Historical Setting, 610 C.E. Besançon Fortress
We are, with the help of God, setting the prisoners of Besançon free. The Father and Gabe have already escaped into the tunnel and no one was alerted to that escape to chase after them. Surely they are safe by now.
The prison guard and the five prisoners freed from the chains in the dungeon are here inside the church. Greg, as the soldier he is, continues guarding the church door. The bishop watched us all pour through the doors of the basilica. He assumes I am the monk he was just speaking with, though I have no idea what we were talking about, and Greg who was that monk now is the extra soldier who seems to confuse the Bishop. Where did he come from, and whose side is he on?
The prison guard seems recovered from his strange warp of empathy and returns to his post to guard the Father. Greg watches him to see if he notices that the Father also escaped and may try to rally a search.
Inside this sanctuary the bishop stands in judgment of these five frail and starving prisoners. In his questions for me are those timeless concerns about the healed blind man that baffled Jesus’ disciples and the authorities in John Chapter 9. Was this suffering caused by his own sin or was the cause the sins of his forefathers?
It’s the age-old question about outcasts. Surely those of us with privilege must be blessed because of our earned goodnesses. So those who aren’t privileged, caught in poverty, subjugation, bias and abuse by us, the privileged, must be deserving of their misfortune. So what was the sin?
“Confess your sins.” The bishop asks them. “That I may plead for your absolution.”
Dear God, Let us who have eyes but can’t see beyond our own good fortune know your love also. Let us notice that your judgment of the lame, the blind, the poor, the demoniac, the outcast, is really the same forgiving love you have for me and the bishop, the guards and the soldiers. Let even those of us who are privileged be free of the chains we forge for the ‘other.’ Forgive us our sins as we forgive…
Greg comes inside and whispers to me we need to leave quickly now, the guard has summonsed soldiers. Greg and I slip away, down into the tunnels while all these others in the church have eyes closed in prayer.
(Continues Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023)
Lazarus Ink 