Month: March 2021

Last summer, I observed many in my community foolishly and dangerously celebrate graduation open houses without following any of the protocols meant to prevent the spread of Covid-19. It came as no surprise that days later many of those infected at those open houses were in their cars in lines of 22 cars and more stretched down the highway as they got tested for the pandemic. Many in my community were infected and a portion of them died from their infection. And, now, here are pictures of the living brain dead foolishly celebrating on the beaches of Florida, getting infected and then coming home to infect those with whom they have contact.

In light of our humanity’s tendency to never learn from history, and history no more distant than 6 to 10 months, I composed the following poem and music. It is based on the human behavior that occurred during the many years in which the Bubonic Plague eliminated close to 5 million Europeans. The same “eat,drink and be merry” behavior was a major part of why so many people died needlessly at that time in history. As our scientists and our medical experts declare constantly, Covid-19 has no conscience and in terms of killing people shows no consideration for one’s education, economic status, or in what community one lives. Covid-19 is an equal opportunity killer, preying upon the weakminded and those foolishly defying the infection. It is reminiscent of a quote from the movie “Animal House”, in which Dean Wormer tells the student, Flounder, “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life.” Dean Wormer’s observation should be heard and followed by the those on the beaches of Spring Break.

THE FEAST OF FOOLS: A Pandemic Danse Macabre

“Eat, drink, and be merry,”
the cry goes out,
as the party ensues.
Unsteady bodies, alcohol impeded
joints and limbs, numbed
commonsense, as they
dance, fornicate, and drink,
unknowing or ignoring
the Black Spectre of Death
who peers at these simpletons
through its beaked-face mask,
patiently awaiting the moment
its sharpened blade makes
its downward journey
upon the necks of the partying.

One would think
armed with historical fact,
the simpletons of today
would have learned
from the deaths of close
to four hundred million
human lives, who chose
to dance in drunken abandon
beneath the blade of the
Beaked-faced, Middle Age demon.
Stupidity, as infectious as the plague,
the one human constant
throughout the ages,
dooming the dimwitted
to foolishly dare pandemic demons
to strike them down.
Brazen stupidity will not
save them from fact.
The grim Beak-faced Spectre
grins at their challenge
sharpens its ax,
… and strikes.

(c) 2020 by Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.

I have had the great blessing in having many strong women as a part of my life. My mother was a strong and independent woman. My sister, Mary Ruth, was a very strong woman. I married a beautiful, strong and independent woman, Ruth. Ruthie and I raised our daughters, Meg and Beth, to be strong women. As a student, I had a tremendous respect for many of women who were students with me, and a great respect for many of my educators who were women. As a professional, some of the most profound people I have known and consider colleagues have been strong women. In a culture and in most world religions that remain and labor heavily under patriarchy, I find that hope for a better life and better leadership does not lay with men, whose egos have made a horrible mess of religion and human life, but rather with women.

I often have marveled at how women have risen above the obstacles and sexism that men have place in their way, to move humanity far beyond the limited, testosterone filled worldview of men. This is very evident in scripture. The strongest women in the Bible are not those in the Christian Testament, who, with the exception of Mary, Mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, seem to cave under men. Rather, the strongest women in the Bible are in the Hebrew Testament. Deborah and Jael are wonderful examples of women to whom men would listen, respect, and follow.

I encourage you to read the story of these two women found in Judges, Chapters five and six.

A quick synopsis of the story. During a time when the 12 tribes of Israel occupied Canaan, as a loosely connected confederation, the tribes were easy targets of other Canaan kings. One Canaanite King, King Jaban wreaked all sorts of harm to the tribes of Israel. His general, Sisera, with 900 charioteers killed, sacked, and enslaved mostly women and girls (to be sexual surrogates) for King Jaban and his royal court.

Deborah was chosen by God to be Judge (more a political leader than an adjudicator) and Prophet to end the murderous campaign of King Jaban. Deborah’s court was not some grand building. Rather under a palm tree in the hilly area of Ephraim, she presided over the people. Hearing the cries of her people, she summons the elders and her general, Barak. She tells them that God wants Barak to lead his army of 10,000 infantry into battle against Sisera and his 900 charioteers (think of infantry up against a battalion of tanks). God would go ahead of the Israelite army and would defeat the Canaanite army. Barak says he will not lead the army into battle without the company of Deborah. Deborah she will stand by his side in battle, however, the victory will not be attributed to Barak, but to a woman. Barak agrees. The Israelites engage the Canannites in battle and roundly defeat them, killing them to a man. Sisera flees and takes refuge in the tent of the woman, Jael. She tells him that she will hide him in her tent. He asks for something to drink and she gives him milk. Sisera lies down in her tent and she covers him with a rug. As he falls into a deep sleep, Jael takes a tent peg and a mallet and drives the tent peg through the temple of the sleeping Sisera, killing him. Deborah’s prophesy comes true, the victory belongs to Jael, a woman. The Israelites wage war against Jaban and takes him out of power.

Here is a poem I composed to tell the story of Deborah and Jael.

CANTICLE FOR DEBORAH AND JAEL

Deborah, woman of Lappidoth,
your name is greatly revered
you are the Mother of Israel,
and all hold your memory dear.

God searched for the perfect woman,
whose heart could embrace such a lot,
God chose you as mother and prophet
of this ragtag nation God loved.
Your love for your nation is equal
to the love for the children you birthed,
your love feeds your nation God’s wisdom,
as your love fed the babies you nursed.
Israel is an adolescent nation,
more often than not, a mess
of loosely confederated folly,
yet, you love them nonetheless.

Under the palm tree in Ephraim,
is where you lead in court,
listening to God speak to you
within the shelter of your heart.
Your ears hear the cries of your people,
anguish and fear they impart
tales of enslavement and slaughter
move and stir your heart.
The cruel and arrogant King Jaban,
has sent Sisera, his general,
to wage war, to sack and to kill
your children Israel.
A mother’s love is unconditional,
a love that is greatly revered.
When a woman’s children are endangered,
She becomes a mother to be feared.

You summon the tribes of the nation,
as God’s prophet and as their judge,
you reveal what God has told you,
a force which nothing earthly will budge.
God will be with your army in battle,
you summon your general, Barak,
but, Barak refuses to lead
unless by his side you will walk.
Accompanying him into battle
victory is guaranteed,
but the victory will not be a man’s,
but by woman’s hand victory will be.
God fills your troops with courage
but your enemies feel only dread,
your army is victorious
and Israel’s enemies lay dead.

To the tent of the woman, Jael,
the defeated general, Sisera, flees,
cowardice has crushed his heart
of its arrogance and cruelty.
He seeks to crouch in fear
under a woman’s skirt,
she offers him shelter
and milk to slake his thirst.
Sheltered by Jael’s tent
and hidden under a rug,
Sisera’s strength is spent
and sleeps as if he is drugged.
As he lays in slumber deep,
into her tent, Jael creeps,
and drives the tent peg she holds
into his temple as he sleeps.

Deborah, all you prophesized
revealed to the nation God’s plan,
the victory for your family Israel
was won by a woman’s hand.
Deborah, woman of Lappidoth,
your name is greatly revered
you are the Mother of Israel,
and all hold your memory dear.

© 2021 by Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.

The music I composed is comprised of three distinct themes or motifs: Deborah’s motif (heard at the very beginning), the Battle (the fugue that occurs in the middle of the song), and Deborah’s Song. You will hear Deborah’s motif three times: once in the beginning, repeated in the middle (though in a minor key), and at the very end along with a Coda. At about 9 minutes and 14 seconds, it is more like a symphonic overture than a mere piano piece.

Here is the music.

Canticle for Deborah and Jael (c) 2021 by Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved. Composed for my granddaughter, Alyssa.

On this Sunday, we hear in the first reading the all too familiar Ten Commandments and in the Gospel the also very familiar story of John’s account of Jesus expelling the merchants and money changers from the Temple precinct.

As the first reading was being proclaimed, it is easy to think of all the “Golden Images” we like to display as our gods in our present time. As human beings we are easily distracted from God, as the human made Golden Images proliferate our lives. It is equally easy to think of how many of the the other commandments are unceremoniously dismissed or at which we scoff with derision as being outdated modes of conduct. When we take time to examine the ten commandments, we must look deeper to the implications to what happens to human lives when these commandments are violated. How, without this guide to our lives, human lives would be rendered chaotic and unable to sustain both life physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Were all these commandments ignored, human life would be unlivable.

As the Gospel was proclaimed, we can also easily think of all the ways our religious institutions are in a great need of cleansing. The trappings of wealth and power are a major obstacle to the spirituality of all our religious institutions regardless of the religious traditions of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other world religions. The trappings of religious institutions, and the behaviors of religious leaders to whom we give a demigod status can impede our own growth in spirituality.

Both of these readings force us to reflect on the choices that are at our disposal. We can, as Bill Maher regularly does, mock and hold all religion as foolish mythology meant to dull and control groups of people. We can also sit in judgment on human religious institutions demanding that they be “cleansed” of all the folly, the prejudices, and corruption that the humanity within the religious institutions cause.

However, in our listening to these readings today, we also have one other choice, that of using the ten commandments to examine our own lives and those which present a challenge to us, and cleanse ourselves of those behaviors that negatively impact the lives of those we love and those we encounter.

It is so easy, like the Flip Wilson character, Geraldine, to say, “The devil made me do it.” and so, avoid taking responsibility for the negative actions our lives cause others. Blaming others for our negative behaviors is just a “cop out” and we continue to commit actions that our harmful to others and to ourselves. It is equally as harmful to self-flagellate ourselves, like the Opus Dei monk does in the movie, The Da Vinci Code, to rid ourselves of our negative behaviors.

Rather, I suggest a truthful and less violent way to cleanse our own “temples” in which the Holy Spirit dwells. Ignatius of Loyola, a saint within the Roman Catholic tradition, gifted the religious order he began and the Catholic Church with a simple tool of metanoia (daily conversion of our lives to God). It is called the Daily Examen. This is a prayer reflection done preferably at the end of our day. It has six steps.

1. Become aware of God’s presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude. Walk through the day in the presence of God and note its joys and delights.
3. Pay attention to your emotions. Reflect on the feelings you experienced during the day. Ask what God is saying through these feelings.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to something during the day that God thinks is particularly important. It may be a vivid moment or something that seem insignificant.
5. Look toward tomorrow. Ask God to give you light for tomorrow’s challenges.
6. End the Examen with a conversation with Jesus. Ask forgiveness for your sins. Ask for his protection and help. Ask for his wisdom about the question you have and the problems you face. And, do all this in the spirit of gratitude.

As individuals, we don’t have a great deal of control over the cleansing of our institutions, political and religious. However, we do have control over the cleansing of ourselves. In the simple steps of the Daily Examen, we are able, with the help of God, to cleanse ourselves of those behaviors that have a negative impact on the lives of those we love and the lives of others. Our own personal cleansing is the important first step toward the collective cleansing of the other institutions of our lives.