everyone contends with marginality
no-one maintains a complete sense
at least when they've been bumped around
by life a bit
no one maintains a sense of
O i'm in with the in crowd and i have no worries
young people allow themselves this illusion
and very young people if they are fortunate at all
don't have to worry about it
but people who experience the world for what it is
at some point are going to face up to their
relative marginality
can there be community at the margins
perhaps that's where community naturally is
i don't know
a person sits near a window
looks out to the world
sees the sky between the branches of the trees
can't think of anyone to call or talk to
his mind will not read a book
he doesn't have a clear sense of what he will do
or where he will go when he stands up
finished with his cafemocha
there are a significant number of people on the planet
who
every day choose to have a marked degree of empty space
for the eye to feast upon
large contained areas of empty space
vaulted ceilings of churches auditorium space
box stores
stadiums
these are places of huge congregation
these are places where it is possible to doubt
whether or not others exist
but it is nonetheless impossible to avoid them
they are all around you with the intention of
experiencing the same thing you are experiencing
i write from the margins
i write from outside the community
i write from the outside looking in
a perspective i had not considered
being this interesting
this very moment i am thinking of
sitting in the choirstalls
reciting the psalms
and knowing that i am in a community
normally right now i would be
preparing for mass and there knowing
i worship in a community
community is always a joint inquiry into
what will this day bring
insofar as i trust the prayers of others
i live in a community
and the distance is of little consideration
i'm going to say
today
community is a collection of people
who are very different from one another
who perhaps bear no common concerns
other than to
pray with and for one another
no matter how near or how far
the metaphysics of the 21st century requires
that we pray for one another
we are family
being in the world demands
a certain magnanimity
the dance is always
how to unleash or unfurl the
natural human tendency for magnanimity
community demands forgiveness
today
