THE THOMIST'S REPLY TO THE NEW AGE

Because there is no Hell
we have no need of sacraments
or prayers to appease
a vengeful god.
If there is such a thing, god
must be full of love
(as even Christians say)
and no god of love could condemn
a merely human soul
to fire
forever and ever.

Besides, nothing lasts forever
except, perhaps, Everything --
though not in the same form.
We all are constantly changing
even god (if we call it that)
must be ever growing
every coming more fully
into the enlightenment of love.

Christ himself is evidence of divine change:
once God, then Man,
then God-Man.
So too may we become
if we only learn to love enough --
not that we must embrace
every stinking wino,
like Mother Teresa or something --
certainly she was full of love
but that was her way, not ours.
Each must find his own way.
Each must choose what's right
and no one's path is the same as another's.
With apologies, dear Thomas,
Truth is not absolute.
It says so in your Bible:
Pilate asked
and Jesus could have answered
if he chose.

ON THE CONTRARY
He did answer, when he said:
"I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Light.
No man comes to the Father except through Me."
And as for Who he is and ever was, have you not read: "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God."
"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in the darkness
and the darkness comprehendeth it not."
And did not He who said:
"I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the Last"
say also: "I am the Lord, I change not."

I ANSWER THAT
There is one way, not many.
One Truth, and one Light by which to see the Truth.
And God does not change:
The One Who Is, has always been,
will always be, One God--
Father, Son and Spirit;
Maker, Word, and Wisdom--
First, Last, and Always.

We mortal men stumble through
this waste we call the world
blindly reaching for His hand,
the only thing which keeps us from falling.
To cast that away is to dwell
in the darkness you have made yourself
through sin, for God damns no man to Hell.
He gave us the privilege of damning ourselves
that we might be sons, and not slaves.

God will lead you to the cup,
but if you do not drink,
who are you to blame
except yourself?
And if you have not eyes to see
still you may know Him
in the breaking of the bread
and if you have not ears to hear Him
in the sound of sheerest silence
still His words are written down
in black and white, and read aloud
that all might know.
What you will make of them
is up to you.