Mary Magdalene (Addition to "The Apology Box")

            Mary Magdalene’s Apology

Though fathers of the church might not recall,
I was his favored ally over all--
Though I had awful moments I admit.

I saw the seven horrid faces of

The demons driven out.  Pride lurched out first.

It smirked as it looked back at me.  It kissed

Its gilded mirror, dropped its glass, then spread

Its filthy, gaudy tail.  It stretched its wings

And took its pompous exit on the breeze.

Then Envy slithered out, a serpent scaled

With eyes instead of plates.  Each lens scanned round

From different angles not to miss a grudge.

Its filthy fangs were always poised to strike

With venom ever dripping.  Thus, the snake

Ingested greater poison than its prey.

Then Gluttony with well-worn teeth chewed its

Way out of me and tumbled on the ground

To roll away in its growing sphere of flesh.

Then Idleness crawled out.  Its wrinkled robes

Were stained and filthy.  It could barely hold

Its head upright until it found a bed.

Then heaving-breathing Avarice crawled out

So loaded down with precious things it could

Not stand. Despite the wealth it bore, its clothes

Were worn and fit it poorly.  Sweating, it

Crawled off distraught--it never hauled enough.

Then lion-headed Wrath leapt out of me.

Its awful roar was followed by a spray

Of blood its flailing limbs slung as it ran.

Then last of all sprang hairy Lust.  (Perhaps

I’m most remembered for the last since it

By chance became the final one to leave.)

O Lord, I tremble still to think about

Those awful spectacles as each came out.

And yet once freed of seven demons, I

Could kneel to wash my master’s feet.  I could

Anoint his head with oil and laud him well.

Then when his fortunes changed, I could as well

Stand by him as they nailed him up.  And when

Some armored angels swept him up from Hell

I could run out and spread good news to all--
I was his favored ally after all.           

© Harold Anthony Lloyd 2016

The current contents of "The Apology Box" can be found here.

P.S. In the Rhetoric to Lettie, I speculate on how Christ might have confided in his favorite disciple:

    Jesus Confides in Mary Magdalene

The kingdom is within.  Search for it there.

The sinner is the one who in despair

Awaits the day his chariot should come.

The kingdom is not coming.  It is here.

There are no portents, earthquakes, storms to fear

Before arrival.  Simply look within.

Tell others that the kingdom is within,

That first it’s small like seeds or leaven in

The dough but has its powers to expand.

Be mindful of the present or you’ll miss

Brief miracles of leavens such as this.

Live in the “am,” not in the “will” or “was”

And revel in the kingdom found within.

There can be no forgiveness for the sin

Of self-rejection.  Broken can’t be right.

Commit yourself at once, do not delay

To act on what you’ve found.  Though others say

That faith suffices, fruit defines the tree.

Embrace your enemy and do no deed

You’d not have others do to you.  Once freed

From difference, inner light uncovered shines.

Be humble and be open as a child.

Be curious and never be beguiled

By rules or “prophets” that snuff out the light.

For light will show whenever two are one,

Whole mountains can be moved.  Division gone,

Whole mountains cannot claim their former place.

Know rules serve us.  When bending must be done,

Bend rules to light, not light to them.  Don’t sin

By elevating Sabbaths over light.

Though I must leave you soon, I still shall shine:

My light remains in you as yours in mine,

And therefore separation never comes.

Split any piece of wood and I am there.

Lift any rock and you will find me there.

Set any table.  You will find me there.

Have bread and wine in common to recall

The need to share both food and drink with all—

And do this for your fellow flesh and blood.

As I have done, reach out to heal the sick—

Though not just those with fevers.  Heal heartsick

And troubled spirits, too.  Do miracles.

Though I have set upon a painful course,

I choose it freely--right could never force

A faultless one to pay another’s fine.

No innocents are sacrificed though I

Am willing for the sake of truth to die.

That’s what the Cross should symbolize for you.

I’m neither Paul, nor Pope, nor Protestant.

I am before they came, before they went.

I am before their Sabbaths as are you.

 © Harold Anthony Lloyd 2016

Judas & Pilate Defend Themselves (Additions to "The Apology Box")

            Acrostic of Judas

Justice never punishes a deed

Unless it's evil, willed, and freely done.

Did I betray?  I did.  But fate forced me, 

And thus I did unfreely what the Lord

Set up instead as I shall briefly show.

Impelled by love, God had to make a world

Since isolation is love’s opposite.

Creation needed freedom all around--

An object of one’s love is not enslaved

Raising a contradiction:  what is free

Is free to sin and has a license that

Offends morality.  God's fix required

The incarnation penalty--not me.

Boethius, St. Ambrose, and Marcion the Docetist (Additions to "The Apology Box")

               Boethius's Sonnet

Was Theodoric’s prison in the end

That proved the real academy.  Was there

They taught first hand true good cannot depend

Upon mere fortune.  There caged in despair

This humbled bureaucrat learned power flees

In but a moment and, too, learned, how fast

“Good” title both in name and properties

Is marred.  Yet, I found hope!  Though no things last

Below at length, that maid Philosophy

Took pity, visited dark dungeons and

Consoled me with her higher poetry

Of permanence.  Caressing that sweet hand,

I thought no more of nooses or of cells

But of divinity and where it dwells.

 

               Saint Ambrose's Sonnet

Before the awful bench where all will stand

We come in turn to plead and do admit

Our errors though in doing so submit

In mitigation it was not our hand

That sought the staff.  Instead, Milan asked.  We

Were acquiescent, humbly turned our backs

On Roman boons (yet kept her bones as racks

For Christian ornament--past lies would be

Upholders of the truth.)  Thus we transformed

Words, music, marbles, even living flesh--

Behold Augustine we baptized afresh.

Mere spirit now, our temporal see performed,

Pray let us see Rome’s church ascending now

Above Rome’s ruins we’ve refurbished now.

             

            Marcion The Docetist’s Sonnet

I’ve kneeled before the true God now revealed

Through that majestic phantasm called Christ

That clarified true faith and thus repealed

The older books.  Sweet ghost!  If sacrificed,

I knew it was not God.  Perfection by

Its very terms can never suffer.  For

To suffer is to lose, to be less than

Complete and thus prove imperfection.  Nor

Could it have been a man.  Though man could be

Sinless despite the lie of Eden, You

Could not allow a sinless man to be

Condemned and killed for sins he did not do.

Great ghostly messenger!  It had to be

Of course fantastic coming, Lord, from Thee!

© Harold Anthony Lloyd 2016

The current contents of "The Apology Box" can be found here.

The Kingdom Is Within

Archive of Blog Originally Posted 4/16/2014 in The Huffinton Post