Pace e Bene

 

Come on out, Jesus, come out of your tomb!

Throw off those grave-clothes we’ve wrapped around you!

Throw off the creeds by which we’ve bound you.

the robes with which we’ve clothed you,

the walls in which we’ve housed you,

the flags we’ve stretched across your casket.

Come out, Jesus! Come on out!

 

Roll away the stones, Jesus, roll those stones!

Roll away the stones by which we’ve secured your death,

the stones of our self-righteousness,

the stones of our orthodoxy,

the stones of our pious patriotism,

the stones of our pretense at being your defenders.

Roll away the stones, Jesus! roll them away!

 

Leap to Life, Jesus, leap to life!

Leap the life of holy hilarity!

Leap the life of jubilant justice!

Leap the life of turning tables!

Leap the life of limitless love!

Leap the life of gosh-awesome grace!

Leap to life, Jesus, leap to life!

 2. Dancing Life

I dance in the beginning which is ever

Dance in the ending which is never

Dance from eternity through time

Dance through time into eternity

Dance in the now of Genesis

Dance in the now of Revelation.

Dance the New Creation.

 

I Dance in the darkness of the void

Dance in the dawning of the Word

Dance in millenia of mystic mutations

Dance in the garden of my birthing variations

Dance in my Sister, in my Brother, in the Other

I dance, dance, dance into Life.

 

O God, we have gained the whole world of wealth

And our soul is troubled, we are poor.

 

We have gained the whole world of military supremacy

And our soul is troubled, we are insecure.

 

We have gained the whole world of religion

And our soul is troubled, we are lost.

 

O God, will you help us find the way?

 

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God,

When I will send a famine on the land;

Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

But a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.”

 

There is a famine in our land, a famine of the hearing of the word of the Lord.

And in our hunger, we have swallowed other words-

security, vengeance, pre-emptive war,

And in our hunger we have bought that which is not bread—

Bombs and bullets by the billions.

 

 

Our power

Which rules the earth

Nuclear is your name.

Our missiles come, our will be done

On earth and in the heavens.
Give us this day our military superiority

And forgive us our vulnerability

As we seek vengeance on all who threaten us.

And lead us not into repentance,

But deliver us from moral questions,

For ours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever, Amen

…Lord have mercy.

 

 

Night comes early in Hiroshima, fiercely early.

There is no time, no time.

 

Fathers there is no time for holding children.

Mothers there is no time for nursing young.

Lovers there is no time for embracing love.

Builders there is no time for building bridges.

Priests there is no time for praying prayers.

Citizens there is no time for saying no to generals.

There is no time, no time.

 

Dawn comes slowly from Hiroshima, gently slowly.

There is still time, still time.

Fathers there is still time for holding children.

Mothers there is still time for nursing young.

Lovers there is still time for embracing love.

Builders there is still time for building bridges.

Priests there is still time for praying prayers.

Citizens there is still time for saying no to generals.

There is still time, still time.

 

 

 

When the tears of your bitter bondage flow a river reaching heaven

I, Jehovah, pluck a plan out of the water, flee Moses into the wilderness where

We meet on holy ground, plague pharaoh into letting you go

To the wilderness where you wander forty years

with the ten guides I have given you, weathered,

solid as the rock with which I crafted them,

hoping to chisel them into your heart which is hard

so they get broken and you lose my way.

 

You get hungry for the food you left behind

And all the garbage that goes with it, like flirting

With other gods when you think I’m not there for you,

Making of your jewels a golden pile of bull,

Which smells to high heaven;

Another time I see you investing your gold

In stocks and bombs which blow your bodies into shadows

On the sidewalk, and I cry—

When you leave me without kissing me goodbye—

A thousand years of tears in one long night.

We have to talk.

In the morning of another day

I hold you in my arms again.

I will not go away.

We look across a river and see a promised land.

 

 

In these days the angel Gabriel is being sent to a galaxy called Milky Way to a young planet who is espoused to a system named Solar. The planet’s name is Earth. And the angel comes in to her and says, hail Earth, you are highly favored, the Creator is with you. Blessed are you among planets.

 

When Earth sees the angel, she is troubled, wondering what this may mean. The angel is saying, Do not be afraid, for the Creator has been gracious to you. You shall conceive and bear new life, which shall be called New Creation. Earth says, how can this be, since I don’t know anyone who has the power to bring new life into my womb? The angel answers, the Cosmic Spirit shall come upon you and the Creator’s love shall overshadow you, therefore that which is being born in you shall become New Creation. And Earth is saying, let it be done to me according to your word.

 

 

When the night is dark and the journey long, the Messiah is coming

When the Inn is full and the homeless are without, the Messiah is coming

When Herod kills at will and innocents die, the Messiah is coming.

 

The Creative Word

Long waiting to be spoken,

Long wanting to be heard

Becomes flesh among us:

 Gentleness is strength

Vulnerability is power

Loving enemies is security

 

Today when Herod speaks

In other words

Of worshipping the Christ

Wise women and wise men

Having seen the Light

Do not return to Herod.

They go another Way.

 

An Assisian Instrument of Peace taming wolves, blessing all creatures, all creation

St Francis, we dig you!

An Indian Lawyer clothed in truth crumbling empires, inspiring generations

Mahatma Gandhi, we dig you!

A Day in the life of the Catholic Worker, practicing hospitality, questioning just war, 
Dorothy Day, we dig you!

A King loving enemies, freeing oppressors and oppressed.

Martin Luther King, we dig you!

A Cesar growing grapes of non-wrath in non-killing fields,

Cesar Chavez, we dig you!

A host of women and men drinking Life-Water

Flowing from the Well-Digger of Nazareth.

Jesus of Nazareth, we dig you!

 

 

I dream often at night, and sometimes I daydream. 

 

I dream that day

When priests and popes and presidents

are free to say I was wrong

I dream that day

when a millionaire says that’s enough

and a billionaire says that’s too much

I dream that day

When NRA means National Reconciliation Association

when loving enemies is synonymous with homeland security

I dream that day

when all that is said is done.

I dream that day.

 

service  on Palm Sunday.

 

This being my first carry

The noise of rumbling tanks in the distance

Shakes my confidence.

He places his hand on my neck and whispers

I know. I know.

 

I looked for him where

They had buried him

In cave-grave sealed with stone.

I found him not.

He looked for me where

I had buried him

In heart-cave sealed with stone.

He rolled the stone

He found me

I looked for him where

They had written him

In creeds crafted to contain.

I found him not.

He looked for me where

I had written him

In crafted creedal certitudes.

He shattered the certitudes

He found me.

 

You can’t stop that wind, you can’t kill that fire.

That wind is the wind of truth,

That fire is the fire of love.

That wind keeps right on blowing,

That fire keeps right on burning.

You, Caesars of Century One.

You can’t stop that wind, you can’t kill that fire.

All your lying can’t stop that wind,

All your lions can’t kill that fire.

The truth you tried to cover up is blowing still,

The love you sought to kill is living still.

You, would-be Caesars of Century Twenty-one.

You can’t stop that wind, you can’t kill that fire.

You can persecute those blowing with that wind.

You can prosecute those burning with that fire.

But you can’t stop that wind, you can’t kill that fire.

That wind will get under your skin,

That fire will burst into flame in your being.

And you, spirits of cynicism and despair.

You who tempt us and taunt us.

Seeking to isolate sister from brother.

You can’t stop that wind, you can’t kill that fire.

The wind of truth prevails, drawing us to each other.

The flame of love perseveres, opening us to the other.

You can’t stop that wind, you can’t kill that fire.

 

From his exile on no-man’s island

John writes what he sees.

He sees history in the travail of birthpangs

Sees imperial foundations shaking, crumbling

As beasts and dragons devour each other in orgies of violence

He hears the cries of innocents slaughtered—

How long, O Lord, how long.

He hears a voice pleading, who can open the scroll of history?

He sees a nonviolent lamb, opening the scroll, revealing the meaning of it all.

He sees a multitude from every tribe and nation, every race and culture

Singing a hallelujah song of praise 

Worthy, is the lamb that was slain

To receive power and wisdom and might

glory and honor and blessing
forever and ever Amen!

 

When they gather for worship which is inherent in their nature

The sun turns on the heat warming up the audience

The moon is in her glory appearing on the stage in the round

With all the stars spaced out in evenings gowned with much

Left to the imagination; the winds blow trumpets in all directions

Lightning opens curtains calling for rounds of thunderous applause

With mountains of standing ovations offering the benediction.

 

Praise your Creator, all Creation!

Jump for joy, you kangaroos!

Howl hallelujahs, you hyenas!

Chatter, you monkeys!

Bray with abandon, you asses!

 

Praise your Creator, all Creation!

Thunder your terrors, you clouds!
blow your brash breezes, you winds!

Rise in rhythmic roars, you oceans!

 

Praise your Creator, all Creation!

You mountains, stretch tall to the skies!

You valleys, welcome wanderers!

Stare, you stars, enlightening eyes!

Praise your Creator, all Creation!