The Blessed Sacrament: By Joshua Hope

Through the window on the altar

I see the beginnings of time;

I see the heart of eternity,

Welcoming me to shut the door on every worry.

Welcoming me to open it again

To the reality of a God who loves me.

'Lay aside your earthly cares'

And a nostalgic emotion tied to this adage.

Beckoning me. To draw nearer.

Nearer the Altar.

Eternity lies in this window.

In it, I see the culminating climax of time.

I see the life giving machine of validity.

From its place, it calls to me.

Welcomes me to liberate, 

To sweep up the only place I have ever known.

It unites itself with my cool, deep breaths.

My fading breath.

I catch it, holding it a moment,

Enraptured with the beauty that stands before me.

Through that window on the Altar,

I see the retirement of time,

Gentle and soft,

Peaceful and tranquil 

As a captured breath.

Welcoming me into a new reality

Leading me by the hand,

Each time that in awe and wonderment,

I stop, pause and look around.

Not a word to describe the beauty, the utter purity.

The conclusion,

The beginning? 

Who's to say? 

It is all a cycle in restless eternity.

Yet, there is something. 

Something in the uncertainty, which remains

Unchanged, 

Unstained,

A rock, a mountain, a boulder

It stands firm in this echoing, wonderful cartwheel 

of existence.

There!

How far? Where? When?

It has been there all along.

Through this window on the Altar,

I see the entirety of time.

Through the window on the Altar,

I see the very heart of God,

Calling me,

Welcoming me, 

To be the me He created me to be.