May 13, 2015

PHOTO ALBUM

Everyone of us can find ourselves

          on the pages

          of the New Testament.

It is our photo album,

          our biography,

          the story of our lives.

I am the blind man

          wanting to see,

          needing to cry out,

          “Son of David, have pity on me.”

I am the Prodigal Son

          far away from the Father,

          longing for the pleasures of distant lands,

          yet longing for the comforts of home.

I am the Pharisee, the phony,

          seeing specks in my brother or sister’s eye,

          and blind to the planks in my own.

Oh yes, at times I’m the Good Samaritan,

          helping my brothers and sisters

          lying by the side of the road.

          But so many times I find myself

          as Pontius Pilate washing my hands

          of all responsibility.

I am the lost sheep,

          the lost coin,

          forgetting I’ve been branded,

          been stamped with the sign of the cross.

I must learn to read

          the letters of Paul and John

          as if they were addressed to me,

          put in my mailbox,

          so that I’ll begin to bear

          the other’s burdens,

          and discover that God is Love.

         

I must discover that the Messiah, the Christ,

          has entered my village,

          and today wants to eat at my house.