WHO AM I? WHY WAS I BORN?

I created you all out of an infinite love.

I hoped that you would love me in return.

But I knew that love could not be forced.

A love not freely given is no love at all.

So, I gave you the right to choose your own paths.

I gave you absolute freedom.

Yet, there must be justice.

Actions do have consequences.

Wrongs must be righted.

The guilty cannot go unpunished.

Still, I desire mercy - not sacrifice.

So, I sent you my son.

I became one of you.

To set an example for all to follow.

To show you my love.

To pay the penalty.

To satisfy the needs of both justice and mercy.

He took on your faults, your ills, your failures.

He suffered your punishment.

In return, all that was asked of each of you

Was that you believe.

That you accept.

That you follow in my son’s footsteps.

Instead, you ignore his lessons.

You scorn his sacrifice.

You do only what pleases you.

And what is the result?

People continue to suffer.

People lead selfish, aimless, pointless lives.

Who am I?

Why was I born into the world?

To be forgotten?

To be used by some to justify their selfish desires?

To suffer for nothing?

To watch you abandon me, and everything I taught you?

Every day I watch

As you kill your own souls

As you strangle the trusting child within you

As you squash hope

As you smash innocence

As you throw away your faith

And substitute it with emptiness

With shallow, hollow dreams and pursuits.

I lie in my bed of straw

And look at you with your fine clothes

Your fancy cars,

Your expensive homes.

I look into your souls

Polluted by lust, by power, by greed.

I look at you with selfless eyes

And see nothing but selfishness staring back.

I look at you with eyes of pure love

And I see nothing but hate

Nothing but despair

Pouring from your eyes.

I cry in the night,

And wonder if you’ll forget my death

My sacrifice of love.

As you’ve forgotten my birth.

You’ve tossed me from my crib,

And filled it with vain hopes

And useless things.

Who am I?

Why was I born?

Who will remember?

Who will still care?

2, 000 years from now?

by Paul M. Riordan

Christmas Eve, 2000

Questions or comments please send them to Paul.