we need a revolution

Manifestation

We were surprised by the place

to which the star brought us

so little worthy of a king’s birth,

but our calculations left no doubt —

a stable redolent of hay and dung

inhabited by an ox and a donkey,

occasioned by lambs and kids.

 

The child like all new born

had nothing to distinguish him.

The little woman, like all good mother

sweet and tender, the man no longer young

showed tenderness and solicitude;

they were even more surprised and perplexed

by our visit than we for being there.

 

We left the gifts we had brought from so far:

the little gold coffer chased

with lions and suns, the ivory box filled

with incense, the ebony urn filled with myrrh,

and we left in silence.

 

Finally the youngest of us murmured,

        "Perhaps he brings revolution."

The other two kept in silence

the hope his saying awoke.

          Rafael Jesús González (via Matthew Fox)

__________________________________________________

 

we need a revolution

the powers “that be” have been in control long enough

Greed and Power

and the systems they have erected

have ruled

far too long

 

we know the nature of the foul kingdom of the world

we see it in the gross abundance of the very rich

in the oppressive power of those who coerce and control

 

we see it in the hate that carries a torch at night

and in the fear that swaggers into a McDonalds with a gun.

 

we need a revolution

not the revolution of flag flying, red-hatted revolutionaries

crying for retribution

but the revolution of this common uncommon child

awash in love

 

a revolution created by insisting on an economy of forgiveness

rather than an economy of retribution

 

a way of generosity

rather than a way of grasping

 

a revolution that insists on inclusion rather than exclusion

on service rather than domination

kindness rather than brutality

 

a revolution of love

a Holy Thursday type revolution

a Good Friday type revolution

of body and blood

 

such a revolution is not painless

it involves a kind of death

 

to old thoughts

old feelings

old system

old comforts

old ways

 

it involves letting go

and dying to self

 

but we need a revolution

now