Nine o’clock: the host has not been put away.
The church decants its parishioners,
leaving the Saint-Sacrement unadored, trapped
in the wide-angled eye of its monstrance.
The priest forgot, distracted by the fire
in the presbytery, the church triathlon,
and social media posts of the diverting kind.
All night, God peers from his gilded case,
nothing to do but wait for morning
and soak up the prayers of the world—
Help me, Lord—I’m trapped in the boondocks,
in the city, in a sump of a marriage, in a toxic job,
in the clamp of debt, in sickness. Don’t forget me.—
then to be sheepishly rescued and, quite understanding,
wafted back to the ambry, safe in human hands.
Sin of Omission
Show Comments ()
The latest from america
Vincentian Father Joseph S. Williams, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Chicago, said in a May 8 statement that he was “deeply sorry for any confusion and/or anger that this has caused, particularly for the People of God.”
For every Fátima, there are dozens of unverified reports of divine messages, “weeping” statues, healing relics and prophetic revelations that have vexed church authorities and challenged the Vatican’s ability to track and verify such events.
It is not surprising that Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, an eminent paleontologist, got himself in trouble with church officials and his Jesuit superiors.
Fasting “at least for one day of the week from futile distractions” such as social media also can be a path toward a jubilee indulgence, according to norms published by the Vatican May 13.