A Catechesis under Duress

 

    I begin to feel ill.

    I am bound behind a closed and locked, iron door, sitting in the gloom of a faint light on an unsanitary floor. I’ve been here before, with my arms nailed out, chained within the gilded rooms of our favored fathers, reading the spidery handwriting of forgotten saints.

    Open the closed doors.

    Rome is America. Empire is empire no matter who holds the sword. And the sword will not be held in vain, my brothers. Rome circa A.D. 45 or the United States of America 2026 – it is the same illusion stretched over space and time, simultaneous simulacra. Sinister simulations. A projection. A hologram of time irreal crowding out the kingdom of God.

    The blind mechanical agents of the tyrant on the Potomac observe our movement and conversation. An incessant cricking sound of servo motors trailing behind us on the streets. The test produces results, and the transcript is produced for the imperfect prefects. “What’s all this about sin? You propose to tell us of sin? You needn’t proceed any further.”

    Return for beatings. Blood on the iron door. Return to your cell.

    But where could I go to escape? If I go to the edge of the world it is there. And I am not out of it. The authentic has not yet overtaken the manufactured reality that we are forced to inhabit. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    It is a catechesis under duress. Our teacher in this is Jesus the Christ, born for this and raised from this. Crucified under Pontius Pilate. And that we reasonably worship him, the soul of the world. Learn this: Repentance. Chastity. Charity. Love for all enemies. Care for the poor. Mercy and not greed.

    Why can you not accept us who believe that we will receive again our bodies, though they be dead and cast into the earth? Would you, seeing semen, believe it to become a full human body? Resurrection is difficult, true, but nothing is impossible for God.

    Return for processing. The face is clawed away. Force of impact thrown down the stairs. The body cracks sharp, bent at a sinister angle. Blood on the floor. Return to your cell.

    Returned. Revealed. Restored. Reflect, if you will, on the death of disciples and kings.

    I am guilty, perhaps, but I am not wrong. I am not a criminal no matter what the oscillatory prosecution said in their public statement and press release. Crucifixion is for the guilty and even the innocent can be guilty. Enjoy that contradiction for it is a true one and I am an honest man.

    No cause. No effect. Only destruction, the destruction of human identity. The collapse of objective information. What kerygma is here? No redemptive death, only death. No crucified Christ, only a crucified carpenter. Rome did not fall, it follows.

Common Sense II: The Necessity of Eternal Vigilance

     Simple Facts

    We are a nation zealous for honor and prosperity, an empire of constant incline, filled with tension and with glory, rising, rising, never falling. We are a nation touched by blessing and the market corrections of the invisible hand of God. Above all things, we thrive in good health and prosperity.

    Plain Argument

    If we violate the ordinances of national security, we sin and change the course of human history. God defined nations and set their borders and bounds. Intervention is often necessary, though resentment and conflict follow. All nations will flow from this understanding or face pressure and coercion.

    Common Sense

    Keyword warrants are only the beginning; they are not enough. Predictive, prophetic surveillance will become increasingly necessary as the days grow long. Continue on to governmental riots and prison deaths, illness, suicide, and other unexamined causes – interpreted without proper technical context. It’s all the same things done in different ways. Continue with economic-pressure alliances in the right hand and forcible military intervention in the left.

Some Random Thoughts from the Mental Junk Drawer

 

    - The only way to be 'richer than Midas' is to be as merciless as spiders. 

    - Only the rich can afford another war. And that's only because they have the rest of us pay for it. 

    - The so-called Christian Nationalist has the same complaints as the Egyptians in Exodus - "these foreigners are becoming too numerous and if we don't stop them, they're going to side with our enemies and take over the country..."  - Exodus 1:10

    - When it comes time to choose a theodicy to explain the existence of suffering - and there are many to choose from, some better, some worse - keep Vincent VanGogh in mind. "La tristesse durera toujours."

Blessings in a Heat Wave - sung

 I wrote the words for this little prayer yesterday while out in my route. Today I composed a little melody for it. Please ignore the fact that my satchel twisted up my collar. It was hot and I didn’t notice. 

Blessings in a Heat Wave

    Bless the breeze, soft grass, and shade
    Bless the clouded sky
    Bless the water that we drink
    when mouth and throat are dry.

    Bless the sweat that’s on my face,
    and neck, and back, and thighs
    Bless the body keeping cool
    when the mercury’s on the rise.

    Praise the Maker of the earth
    and bless his only Son
    Bless the Holy Spirit too
    Our God, the Three in One