By Grace alone . . .

October 31, 2023
Greetings on the anniversary of the Protesant Reformation!

For centuries this world lay in darkness and fear of perdition. Religious hierarchy ruled the people, demanding indulgences to save themselves and loved ones from purgatory and hell.
When a humble monk, Martin Luther, in 1517 was given the message
“The Just Shall Live by Faith” *
Bringing hope and joy to our world!

* Romans 1:17
Luther nailed his 95 Thesis on the door of
the Castle church in Wittenburg Germany

For those of us who are [addicted] to religion, ever seeking salvation by our own works – this message is Good News! I have written an allegory of my experience struggling with this ongoing battle. As if I had been immersed in a sea of misbeliefs and lies. Ever seeking a peaceful life!

I come from the sea of an interior womb of this earth’s unstable waters of fertility. There is a feud in the great surge of the waves, the fragility of my body is in compromise. Searching for placid waters the force of the currents carry me to shore. . . Tears fall upon ashes turning to stones. I am a shell waiting to be filled. My tongue muted, my eyes scaled, my ears stung with deafening tones. I am in pain. I am chastened, what is my destination?

What is to live first must die!

I have taken a rest in a seplucher of death! A Mass is said! Choirs sing in lamentations, words are sung in another tongue expressing grief for this child who is dead . . .

A black hearse rolls before the cathedral doors, carrying my body in repose. There is silence but for the horse’s gait on the cobble stone street. Priests in black robes pressing together, chanting their venemous songs, ready for the battle claiming my soul. But for a rusty nail posted on the cathedral door . . .

“Who will win this battle of death? Who will prevail?”
Jesus! He is Victor over death

Victory is won. “Oh death where is your sting?

Salvation He brings.
A Holy Grail has released me from a death ridden jail. I am alive! “By Grace alone I am Saved”

SOLA GRATIA

Selected verses from my poem ‘The Requiem’