The Catholic Thing

By Kilian McDonnell, OSB

“The carnality of the [Catholic] Church really drew me.” – Mary Karr

Catholicism isn’t for lotus eaters:
we put a body on the cross.
Like all dysfunctional families
we tear flesh, spill blood
before we eat.

To celebrate the naked Christ between
the thieves: jeweled crosses, purple
cassocks, lace cuffs, ermine capes.
Popes and bishops draw the line
at rouge.

We’re big on things we can touch:
wine, bread, oil, votive candles,
and sometimes, the palpable
body of man. The Word made flesh
weeps.

Kilian McDonnell, OSB
God Drops and Loses Things
St. John’s University Press
Collegeville, MN, 2009


See also the previous Wild Reed post:
The Inherent Sensuality of Roman Catholicism