a power we own

with lust in the eyes to see more of...what!

of the same dissatisfying stuff of death and emptiness

emptiness multiplied again and again

on dead faces and dead screens as if they were the real

this is the prison we're in

believing walls are parameters of the world

the horizon of life in a rotten wheel

we feel barred from the journey

abandoned to grey coffins

colliding with selves avoiding the drama of life

we sing songs of righteousness

bonding hell, making joy a loss

our pleasures becoming punishment

like the twistings of wars

what a gift it would be to break this strangling mold

and discover the gift of freedom along the road

uncover life with light and regain our sight

smelling the roses as power we own

*Reflections of Gil Bailie:

-One has to say something about beauty.  The three essentials are truth, goodness and beauty - and they're interrelated.  

-The revelation of the cross comes down to what the centurion said at the moment Jesus died: "Surely this is an innocent man."  What he saw was goodness.  The revelation was not of the ugliness of human acts, which is predictable, but of goodness shown in its midst.

-I get help in the liturgy, in the sanctuary, and from the artist, the poet, the musician.  They're not providing a commercial break from the clutter; they're there to show us that in this concrete material world of earth and the body and nature and culture, salvation can be visible.

"Where There Is A Will"

Where there is a will

there is a way

2 search and discover

a better day

Where a positive heart

is all u need

2 Rise Beyond

and succeed

Where young minds grow

an respect each other

based on their Deeds

and not their color

When times R dim

say as I say

"Where there is a will

There is a way!"

-Tupac Shakur