With lava of stars for blood, shall I
need anything more for my survival?

Cut us loose. Separate us with
your hands of burning coal that showed
the way to where one dies beyond death,
out there on the burning road.

Make our brains stagger at the heart
of the self-knowing they inter.
Let the ravishing of our minds start
with the claws of the new whirlpool we enter

Mandatum

The Great Commandment is not "Thou shalt be right.", but thou shalt "be in love."

A Timely thought for Employers These Days

"Remember to be kind to those who work for you.
Endeavor to remain aware of the quiet world that lives behind each face."

----John O'Donohue