TASK #48: FALL ON YOUR KNEES
“Faith lies in the heart, not the head”. Joe Doe
I don’t particularly like organized religions. They are too complicated, they have too many
rules, and they can be too strict in their interpretations of what is right and wrong. That being
said, I also acknowledge that there are powers in the universe that we cannot explain, and religions give those powers a context.
I don’t particularly like organized religions… I acknowledge that there are powers in the universe that we cannot explain, and religions give those powers a context… There are also powers within ourselves that I cannot explain.
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Like many Americans, I wrap myself in the warm, protective blanket of religion around the holidays. On Christmas Eve I gather up the family and make my way to our church and spent a couple of hours in the company of our parish priest, choir, altar servers, hospitality ministers, Eucharistic ministers, and several hundred parishioners and let the holiness of it all wash over me. I love the passion of the holiday, the solemnity of the rite, and the power of the music. There is one song in particular that moves me like no other…”O Holy Night,” and where it implores you to Fall To Your Knees and at least entertain the notion that there powers around us that exist only if we have faith.
There are also powers within ourselves that I cannot explain. Speaking for myself–I don’t have the need nor the desire to understand the urges, the passions, the anxieties, the capacity for love and pain that constitutes my psyche. They are what make me who I am, and that is enough.
TASK
Find a quiet spot: a park, a deserted church, your backyard, a mountain, a beach, then fall on your knees, close your eyes, and try to connect with yourself. Once you make the connect, promise yourself to be a man who will do good, who will make change and who will love without reservation. Make peace with yourself. Make peace with your enemies. Make peace with the world.
Photo courtesy of Joe Doe