Parable of a Father
November 26, 2007
“Parable of a Father” by Janusz St. Pasierb (Polish priest and art historian)
When you try to forget
he rememberswhen you cannot fall asleep
he waits for you to wakewhen you do not think of returning
he is on the watch for youwhen you cannot see the way out
he opens the gates
when you are dying of hunger
he has the table set for youwhen you huddle in rags
he chooses a robe for youwhen you say: ‘I will rise and go’
he sets out to meet youwhen you rub your eyes, as dry as stones,
he weeps over youwhen you do not dare to stretch your hand
his arms are around you
when your brother reproaches that you went
away he will reply that you have just come back
Pasierb held the chair of history of art at the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw in the 1980s
The Present Tense
November 26, 2007
A song by Sydney Carter
Your holy hearsay
is not evidence:
give me the good news
in the present tense.What happened
nineteen hundred years ago
may not have happened:
how am I to know?The living truth
is what I long to see:
I cannot lean upon
what used to be.So shut the Bible up
and show me how
the Christ you talk about
is living now.
















