Come Aboard!
Majestic liner cruising bottomless seas
Desiring pure, chaste, and virtuous ports afar.
Spacious staterooms and cabins arranged for a queen.
Oceans ahead so smooth she'd skate not sail,
This mystic vessel is the "Ave Maria."
The fleet of three, berthed along the bay front dock,
Denying the birth of God and the Trinity,
Set sail for the good of mankind, this truth they hold.
But rocky shores and stormy waters do slow
The "Socinean," "Arian," and "Nestorian Sword."
Bustling harbors, vivacious yachts; beauty!
But truth?
The waters sullied by some fifty shades of grey,
Loud shrieks of pleasure heard from the deck below board.
Haunting, treacherous shallows and bars along the way,
Her lifeboats more seaworthy than the "C. Jansen" herself.
One noble craft to satisfy all man's yearnings is now ashore.
Come aboard, all aboard!
Rich and poor alike, there are no tickets for sale, nothing to buy.
All one must do is choose.
- Gary Edward Geraci
"Come Aboard" is a poem about invitations and choices in life. Jansenism, named after Cornelius Jansen (the "C. Jansen" in my poem) informed early religious thinkers to view the body and sex negatively. This conflicted with the noble eros of desire through love that has been placed by God within each of us. We rebelled, starved to fulfill our desires, and disappointed in religion that failed to answer our questions regarding desire and love. Being human, we took it way too far, leaving religion and God entirely behind (for the most part), and overindulging in finite pleasures (thinking about the sexual revolution that began in the 60's) trying to satisfy the desire for the infinite love placed in each one of us by God. The naming of the three vessels berthed along the bay front dock come from the names of teachings the Roman Catholic Church classifies as heretical. The intellectual and magisterial tradition would say that these teachings contain "some" truths that God can use for the salvation of souls but not the "full" truth. The vessel in my poem containing the full truth is the "Ave Maria," a metaphor to the Roman Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) who was born into the history of mankind in a stable to a virgin named Mary. In his book "Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing" Christopher West teaches "Many people see sex as the most powerful and attractive experience life has to offer-and far more fulfilling than anything "religion" seems to offer. But in the end, frauds never pan out." Did you read the book Fifty Shades of Grey? I did not and I do not recommend it either. I'm only using it as a mile marker for this period of history I live in. How many millions of copies has this book sold? The act of having lifeboats on the C. Jansen is no trivial matter! Most of us have had to use them to abandon ship and God's infinite mercy will always bring us back home. There is a better way to fulfill these God created, wild desires of ours - think of Jesus' wild desire and love for each of us! Quoting West "When we are staved for beauty something dangerous happens. As with an unfed dog, our hunger can become ravenous... we scorn truth without beauty... we porn beauty without truth."
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