Cui bono? (Who benefits?) *

I do not benefit

from ecclesial claptrap

couched in formal cadences

from churchy high places.

I do not benefit

from dogmatic gobbledygook

delivered sealed, signed, certified

from learned sources.

I do not benefit

from mystery parading as certainty,

impeding the quest for knowledge

with false starts and clues.

I benefit from truth;

truth said, truth thought,

truth done, truth taught,

truth the respecter of doubt,

truth uttered plainly,

truth lived with conviction.

I benefit from beauty;

beauty made, beauty seen,

beauty felt, beauty heard,

beauty the fruit of spontaneity,

beauty the child of labour,

beauty lived with joy.

I benefit from labour;

labour earnest, labour content,

labour productive, labour meaningful,

labour for its own sake,

labour sharing God's work,

labour done with dignity.

I benefit from love;

love from the heart, love boundless,

love with no conditions, love harnessed,

love challenged, love tested,

love the font of compassion,

love from need, love from duty.

I benefit from pain;

pain that tests, pain that teaches,

pain shared in anguish,

pain banished, pain defeated,

pain that brings me close to God,

pain the measure of my person.

I benefit from my humanity;

humanity distilled from cosmic chaos,

moving closer, ever closer,

to imago dei.**

I dare believe that I may also play a part

as God's stumbling helper.

I benefit from Jesus;

by what he said, by what he did,

by the roads he walked, by the meals he ate,

by his cures, his blessings,

by his challenges and condemnations.

I benefit from Jesus as imago dei perfecta, ***

and live in hope that by imitation and the grace of God

I too may be of benefit.

*Cui bono?: Who benefits? (pron. Kwee bono)

**imago dei: Image of God

***imago dei perfecta: Perfect image of God


© Karel Reus