Christ is the bread.
Form fixed before
Creation: time and space.
Christ is the bread.
A big bang breaks:
Gas, mole, and matter.
Christ is the bread.
Nuts shed smooth shells
Till rooted: tall trees.
Christ is the bread.
Souls in the womb:
Nine months to nourish.
Christ is the bread.
Words: willed to write,
To sing, to recite.
Christ is the bread.
Form: fixed before
Ink marks the parchment.
Christ is the bread.
Hands consecrate.
In sin: complicit.
Christ is the bread.
And while they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “Amen I say to you, one of you will betray me – one who is eating with me.“ But they began to be sad, and to say to him one by one, “Is it I?“ Mark 14:18-19
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Author:
Gary Edward Geraci (
Offline) - Published: August 18th, 2018 18:23
- Comment from author about the poem: With my own priestly gifts squandered, those of the ordinary priesthood which, according to the teachings of the Catholic Church, all the baptized lay members possess, for nearly thirty years I too was complicit and “in sin” with the sins that plague our society today. The mid twentieth century’s ‘sexual revolution’ left very few souls untouched. Our seminaries, by no means, have survived the assault either. The result is felt worldwide: the sexual revolution has left a wake of casualties. Rather than rashly demanding angrily for the turning over and the punishment of this or that scoundrel, although, indeed justice is demanded to the victims and the Church, a more merciful approach would follow an examination of our own lives. Is it I? How might I have played a part; allowing unabated, this sub-culture to flourish and become mainstream? Pornography, cohabitation, fornication, contraception, infidelity, adultery, abortion, divorce, same-sex marriage... Wrong after wrong, unchallenged and viewed with indifference or worse, in a spirit of relativism, I believe, makes one complicit to the sin and scandal the Catholic Church once again faces, head on. It would be far more productive to join together, all taking responsibility for one’s own sinfulness, repent, and make a resolve to each do our part to become a better, more righteous culture. The poem is written ‘ad ovo,’ from the beginning and in chronological order from the beginning of existence to the present, with a caesura, utilized through a colon, one per stanza, to signify a significant passing of time between the events before and after the colon. The Church teaches that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is valid, ex opere operato, “by the very fact of the action’s being performed” regardless the state of sanctity of the human minister, the priest. We will continue to have failures and betrayals; Judas Iscariot was the guarantor of that - but when we do, it’s comforting to remember that which our Lord took up on the Cross with him. No, not our successes. Jesus died on the Cross after taking our sins upon himself and having them nailed to the Cross along with his body. His love for us is inexhaustible and the depth of His mercy, unfathomable.
- Category: Sociopolitical
- Views: 44
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Comments1
A deep and thoughtful write Gary. And yet we're 'saints' (we're being sanctified), forgiven sinners! Of course, no-one's perfect; only me (lol)! Now I'm imperfect, having said that. Doh!
Your only ‘fault’ in my estimation, given your copious catalogue of work, would be ‘cacoethes scribendi’: “Writer’s itch,” a mania for writing! (Source: A Poet’s Glossary by Edward Hirsch) Write on my friend - to distant lands may we traverse...
Heehee I jest, saying I cannot say any words over 3 syllables long. I never knew it may be cacoethes-wotsit! Then again, I may not write every day. Other days maybe 1 poem per day, or 2 or 3 per day if I get in the flow.
Only you and I are perfect - 99%! Now we have need of humble pie, having said that!
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