a priest's musings on the journey

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Perspective: On Celibacy - Part 2

For me celibacy is about choice, sacrifice, and spiritual discipline. I realize that it is quite a counter-cultural way of being, particularly in the gay community. My hope is that it also serves as a prophetic witness to both the gay community and the straight community. What I find fascinating is that many of the conservative Christians who condemn me as an immoral abomination, either practice or turn a blind eye to heterosexual promiscuity. One of the fruits of my fasting is, I hope, a dismantling of the negative stereotype that the religious right places on all gays. We are not all promiscuous, sex hungry, depraved animals (even if ++Akinola wants to describe us as such). Many of us live productive, holy, responsible lives. All of us are certainly not celibate, but many of us abide by the virtues of fidelity and monogamy- which are in themselves prophetic statements against a culture of lust and human objectivity.

Make no mistake, though, my choice to be celibate does not make me holier or better than any other person. Monogamous sexual relationships within the bonds of holy matrimony and covenanted same sex unions are as sacred as the vow of chastity. All the springs from love's fountain in honorable and holy. The truth is, that even if I were totally free to be sexually active, I would still practice chastity in singleness. I am so passed promiscuity and the need to have sex for sex's sake; I want more than that for myself. I love and respect myself too much to settle for a quick roll in the hay with some guy I just met at the bar. I deserve commitment, fidelity, intimacy, compassion, and the kind of exclusive love that drives a person to forsake all others to be given completly to another. I may never be able to experience that: that might be what I choose to fast for a greater good. But if not, I will not settle for anything less just for a quick thrill.

That's my choice: my lifestyle: my desire. It does not make me better, but bit does make me authentically me.

pax padrerob+
:: posted by Padre Rob+, 10:34 PM | link | 1 comments |

Perspective: On Celibacy

I am often asked by non-Episcopalians how it is that we Anglicans are different from the Romans. I rehearse the standard litany that we memorized in seminary- or was that Confirmation class?- and somewhere in the list I say, "...and we Anglican priest's do not have to take a vow of celibacy; we can marry." Of course, if they know I'm gay the next question is, "even if you're gay? You can have a partner?" Then I explain that yes, in some parts of the Anglican Church a gay or lesbian priest could in fact be partnered, but that it is a source of great contention in the wider Church.

I happen to be in a diocese that has three very supportive bishops, as far as the issue of the inlcusion of gays and lesbians in the Church is concerned. I have been encouraged and accepted by my bishop since I first came out to him almost three years ago. I believe that if I were partnered that I would continue to have his support, and yet, I am not partnered. I am not even dating or looking for anyone special. In fact, I have been celibate for the past two years.

When some in the gay community discover that I'm celibate, they don't quite know what to think about me. When they find that it is my own choice, and not one forced upon me by an ecclesiastical authority, they think I have lost my mind. Why would I be celibate if I did not HAVE to be? Believe me, it's a question I ask myself often. I am not celibate because I feel called by God to live life as a chaste human being. I do not have the vocation of singleness or chastity that a monk or nun might have. Nonetheless, I choose to be celibate because that lifestyle makes life easier for me. Even though my bishops are supportive, a large number of parishes in the diocese do not share their vision for the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the Church. They might accept it "over there somewhere", but they don't want a partnered gay priest in their parish. So, being single makes me employable in the buckle of the Bible Belt.

More importantly, being celibate gives me the hope of being able to spend as much time in my son's life as possible. His mother struggles with homophobia; a fear that she never had until we separated. In college and grad school she had many gay and lesbian friends. She studied with them, went to dinner and parties with them, socialized with them and prayed with them. I never heard her say one derrogatory word about gay people- until those hurtful words were directed at me after our separation. Of course, I know where those words came from- they came from the same people in the Episcopal Church who are tearing our Church apart because they allow fear and hate to rule their hearts rather than mercy and love. Because of this fear and ignorance, she believes that I am an immoral person. I actually believe she thinks that I will somehow turn our son gay- as if I had the power to even do that. This fear has led her to keep our son away from me as much as possible. So, I live a chaste lifestyle to allay her fears, and to give myself a chance to be as involved as I can in my son's life.

For the past year I have felt abused and less than human because of this choice. Yes, I make it freely, but only because unjust circumstances demand the choice be made. And what's worse, is that is doesn't seem to have made any difference. I am still not in a parish - in fact I was forced to resign my last parish by a very homophobic bishop, even though I was celibate- and my ex-wife still refuses to adopt a custody arrangement that would allow our son to be physically present with each of us in an equitable manner.

However, this week I had an epiphany. I can't remember what I was reading, but a monk was speaking about his vow of celibacy. He spoke of it in terms of spiritual discipline: he spoke of it in terms of fasting. It dawned on me that my celibacy was indeed a fast. I don't feel called to chastity and I might or might not remain celibate forever. But, in this season of my life, it is the fast that I must make. I give up the goodness of sexual intamacy for something even better: for time with my son; for the ability to exercise my priestly vocation. By making it a spiritual discipline and a seasoned fast, I take away the abiltiy of the unjust to oppress me. Instead, just as Christ was empowered by the Cross to win Victory over evil and death, I will become empowered by my choice and I will gain victory over my oppressor's desires to make me a victim. In my weakness, Christ will be strong; in my darkness, Christ will be light.

I would not be honest if I did not admit that this choice fightens me a bit. My greatest fear is growing old and being lonely; not having someone to be intimate with- not sexual with, but intimate with. I do not want to end up like a grouchy, frustrated, bitter old man. I want to love and be loved; to nurture and be nurtured; to embrace and be embraced. For now, I can only lay those fears at the feet of the one who walked the treacherous waves of the storm- tossed waters and said to his disciples, "Do not be afraid: it is I." For now, I can only look for nurture and compassion in the community of the baptized and in my families of origin and choice.

I hold on to my hope and belief, that in the end all will be redeemed; all will be made right. All that I have suffered and sacrificed will have been for some greater good- and all will have been lifted up and hallowed in the great Sacrifice that God made, when God was humbled to become a human being and humilated to die as a criminal: then the victory of the Cross and Resurrection will be the victory that we all share, in some part now, but its fullness when the Day of Peace holds sway.

padrerob+
:: posted by Padre Rob+, 3:53 PM | link | 1 comments |

Monday, August 28, 2006

Perspective: I'm A Lot Richer Than I Think

I hate to admit it, but I've been feeling sorry for myself lately. For days I've brooded and sulked because I can not find a job in a parish, have spent all of my savings and am basically living from paycheck to paycheck, do not get to see my son as often as I'd like, and have a very meager social life because I simply have neither the time nor money to go out with anyone except my closest and dearest friends.

I could certainly argue that I have a right to wallow around in self-pity, but I can't make that argument honestly. The last few days the Spirit has opened my eyes and reminded me how blessed I am. The first reminder occurred on Friday afternoon. I had just left work with my paycheck and was on my way to Wadesboro to celebrate the birthday of a friend. I was stopped at a traffic light and noticed to my left a 30's something, distraught man, head lowered, carrying a box with all of his possessions that had once held a place in his office. It was obvious he had just lost his job. I couldn't help but wonder about him. What had happened? Did he have a family to go home to? How would he tell them? Did he get a severence check? Was there enough money in his savings to get him through unemployment? Would he still have health insurance? What would happen to him? As much as my current secular job sucks, and as much as I pray with all of my heart to be employed in the church again, the image of his hanging head calls out to me, beckoning me to be grateful for the job I do have.

In Wadesboro, the conversation after dinner wandered to a discussion about a young family whose infant son has recently been diagnosed with lieukemia. The family is devastated, obviously. They are frightened and worried about what might become of their son. Will he suffer too much from the treatment? Will the treatnent even work at all? Will their dreams for his future ever have a chance to materialize? And then, of course, there are those nagging questions that often times creep into our hearts: Did I do something to cause this? Is God punishing me? Has God abandoned me? As much as I grieve not being able to see my son everyday, and as much as I lose patience with not being able to talk with him on the phone each day, the distraught faces of those frightened parents cries out to me, calling me to be thankful that my son is healthy and strong.

Today, the news has been filled with stories of Katrina survivors. I've seen pictures of gutted out houses and even more pictures of heaps of rubble, spilling into the streets in sections of New Orleans that are still uninhabitable. Many of the people from these parts of New Orleans are being housed in small trailers- housing scarcely adequate for a single person accomodating entire families. How can this be? How can American Citizens still be living in third world conditions a full year after the disaster? Have the survivor's lost hope? Do they feel abandoned by their leaders? Will their lives ever be the same again? I look at the rubble and the crowded trailers, and I am indicted for my complaining. No, I can not afford the four bedroom house on the lake anymore. I can not afford to hire a landscaper, I can not send my clothes out to be laundered, I can not hire a nanny for my son; but I have a home, I have the strength to take care of my own lawn and to launder my own clothes. In fact, I lack nothing. Not only am I wealthier than most people on this planet, in spite of my lack of resources, I am also rich in the most important treasures. I have an abundance of the riches of family, friends, health, creativity, imagination, and intellect. My life is quiet and peaceful. There is no violence in my neighborhood. I am not worried about being shot or abducted or enslaved. I do not live with the fear that a bomb might drop over my head any moment. I still enjoy basic civil liberties and freedom to be who I am and say what I believe.

So, how dare I sulk. I am blessed more than I deserve. I live a life that many in the world can not even dream of anymore. How dare I sulk, when I should be offering prayers of Thanksgiving and learning more about how to be involved in making a difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate than I am.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.

padre rob+
:: posted by Padre Rob+, 7:48 PM | link | 0 comments |

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Sermonette: Proper 16B - 27 August 2006

Joshua 24:1-25; John 6:10-20

The reading from Joshua recounts the remnants of a liturgy in which Joshua, in his final days as the leader of the Israelites, calls the people of God to finally reject the foreign gods of their neighbors and covenant to be faithful to YHWH. Joshua reminds the people of God of the mighty saving acts God has performed for them, and challenges them with a choice: "Choose you this day whom you will serve." To which the people of God respond, "We will serve the Lord, for He is our God."

The choice of the Israelites is paralleled with the choice the disciples are called to make for God, after being confronted with the revelation from Jesus that he is the living bread that came down from heaven. Many of Jesus' disciples were offended by his teaching and abandoned him. Jesus asked the twelve, "will you also leave me?" Peter replies, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

That moment when we are confronted with the decision to choose God or not comes to each of us at some point in our lives. For most of us, the choice is made for us by our parents at Baptism. Later, we affirm our parent's decision and choose God for ourselves in Confirmation. But what is it that we are choosing? What are deciding when we declare, "we will serve the Lord, for He is our God?"

I am concerned about the state of Confirmation in our Church, because instead of being a reaffirmation of the choice for God, it seems to be more like a rite of passage celebrating adulthood and the exodus from the Church. Part of the reason for that, I think, is because we do not take the Sacrament seriously. The Church doesn't teach what the choice for God means, and the confirmands rarely consider what the implications for choosing God are for their lives. "When Jesus calls a man, he calls him to die," said Bonhoeffer. The choice for God is the decision to pick up the Cross and follow Jesus. It is the decision to reject the attachments to the things of the world and to accept the values of God in Christ. Whenever the decision for God is made, one is inevitably confronted with the disparity between the values of the world (or one's on values) and the values of God. As a result the disciple of Jesus is constantly called to continue to affirm the choice for God in each moment; it isn't a once-for-all decision made when the Bishop lays his hands on our heads and renews in us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Findley Edge once said, that " any time the way of Christ collides with the way of the world, a cross is raised and we must choose whether or not to take that cross as our own." In these moments we are faced with the decision to choose God and follow the path of Christ, or to deny Christ and follow the path of the world. The decison is rarely an easy one, because the choice for God, the decision to bear the cross, usually leads one through the way of suffering. It calls for a death to Self; it opens one up to ridicule and persecution from the world, but ultimatley, it leads to resurrection and life in God. Sometimes, we choose what looks like the easy path; we refuse the cross, hoping to avoid its pain and suffering. The way of the world may appear to be easy and pleasurable for a while, but ultimately it too leads to death, but an alienating, lonely one, detached from life in God.

The choice for God and the cross is the choice to give up our own agenda for Christ's. It is the decision to follow Jesus Christ wherever he leads; to share the love of God and the hope of reconciling life with those whom Jesus embraces- the outcasts and disposessed unwanted by the religious establishment and ignored by the world. Giving ourselves to God always means giving ourselves to others as Christ- no matter what the cost.

From the beginning Jesus' mission was rooted in Love and sacrificial giving. His teaching redefined what it was that united us to God and one another. Instead of a religion of rules, Jesus proclaimed the standard for holiness is Love. When we choose God, we choose the way of Love. It is the way of Love, in fact , that empowers us to continually re-affirm our choice for God, and which calls us to repent- to turn back to God when we deny Him. St Teresa of the Child Jesus wrote, "How sweet is the way of love. One can fall or commit infidelities, but, knowing how to draw profit from everything, love quickly consumes everything that can be displeasing to Jesus; it leaves nothing but a humble and profound peace in the depths of the heart."

The choice for God is never an easy one, but it is the decision that we are faced with in every moment that our desire to be like Christ collides with the world's temptation for us to be like it. Every moment the Holy Spirit calls to us, "choose you this day whom you will serve?" The way of the world is often attractive, but at the end of the day, it is not really an option, because we know the confession of Peter is true: You alone, Lord, have the words of life. Lead us in the paths of truth and life; protect us from the distractions that obscure your footsteps that we are called to follow; spare us from the weariness that comes from choosing the way of the world; and unite us to the mystery of your life-giving Cross which we are called to bear for the love of the world. Amen.
:: posted by Padre Rob+, 12:34 PM | link | 0 comments |

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Sermonette: Proper 15B - 20 August 2006

Proverbs 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:53-59

In Sister Act, Sister Mary Clarence, the Las Vegas Lounge Singer hiding in protective custody in a convent, offers words of surprisingly rich wisdom to the inner city students in her music class: "If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you'd better wake up and pay attention!" That's essentially the same exhortation given by the writer of the Epistle to the Ephesians. The day is evil: society is filled with moral laxity, ethical uncertainty, and shameful, even debaucherous behavior. The Church is infiltrated with false teachers who embrace the character of society and proclaim a message that is antithetical to the teachings of Christ. Thus, the members of the Body of Christ, called to a different way of living, need to be on guard; they need to be awake and watching, lest they be led astray by a false gospel or beguiled by behaviors that are unbecoming for one who has been united to Christ.

The exhortation is to live wisely. A daunting task for many on a good day, except that the necessary Wisdom comes from Christ Himself. Holy Wisdom, who as early as the time of the writing of Ephesians was already identified as Christ, is praised in Proverbs for her generous self-giving, inviting all to her lavish Table, and feeding them with Her very life giving self. The writer of Ephesians echoes this theme, calling the members of Christs Body to be drunk on the Spirit of Sophia instead of being drunk with wine: to be filled with the Spirit, as the disciples were on the Day of Pentecost, which produces Wisdom, instead of being filled by things of the world, which produce foolishness. Inebriating Wisdom draws us into real living; it leads us towards Christ-like living; it sustains us into the very life of God. Intoxicating Folly directs us towards false living; it tempts us to adopt a lifestyle of self-centeredness, lustful pleasure and greed; it threatens to cut us off, even remove us from the life of God. If we hope to abide in Christ, as St John encourages us to do, then we must be on guard: vigilant, alert, and careful to follow Wisdom's path.

Christ proclaimed the very message that the Epistle writer reiterated. We are invited by the Spirit to be a part of the life of God. We are incorporated into the Divine life by the graciousness of God Himself, and we are sustained and matured in the Divine life by the self-offering of the very life giving Body and Blood of God. In fact, Christ proclaims, unless we are nourished by His Body and Blood, we will die. But, as we are fed by the true Bread of Heaven, we are transformed to become like Christ- we learn the mind of Christ and grow in Wisdom as we take into ourselves the Being of Christ. Over time the way we see the world changes; the way we understand who we are changes; the way we perceive others changes. We see reality as it really is: as it is seen and known by Christ. We learn to live in God's true reality; we learn to recognize the Wisdom of God, revealed fully to us in Jesus Christ. We learn to reject the invitation of Folly to become drunk on temporal pleasures that will not sustain us and which will only pull us away from the Source of Life. We learn to be guided by God's Wisdom into a life of self-giving other-centeredness and compassion; into a life that is united and flows from the very life of God.
:: posted by Padre Rob+, 8:18 AM | link | 0 comments |

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Sermonette: Proper 14B - 13 August 2006

John 6:35-51

Many of us Anglicans, especially the High Church ones, find great comfort and peace in this reading from John's Gospel. 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry; whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.' After 2000+ years of Christian Tradition and worship, we know what Jesus is talking about here. Every Sunday we approach the Altar with awe and joy to receive the Body and Blood of Christ and to enjoy all of the graces and benefits that God gives to us in these holy mysteries. But imagine what these words would have sounded like to the original audience. Especially when Jesus adds, ''¦and the bread that I will give to the world is my flesh.' The Jews were horrified! How dare this simple carpenter from Nazareth suggest such an abominable practice. Even to this day many Protestants refuse to accept the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist because they are offended at the suggestion of eating our Lord's flesh and drinking his blood. I get asked questions all of the time like,

'So, is it the pre-resurrection or post-resurrection Jesus that you're eating?'
'Why does it look like bread and wine if it is the body and blood of Christ?'
'Isn't that just cannabilism?'

If I were a Lutheran or a Roman Catholic, I'd be able to give them very well worked out philosophical answers to these and other questions. But for us Anglicans, these questions take away from the nature of 'holy mystery.' Yes, privately we each have an opinion about exactly how it is that Christ is present. But officially, we, following the ancient Tradition of the Church, still preserved in Eastern Orthodoxy, are content to say that Christ is truly present'¦ and leave it there. We believe this, in contrast to the 'symbolic' views of our more Protestant brothers and sisters, because it is clearly taught in Scripture by our Lord Himself and is the unanimous witness of the Early Fathers. It is also the experience of our faith and worship.

But why is this such an important issue? What is Jesus saying when he says he offers his very flesh and blood for the life of the world? Why are we fed with the Precious Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar? Well, I'm not going to go through the Scripture and the Fathers and offer 'proof texts' for the belief in the Real Presence (although if you'd like that send me a note privately and I can do that for you). Instead, I want to talk about the Sacrament in general and its place in our life (and spiritual journey.)

First, we need to go back to Baptism. In our baptisms we were united to Christ and made members of His body, members of the community who share in the life of God. When we were raised from the womb of the font, we were sealed by the Holy Spirit and made a new creature. From that moment we began, what will be a lifelong process (and for some of us this process may continue in the life to come) of becoming like Christ. This is in fact the goal of our lives: to become like Christ- which is really another way of articulating being united with God. To help us on this journey towards Christ and God, we are given grace at Baptism to assist us in our struggle to let go of the 'the world, the flesh and the devil' as the old prayer book stated it, and to turn to God. God continues to offer us grace and strength through the Holy Eucharist. In the Eucharist, the body of Christ gathers and assembles as One to partake of the One bread and the One cup. In this holy communion Christ offers his body to us, so that in our partaking, we may become what we are- what we were created a new to be at Baptism: the Body of Christ, present and active in the world. By partaking of the very life of God in the Body and Blood of Christ, we are sustained in our continuing struggle to be liberated from 'the world, the flesh and the devil' and are empowered to continually turn towards God. We receive holy communion often because we need the grace it gives. Our struggle against our 'fallen' selves and the evil in the world can be a struggle rife with suffering and failure. How many times, like St Paul, do we find ourselves bemoaning our sins and confessing our desire to live more like Christ? Paul wrote:

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God'through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:21-25)

The Early Fathers acknowledged this struggle in the Christian life as well. The 'rescue' of course is Christ; and the holy communion offers a temporary aid or cure to our 'sin sickness.' The Fathers called holy communion the 'medicine of immortality' because by it we find spiritual restoration. By this 'medicine' Christ, to quote the Orthodox saint, Hesychios, 'will enlighten our mind ever more and cause it to shine like a star.'

We are offered the Body and Blood of Christ so that by receiving the life of God, we may become the Body of Christ. St. Augustine wrote:

Let us rejoice, then, and give thanks that we are made not only Christians, but
Christ.... If he is the head and we the members, then together he and we are the
whole man. If, therefore, you are the body of Christ and his members, it is your Mystery
placed on the Lord's table; it is your Mystery that you receive.... Be what you see,
and receive what you are.

But before we can receive the life which unites us and forms us as the Body of Christ, we must present ourselves to God. In the Offertory we present bread and wine to become the Body of Christ, but in order for us to receive its benefits, we must also offer ourselves as living sacrifices, so that the Holy Spirit may descend upon us as well, and through the holy communion we may also become the Body of Christ. When we do this together, we are united with others who are also journeying towards union with God, and we are also united with those in glory who already know the fullness of God.

And the promise and the hope, given by our Lord Himself in today's reading from John, is that those who are nourished on His Body and Blood, will be given life- abundant life, and on the Last Day, Christ will 'raise them up' into the eternal Life of God. On that day, the victory won by Christ by the offering of Himself on the Cross and through His glorious Resurrection, will be realized and known by all who have engaged in the struggle to resist the world and to turn to God. Thanks be to God.
:: posted by Padre Rob+, 8:15 AM | link | 0 comments |

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Sermonette: Sunday After Transfiguration - 6 August 2006

Then it happened. A sudden... light flashed all around. The light was bright orange â then white, like thousands of lightning bolts all striking at once. And... the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.

These two sentences sound like they are describing the same event. But, in fact, they describe two different events that are juxtaposed against one another in today's calendar. Both events were occasioned by a brilliant light which shone brighter than the sun. Both flashes of brilliant light were overshadowed by a cloud. Both moments changed the world.

Since ancient times this day has commemerated the Transfiguration of our Lord upon the holy mountain. In a moment, the appearance of the human Jesus was changed and his body radiated the glory of His divinity. The apostle's were able to recognize the true identity of Jesus, confirmed by the voice of the Father from a cloud.

For the past 61 years, this day has also commemerated the bombing of Hiroshima. In a moment, the appearance of the world changed and the earth was envelopped in darkness and suffering, and the worst of what makes us human was revealed, confirmed by the mushroom cloud which overshadowed death, destruction and dispair.

I was tempted to write in a parallelism, that in the blinding light of Hiroshima, our true identiy was revealed; but that isn't true. We cam not deny that we are capable of great evil- just look at what is happening on this 6th day of August in Sudan, Iraq, and Lebanon. At our worst we are selfish, greedy, and lustful of power and wealth. The Evil One draws us toward those sinful identities; but that is not who we really are. In truth we are good- the children of light. In reality God is working in us, molding and shaping us to be in the likeness of Christ. We await the day when we will stand before God, and the glory of the Divine Son will radiate through us, when fully united with Christ, we will share in his glory and participate in his divinity.

The good news that we proclaim today is that as evil as we may become, that is never the final action. God has the final say: the mystic cloud of the Divine Presence overshadows our cloud of destruction. We kill and destroy- God breathes new life and ressurrects; we cover the light by the darkness of our sins- God ignites the flame of His love and rekindles the light of Christ among us. When we create hell, God transfigures it into Paradise. That is the hope; that is the message we proclaim in our Gospel: by the power and love of God, we are being transfigured: we are being united with God and with one another.


Holy God, you require us to pause and remember the unimaginable ...
At 8:15 a.m. on August 6 and at 11:02 a.m. on August 9, atomic bombs were dropped over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You ask that we remember the human shadow imprinted on stone. You ask that we remember the standing charred body of a woman, one leg lifted as though running while clutching a baby to breast. You ask us to remember black rain and children on fire and a little boy calling to his dying brother. Forgive us black rain and the ashes of children. Forgive us the human shadow imprinted on stone. Amen.
(a prayer from the Presbyterian Church)

May the souls of those who died +in Hiroshima and Nagasaki rest in the mercy of God our Savior.
:: posted by Padre Rob+, 8:11 AM | link | 0 comments |