“The central truth about God is the assertion of His love. His love is not limited to time. It is a part of His eternal Being, existing, real, active, before the work of creation began. Through eternity the life of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has been. The love of the Father for the Son, of the Son for the Father, of the Father and the Son for the Holy Ghost, of the Holy Ghost for the Father and the Son, had no beginning, as it will have no end. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity—of the three Persons who are one God—was seen by the Church to be necessarily implied in the teaching of Holy Scripture, and was made part of the constant message of Christian truth. In their emphasis on this doctrine Catholic theologians endeavoured to meet the deepest needs of Christian thought and devotion. For these needs cannot be satisfied save in the God who is eternal, in whose eternal Being there are the activities of life, and in whose life before as well as after creation is an abiding exercise of love. A theology which departs from the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which Tractarian and Anglo-Catholic have received from the Universal Church, may have a temporary attraction; but its failure to satisfy the abiding demands of human thought and prayer deprives it of real and lasting value.”

-Darwell Stone, The Faith of an English Catholic

The night the wall came down

The night the wall came down
he stood in front of me and called my name.

“Come closer”, he said,
beckoning, bidding me to draw near.

He held a flickering candle in his hand
that glowed more brilliantly
than the light of a thousand suns.

I stood there, paralyzed with fear,
paralyzed after the shouts,
the praise-songs,
the cymbal-crashes,
the blaring trumpets
had shattered the silence I once knew.

"Come closer”, he said,
“I have come to liberate you”.

Again, he beckoned to me,
tenderly pleading my name.

I looked around the vast, smoldering ruins
of everything that I had built.
Brick upon brick lay in the streets,
mingled with faeces, urine, blood,
and broken concrete.

It was all gone, reduced to rubble,
ashes, dust, flames, and destruction.

This was the cost of my liberation?
The sacrifice I had to make?
The price I had to pay?

“Then I will come closer”, he said,
“I will not hurt you.”

He spoke my name.

I stared at him blankly,
as he stepped over where the wall once stood
and drew closer to me.
He covered me with his coat
handed me the candle,
and held me close.

He whispered my name.

I raised my head and looked at the stars.
I turned to him,
and shedding a tear,
I said softly,
ever so softly,
piercing the quiet between us,
“Please, sir, I’ve forgotten my name.”

Copyright © 2012 Joshua Ligan.