Page 33 - A Qualified Acceptance of Sorrow

seemed to withdraw and I wondered
what word would describe this cold …

then I puzzled over the ache
that surrounded the emptiness.
And as Raphael came close to me again

I remembered
I had read once that hell was hidden
in the spear wound of Christ,*

near his heart.
And these broken souls, I asked,
are they capable of repentance?

Then I was made to understand
that they remain in darkness
and unformed until someone prays

for them, then
the long journey into selfhood
necessitates they feel

the pain they have inflicted
the suffering of those who were left to grieve
the sorrow of the Creator …

Raphael and I parted gently, silently. It seemed
to me the earth was a proving ground,
testing each person’s capacity for compassion.

… I wonder
What might I yet need to embody?

_________
* Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus. Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids/Cambridge, 1985. Page 506.
Printed in Montréal Serai Volume 32 Issue 3. 2019. Revised.