Hotel Ecclesiastica

i've seen the dry tears of actors

the disclaiming violence of the sincere

their ears plugged like other ears

their eyes blocked like other eyes

their lies sour like other lies

their rules kill like other rules

their taste for life is like other tastes

they abandon those who are their own

i fuss and cuss like all the rest

being part and parcel of the mess

while my protests on deaf ears rest

a sinner midst sinners in its nest

*Reflections of Jean Sulivan:

-Savior, Messiah, son of God, Risen One - these glorious titles veil the image of the Galilean, just as richly decorated copes and golden monstrances prevent us from seeing the tortured man or understanding the humility of bread and wine.  There is a need for security among teachers who proclaim the official truth, and a corresponding need among those taught, which gets covered over by the name of faith.

-The peasant-rabbi is not born of philosophy or theology; he is the way.  Therefore, it is by following him step-by-step in the humility of childhood, in the hidden life of his first thirty years, in his battle against and with the law, against the scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees, in the distance he kept from his family, in his fidelity to the Father, that he is the Liberator.  To claim to believe in him without going through a metanoia, upsetting our old chain of values, is simply a farce.  Glory is to be found in humiliation. 

-Let the Church have faith in God, Jesus Christ.  Let it become transparent.  That's enough.  Let it  live by that faith.  The news will get around.

-Reality is more beautiful than any dream, once we rid it of the illusions that we mistake for it.