Poem Link: Thoughts over a Sanctuary Lamp
This poem has been subject to much revision over the past year. Originally, I wrote it as an angered response to issues of scandal and liturgical abuse within the Church. One of the lines that I struck out in the revision process depicted Our Lady coming to Jerusalem in search of the Christ Child (an allusion to the Finding in the Temple), but not finding Him.
This misguided anger came from entering into so-called “progressive” Catholic churches that have removed the tabernacle from the sanctuary, moving the True Presence of Our Lord out of the way of their backwards ceremonies that mock the Mass.
After showing an unfinished version of this poem to some people close to me, I realized that my just anger had turned into cynicism and fear of modernism in the Church. I revisited the poem some time later, and resolved to change its tune. The result is a commentary on the dangers of those insidious practices that bring the “smoke of Satan” into the Church, but also an optimism about the Divine Captain of the Barque of Peter. I enjoy comparing this progression to the misguided sword-strike of Peter in the Garden, whereupon he suffered one of many rebukes from Our Lord. Thus, the poem is also one of my own development in the mercy of Christ.
This poem has enjoyed the influence of Chesterton, Fulton Sheen, Father Paul Scalia, and both my earthly mother and my eternal mother. I believe it is one of my most important works.
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