There is no I.
There is no Thou.
There is only We.
If only we knew how.
Tag Archives: religion
DEMORALIZED
Newscasters used to tell it like it is.
Now, they are opinionated forecasters.
They still tell us who.
They tell us who said why.
They no longer tell us
what, when or how.
That would expose the lie.
No wonder we are demoralized
within both its meanings,
no surprise.
First losses began long ago:
No more manners as a guide.
No more conscience to lower pride.
No respect for others.
No authority recognized.
Second losses are less discreet:
No longer safe in thoughts nor words.
No longer safe on our own streets.
No more hopeful for the best
when every known fact is put to the test.
No more law and order.
Due process now out the door.
Demoralized beyond repair?
The people rise, at last, at last?
Not in anger and outrage.
Peacefully assembling on marching feet.
Nuns, priests, ministers, imams and rabbis
offer a morality well-intentioned if incomplete.
But this is how our story goes.
We are not perfect, heaven knows.
Our moral code is soft and flexible.
Our democratic republic makes it workable.
It offers a way to respect ourselves and one another;
to recognize all as sister or brother.
Immorality is what we see, and vote for?
Approve of, and laugh about too obviously?
See where we have led ourselves and our country,
fueled by wantoness and greed.
Demoralized we may be.
Still a people willing to fight to remain free.”
“NOLITE TE BASTARDES CARBORUNDORUM.” – Handmaid’s Tale
EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE
How easily done depends
on the sinner and sin done that day.
No “ I lay me down to sleep”
before this Catholic child closed her eyes.
An examination of conscience,
a deep and complete review
of my sins committed that day, as I prayed
in true contrition for my sins; and a promise
to make restitution to all I had harmed
in my self-centered, humanly-corrupted way.
Only then, could forgiveness be petitioned
and God swayed. Sister told me so in class.
Father told me so in the dark confessional.
I await an examination of conscience by all
who voted for MAGA entranced and enthralled
by promises of heavenly and earthly reward
for allowing hate to invade and invoke
the souls of nation recently made awoke
by African-Americans and women who showed
they were equally great to any American.
Make America Great Again only meant
make America white again.
And my church paved the way.
Her misogyny always ready to deprive
women of any control over
the length of their skirts,
the choice to love or escape
abuse in any man’s embrace,
manage their reproductive health,
choose or excuse another’s hate.
Abortion became the rallying cry
to bring sinners off their knees and to the polls
to vote for the liars who played priests like fools.
There is no place for judgment or blame.
Sinners all, we play the same game.
There is a need for an examination of conscience,
for restitution to a nation’s sacred tenets defamed
by such reckless, sincere but sinful moves.
Now, priests and pastors see the error of their ways
as they accompany immigrants to hearings
to protect them from MAGA misrule?
The MAGA the churches helped elect
is not a surprise. And, it remains a sin to be
examined deeply, and completely reviewed.
I await the results of such a self-examination.
I await the restitution to be completed.
I await the apology for distorting Christian theology.
I await the chance to forgive, wholeheartedly.
I know my church is only human.
If only it could remember that truth.
HEAVEN ON EARTH
I have no knowledge of Heaven.
I have never been there,
except in dreams.
One thing I do know.
It must be a place where I
am surrounded by goodness,
fairness, compassion
and loving kindness
all of the time.
Heaven is the type of space
where hate has no place.
The sign in my yard
declares it to be so.
But, as we all know,
My selfish concerns sometimes show.
Creating a heaven on earth
may be an impossibility
because of my fragility
and lack of humility.
My human state has a dearth
of courageous purity.
Yet, still, I shall try to create
Heaven on Earth
as a constant state.
The lack of goodness surrounds me
all too often these cruelty-laden days.
Kindness is the only way to delay
the triumph of evil over good.
I ask all those in my neighborhood
to join my effort, feeble though it be.
Any small kindness is stronger than cruelty.
Filed under POETRY
4TH.OF JULY, 2025
Today is my funeral.
I have always been myself.
everyone else was taken.
I had become a fossil.
So many layers of sediment
have built up over time
that I
am hard as rock.
Too soon
It has become
too hard
to remain human.
Especially, when monsters
roam the earth with heavy feet
in lockstep with one another.
They stand atop
the crumbling rock and pray.
They say
that they
are God’s representative
on this dying earth
to show all the way
to greater days.
We were already pretty great,I say.
I thought we were stronger than they.
I thought they could not
make me, me, me ! their prey.
Yet, on this day we celebrate my birth,
I die during parades
of those who march behind
school bands playing my songs.
A Statue of Liberty drone-scape
dots the night-time sky
above Red-White-and Boom
crowds cheering while immigrants die.
De-naturalized, de-refugeed
de-citizenized.
No irony there?
How can the crowds
not realize I am dead.
They are cheering at my funeral.
After all is said,
I am done.
Too few mourners attend.
They have been forced to hide.
Even the Fourth Estate
has crumbled before my eyes,
its voices silenced,
without enough pride nor ratings
to turn the tide of my demise.
Perhaps it is a Celebration of Life
which once was, but is no more.
Can you bring me back from the dead?
Can you resurrect what I stood for?
“Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp
beside the golden door.”
You can still speak these words.
you can still act on my behalf,
on behalf of liberty itself.
This. This. This! I sincerely implore.
THE AMERICAN SIN
The sins of the nation
are visited upon its citizens.
We shouted long and hard
until bullets dropped
on Jacksonville and Kent State.
And that war stopped amid shouts
“Make war no more !”.
War must be stopped at every border
to end the slaughter
of its sons and daughters.
“Make war no more”
the children shouted
barefoot and flowered
and fought the greed
in second-hand shops
and public gardens
and programs to up-lift those trampled
by endless war which still continued
because it is never enough
to halt the greed of those in power
hidden under rocks with prejudice
and hate who think themselves great
and lie to themselves, and us, hour by hour
smiling through games they create
to keep us all entertained
chasing dreams of American idols
with sports and drink
gambling on undermined dreams
that can only come true
for a celebrated few
who are told to take
whatever they need
at our expense,
and watch our liberties lost
while sitting on their fence.
We have become country-less
within our own borders
as war is made, now against us.
And, the world goes on
as our nation dies
snuffed out under a blanket
of base-less lies.
Greed destroys and religion belies
so long as it gains larger roofs,
and takes over and strafes
those sitting in its pews
praying with true intent
“make war no more”.
A nation once thought heaven-sent
has lost its religion to endless greed
and our only lament
is the cost of goods?
“It’s the economy, stupid”
no longer applies, if it ever did
except to pretend their actions
are for our own good.
It has not and never has been.
Great Pirates and Robber Barons
never recognize borders
when committing their sins.
Native Americans and those we enslaved
are always attacked for
showing us the truth.
Gaining wealth is not the sin.
Greed is our greatest sin.
We must stop it on the borders
without and within.
Greed shored up with power
is the story of the hour.
Even those afraid to wake
are now learning
what the woke always
knew to be true.
The greedy care only
about themselves,
not me, and not you.
We end where we begin,
mired by our own sin.
LAST BREATH
What is the period of mourning
when a nation dies before our eyes?
Not in sudden cardiac arrest,
not like a slow cancer.
nor a natural aging
of its body politic.
But, like a chronic illness
which has worsened over time,
sometimes in remission
allowing hope to remain alive.
But, when death’s grip pries
the life from every cell
which protected a nation from demise
and its heartbeats accelerate
at a far too barbaric rate,
what then? How can hope survive
when our national freedom dies?
The violence, the bombs, the rubbled ruin
comes after the next election, I fear.
The election may save us from loss
of freedom, but at a cost.
Like Ukraine, we can take a nation back
by electing constitutional, loyal leaders
and set our enemies off to the side.
Like Ukraine, our enemies will regroup
and ferociously and physically attack
what they could not seize by stealth.
They will never let go of power and wealth
which we allowed them to take during this
DOGE-dealing, Heritage Foundation steal.
Courts may save us for a time.
But, be prepared.Everything is on the line.
And the mourning is ever-ceasing
for those who see the fate
of a nation which for too-long
embraced its power and its wealth,
and allowed itself to hate.
Slavery was our original sin and set the stage
for all the other hate and division
that has led to this time of fear and outrage.
How long is the mourning period for such a loss?
It has been my entire life; yet, my hope has endured.
But, my body senses death at my nation’s door.
And, I fear I simply cannot take it anymore.
What is the end to this period of mourning?
Every cell in the body politic is warning
that this nation, our beloved nation
may be close to its last breath.
MAGA LESSON 1
The most difficult words to say
without reason nor rhyme
are “The failure is all mine.”
Even when failure brings such relief,
as the end succeeds the means,
it destroys our firm belief
in our omnipotence and grief,
and makes victims of us all
But victimhood is no more true
than the lie we tell ourselves
that we are better than you.
An un-truth we gleefully claim
to avoid our deepest shame
that we are not enough to win the game.
Shame is at the heart of every false start.
To admit we are in need leads
to greed and every evil deed,
while self-care falls aside
to save our wounded pride.
Shameful hurts grow in number day by day.
We build walls to keep them, and shame away.
Walls become our gaol as we hide ourselves inside.
Then, we blame those left behind and locked outside.
We are alone in our togetherness; together in our aloneness.
And the rest of the world marches on by.
Shame never takes a break, nor rests
while we destroy what and who we know are best.
That is the only way to win, and then we whine
with shrugs and say, “The failure is not mine.”
One cannot shame a bully more
than a bully shames himself.
IT IS ALL TRANSACTIONAL
I lifted the blind, closed against the heavy weight of darkness.
But, the darkness lingers still in a world where the ability to see
has become transactional instead of factual.
It is all about the money, we now see.
Truth is no longer able to set us free.
The heavy weight of lies shackles and chains us
and keeps us in our place, where lack of opportunity
now extends beyond those once enslaved.
Too many blindly bow to the oligarchs who stole a nation’s wealth
and put the blame not on themselves, but on everyone else.
It is the people of color, women and homosexuals;
the immigrant and refugee, asylum seekers, librarians,
historians, veterans, unions and universities…
the truth-tellers the upper 1 percent would hide
to save their greedy selves, and tame their shame
behind a white Christian nationalism’s false pride.
Resentment has been nurtured over decades of time,
hardened into stone and fossilized, with guns loaded and primed.
Do not shoot the messengers who only try to lift the blind
and tell the truth you need to hear, about those who put you in this bind.
The sun shouts in voices of students and grandmothers,
unionists and progressives who only want to remind
the leaders still in place, but powerless as institutions crumble,
that we the people will never give up the freedoms so hard-won.
We will not allow the tyranny of the greedy few to rule
over the nation and world we love, never over me and you.
Have we become what we fear most ? A nation of cowards and bullies?
Are we strong enough to lift the blinds and see the truth, finally?
Are we asleep at the post, we guardians of freedom’s hope?
Has greed brought us all to our knees before those who wield wealth
as a cudgel, a chain saw and a weed whacker
to root out those who seek equal opportunity to build wealth, and be free?
Are we willing to worship the new gods of control, corruption and greed?
It is always about the money; transactional, not factual; selfish, not loving.
Has our beloved community and country been brought to its knees?
Is our ability to love now simply and blindly transactional?
Is no one left to hear our heartfelt, truthful pleas?
KILLING FIELDS
In the 4th. grade we made our confession of faith during the sacrament of Confirmation.By that age we were well-steeped in the Catholic teachings shared with us by our parents and then by our teachers. First grade, we learned through a simple catechism. Second grade we made our first confession and a day later, our first Holy Communion. The best behaved I have ever been was the 24 hours in between each sacrament. I did not want any sin on my soul when I brought the living God into my body through the sacred Host.
During my time in Catholic school I attended daily Mass before school each morning and on Sunday. On Saturday I walked to church to make another confession. It was usually the same one each time: I disobeyed my mother ten times a day. This became the theme of my life with authority figures whose expectations seemed beyond reason to me.The Church became a refuge for me, a place of calm and forgiveness beyond human comprehension; very much unlike the world around me seething with ambiguity and hypocrisy,misogyny and racism, ethnocentrism and abuse of power. Each lunch hour became a Holy Hour where I sat before the altar and conversed with Jesus, Mary and my namesake, Joseph.
I asked Mary to be my spiritual Mother and teach me to be a good daughter. The church, for Catholics, is such a sacred space. It is open to the heavens and limitless grace, because the actual Body of Christ in the form of a Host of bread resides in the Tabernacle in the Center of the altar, directly under the crucifix which reminds us of an immense love for fellow human beings. In front of that altar lives are transformed. Mine was. From a self-centered child to an other-centered human being. Oh, still a sinner who needed confession at least once a week. But, one ready to forgive and to be forgiven as a member of a flawed human race. most importantly, Catholic sanctity requires social action, not merely prayers and thoughts. Oh, there are plenty of prayers and thoughts. But, those drive us to social action.
On the first day of classes, or soon after, an opening Mass would be celebrated by the entire school. Each class was guided into pews, with some pushing and shoving as the pews grew crowded. A teacher sat with each class to keep us in line. Silence is a hallmark of that sacred space where it is expected our minds should be on silent conversation with God, not with others in the pew. When I attended Protestant services the friendly chatter, greetings and conversation seemed strange to me until I realized that, there, communion was a symbol not a presence, of Jesus. Chatter and conversation was a good thing. It helped build community in ways silence might not.
But, for me, silence built an even larger community. I was aligned not only with the souls in the seats around me, but with the souls who had gone before me; with the angels and with the saints. The children at Annunciation Catholic School were thus surrounded as a gunman shot them, as they thought and prayed in their most sacred space. The angels and saints could comfort them. They could not stop the evil. Only we can do that. We must act.We are given the grace to do so if we are willing to accept the challenge.
Firearm deaths are the leading cause of death in children aged 1-17. Adults, for the most part, are killing our children so gun dealers and manufacturers can profit. The NRA and right-wing propagandists erroneously convinced Americans that the second amendment protects the right to own a gun. Unlike other protections in the Bill of Rights we are told guns cannot be regulated. Every right can be regulated within reason. The Second Amendment to the Bill of rights protects the right to own guns to form a militia, a National Guard, in case of foreign invasion. Now, The National Guard, is being used against our own population, not a foreign nation invasion. Immigration is not invasion. It is a civil, not criminal, process. No immigrant is an illegal. The National Guard, under state authority of its governor, is trained to assist us. Instead it is being used to assist a racist, partisan coup. Elections may see even more troops meant to intimidate and control access to voting locations. While wildfires, floods and storms persist, those who might help us are being diverted to protect an administration’s image and authoritarianism.
Hate for and fear of others has become the Republican Party rallying cry. There are minds fueled by drugs, alcohol, mental illness, hopelessness and despair who become aroused to violence by the hate and bullying being shouted out in presidential news briefings. Minds twisted by hate with access to weapons too easily become killing machines. Instructions in weapons and killing are available on-line. Social Media does little or nothing to constrain hate speech and manifestos of death and destruction; and yes, of the killing of children. Yet, social media regulation is continually stymied by profiting politicians, and by presidents who encourage gift-giving.
When I watched the footage of children describing their experience I thought of my own classmates so many years ago. I felt the grief and tortured cries of my soul knowing how significant evil in such a sacred space was the worst kind of sacrilege. It was only a matter of time that the sacrilege going on in our streets, nightclubs, restaurants, and schools would invade our most sacred spaces. But, in reality, every bullet fired into another human being is a violation of a most sacred space.
As my first grade catechism explained why I was born into this world: To love and serve God in this world and to be with Him in the next. I shall serve Him by demanding we protect His most sacred creation, our children. We have no time to waste. The killing field is being put in place hour by hour, day by day.
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Tagged as ANGELS, Annunciation Catholic School, Bill of rights, catholic social teaching, Catholicism, CDC, children, CHRISTIANITY, churches, COMMUNION, education, faith, God, gun control, gun violence, immigration, Jesus, Jr., NOEM, political action, protest, protestantism, regulations, religion, RFK, saints, sandy hook, school safety, schools, Second Amendment, SPIRITUALITY, trump