Ave..

Ave, Maria, grátia plena..

Raised Catholic, Ave Maria was heard a couple of times a year...Xmas midnight mass and funerals. This time of year I become terribly sentimental about certain songs, and although I am far from a practicing person of organized religion now, this song still moves me. 

Today, this song came to mind while I was doing quite a different "theological" reading (I was reading the Diamond Sutra translated by Red Pine). An hour earlier, while walking near the river on this unseasonably warm Iowa grey day, Ave Maria hit my sad holiday spotify curated list. Listening to the unknown folk soprano while watching the water drift slowly by I began to wonder about the words.

Later, google confirmed that the words are a simplified version of the Hail Mary, a prayer taught to any  budding Catholic. That same prayer has also fueled conversations with people I've worked with over the years to call me a non-Christian because the Catholic church "worships" Mary. Sigh. [Even as a non practicing Catholic I had to question their logic and see how far they would go to be a "good Christian".]

Their logic is akin to the idiocy of ignorance that I see trending tonight on Twitter (refuse to call it ____) regarding a depiction of graffiti on a church in France that defiles the name of Mary & Jesus by a supposed Muslim faction. Anyone bent on learning the truth will find two truths a) it is actually a snap from several years ago and has nothing to do with the current unrest of the world b) Muslims consider Jesus a prophet and that alone requires his name to be honored, not soiled. 

Dear me, sorry, this post has gone off the rails as I am just free writing, however, I think it takes me to a greater point...words are as powerful as any weapon. Granted, weapons, such as bombs and bullets destroy many in one fell awful swoop, and in their demonic detonations they cruelly take away innocent lives. It could be argued too that destructive words said with intention to harm can destroy an innocent's spirit without taking their life, or at least their physical life, and can cause trauma that can last a lifetime. 

This is a far cry from what so many are facing today, the death and destruction from bombs and bullets. The death and destruction from disease, hunger, over consumption of resources, and addictions. The list is a plenty. Yet, language matter so very much.

A recent On Poetry substack asked a question about poetry and what the reader questioned about it. My reply was..."what would it take to be a world that dropped poems not bombs on our enemies"? What I failed to add to that question was that I believe both are destructive. Poisoned words do kill in their own right, just look to the damage evil rhetoric has waged from the mouths of politicians and others in power.

To pivot slightly, I leave anyone who is still reading a final story for this Eve of Xmas....

This morning I walked down the main street of a town I do not know. As a middle aged adult with aging parents, I decided to treat them to a holiday, a night away with moi to a small city far from both of our homes. While they enjoyed breakfast, I walked to admire the old architecture (cupolas, gabled roofs, and ornate doors) under the heaviness of a sky threatening rain. Several blocks later I encountered a brick walkup that was picture perfect. As I was admiring it, an older gentleman stopped and commented on the grander of the building. 

I am ashamed to say that at first glance I was assuming he'd ask for money, however, it never came up and we conversed for a good 20 minutes about the town, its history, and his own. There is no doubt in my mind that I was to have this chat with him for reasons unknown to me. However, our conversation meandered over his life, where he used to work, and the folks he holds dear in his memories. And dear reader, all his highlights were actually of a place that I had on my bucket list to visit in the near future... a monastery run by monks who build caskets. The gentleman was a former casket maker and a friend of the Brothers....yes, we were meant to chat.

Perhaps today no earth shattering conversations were had by me or my companion, however, we shared presence together over words and that can be salve later when the night draws dark and the shadows cannot quite be cleared away by candles, or Ave Maria ~