Michael's Random Thoughts and Photos on Spirituality

I’d like to know something.  How many wise or foolish virgins do we have here today?  Just as I expected , well, you will be happy to know this Gospel is not about wise or foolish virgins.  Have any of you been caught sleeping on the job?  You don’t have to answer that; and you will be pleased to know that this Gospel isn’t about sleeping on the job either.  So, what is this Gospel about?  It is about hope. A friend of mine said, this doesn’t seem like a Gospel about hope.  Maybe not directly, but indirectly I think it is.  You see, all the virgins, wise and foolish, fall asleep.  Some, the wise ones, had a bit more hope than the foolish — at least they brought some extra oil with them.  None of them seem very excited about the coming of the bridegroom.  Welcoming bridegrooms isn’t their day job and we can imagine them being worn out by whatever labor they may have been involved in.  Another way to look at it is that the...

Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed— Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There’s never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”) Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek— And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the ...