Religious Recall

Religious Recall

Your words conjure

memories

of musty cloisters

 

lit with hanging

sanctuary lamps.

 

Communion wine

sipped in covert silence

by chalice fillers,

 

stealing through

aisles steeped in the stench

of enduring incense,

 

to put the blessed goblet

in its rightful place

upon the waiting deity dais.

 

Beneath the all seeing

glare of God's watch,

I recall oak pews,

so well worn

from errant,

shuffling Catholic arses,

who confessed their trite

sins with hollow eyes

to clergymen with equally

sunken morals,

and worshiped the

miracle of bread and wine

knowing it to be simply

a wicked, wasteful falsehood.

 

They knelt,

lame cattle,

in reverent rows

before an altar

adorned with

silver chalices

 

and gazed upon

the holy Eucharistic,

displayed ostentatiously,

in heavy brass monstrance,

atop the golden tabernacle.

 

Then comes a priest

in sacred vestments,

blessed cloth for the performance

of divine duties,

to excite good thoughts

and increase devotion

in those who see

and those who wear them.

 

But beneath the glorious garb

many hands are stained with the blood of children

whose innocence has been stripped

from them by prying

lustful, calloused hands.

 

Hands ordained in his name

and shielded

from just punishment in deepest hell,

by archbishops

draped in the authority of a pallium;

leaders at the pinnacle,

the "holy ordering" of the Church,

the Body of Christ,

who colluded in the shielding

of such shameful transgressions.

 

So, as I sit here

and remember,

as I savour the deceit

and the theft of my devotion

and beliefs,

do not preach

Christianity to me

Father,

for it flows

with a truer, more silent voice

through my heart.

 

14/01/17

Reviews

[DIVYA]

This is the truth. This is the reason I don't go to Church every Sunday. The custodians of the Church are the greediest and most sinful of all. Fattened on the wealth of the Church. I'd rather listen to my own inner voice of belief. Thank you for saying it aloud.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

I am so happy Divya that you like the sentiment but am sorry there are so many of us who feel the same. Many thanks.

[DIVYA]

You are welcome John

[Einstein Noodle]

yes ..the Catholic Church must own all of its sin and hypocrisy as well as any glimmer of the true Christ that shines through ..sounds as if you may have served as an alter boy too ....i was sorely tempted to taste the wine behind the curtains but also must confess the fear i had of doing it ..so i didn't ... but we learned soon enough how to get a couple bottles of our own ...we met Friday nights on Vine St.and James St. .... called ourselves the Vine Streeters ... a good bunch not looking for trouble... just fun
i came to a place in life that revealed to me, stripped bare of my complaints and judgements of the Church .. as well as all the glitter and tradition .. that the teachings of Christ are all there .. tho i am not a church attender my faith in the love God teaches through the life of Jesus is stronger and more fruitful in me than ever .. so in your closing i am deeply moved .. it is tragic indeed to throw the baby out with the water as we say ;)
you have written a powerful poem ..completely captivated me all the way through ... true to the bone commentary and a voice that will always need to be raised ..cause reflection and change for the better .. well done says i! yes indeed!
E.
ps curious ..what do you think of the new Pope Francis?

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Thank you for such a full review Einstein, and for sharing our common paths. I did sip the altar wine but only once. I too hung out with lads who only wanted to involve themselves with football and listening to pirate radio.
I give little attention to Popes, however some of his ways have appealed to me.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Taking your comments into consideration I have added something to the final stanza which better describes where I find myself today.

[Einstein Noodle]

yes! nice touch ... and a true path eh!? ;)

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Ha you feel the pulse as a sage dear Einstein.

[Einstein Noodle]

:) ................. thank you ... you are too kind ..

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i absolutely love this John...because you wrote me...my background...even was an altar boy...but what i saw and felt as a youngster up through college...
i saw what seemed like feigned devotion...saw ugly people who did bad things, then did the old routine, confession and then communion...then went back to their evil selves...such hypocrisy--

and i always wondered if all this was such a good thing...why they all looked so somber or depressed on the way back from receiving this body of Christ.

also saw many very good and devoted people...but with all the other side...asked myself constantly what it all meant.
and as emily dickinson questioned...did we use religion as a crutch? and excuse? just something to fall back on...

there are those who preach Christianity...and then those who walk the walk...

j.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Thank you Jacob. Walking the walk is the answer I think. I did sip the altar wine as an alter boy and 'sang' in the choir. As kids we were scared of Canon Alleward and used to hide when he was making home visits. All religions are used as a shield and a weapon by those who feel it necessary to impose their will or subjugate others. Christians did, and do, it, Muslims and even Buddhists.