{"id":201,"date":"2012-08-31T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/6403f581-6b44-4b2a-85b9-12b1790bbb30"},"modified":"2012-08-31T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T05:00:00","slug":"the-holy-man-and-his-shadow-a-story-of-redemption-in-three-parts-part-three-communion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/?p=201","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Man and His Shadow, A Story of Redemption in Three Parts, Part Three: Communion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Holy Man and His Shadow<\/span><\/p>\n

A Story of Redemption in Three Parts<\/span><\/p>\n

Part Three: Communion<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

He awoke in
\na dark chamber surrounded by all manner of animals and beasts, monsters, and
\nbirds, bats, ghosts, skeletons, reptilian creatures, giant toads and frogs,
\nlizards and snakes, horses and buffalo, giant fish stood around him too on
\ntheir fins even though he didn\u2019t feel like he was in water any longer.  Still they were there.  He saw vagabonds and beggers with red, frightened
\neyes.  There were women standing around
\nhim in chains, battered and beaten.  Old
\nmen stood around him covered with bloody wounds.  Soldiers stood with rifles and gaping holes
\nin their chests.  They wore arm bands
\nwhich bore his image.  They saluted him
\ngravely.  All manner of people from every
\nreligion of the world stood around him each with their bodies mangled and tortured-but alive staring at him.  Gnarled trees stood nodding their barren
\nbranches.  And the children\u2014they tore
\nthrough his insides like none of the other ghoulish visions.  The children stood around him, some radiant,
\nsome smiling, some playing catch with little rocks and stones, others looked
\nclearly beaten and abused, but they lived looking at him with wide, hollow
\neyes.  As he looked around, blinking at
\nthe horrifying images, he noticed the room was illuminated by a milky blue
\nlight.  He also noticed he was still
\nbound by the shadows.  He screamed as one
\nof the ghostly children stepped to where he was kneeling.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you see
\nme?\u201d the boy asked, moths fluttering from his open mouth.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said
\nthe holy man, \u201cI see you.\u201d  And he began
\nweeping.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is
\ngood,\u201d said the child and he reached up and tore away a piece of the holy man\u2019s
\nshadow and placed it before him like a communion wafer.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The holy man
\nopened his trembling mouth and the child placed the piece of shadow on his
\ntongue.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The holy man
\nwinced as he swallowed the shadow.  It
\nmoved through him like a virus warming him with sickly fever.  He trembled and opened his eyes.  Before him stood another child, this one had
\nbeen abused and battered.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you see
\nme?\u201d she said.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI see you,\u201d
\nwept the holy man.  And then she tore a
\npiece of his shadow and fed it to him as the little boy had done.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The holy man
\nconvulsed as the poison flowed through him. 
\n<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

One by one
\nthe beings of this horrible circle–the monsters and ghosts, beasts and demons,
\nsaints and sinners, the people he had judged and disowned, the nightmares and
\nvisions of ageless beauty, his mother and father, grandparents and ancestors, the
\ntrees and fairies, gods and goddesses–each one asked him the question as they
\nchildren had done.  Each time he answered
\nin the affirmative they fed him his shadow until at long last he could move his
\nnumb, heavy arms.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

A group of
\nmen wearing brightly colored robes approached him. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the
\nwriters of the holy book,\u201d they said, \u201cand we would like it back.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The holy man
\nhanded it to them.  They wrapped its shadow
\naround it like a shroud and then turned and disappeared into the circle.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The holy man
\nlowered his head, exhausted.  And then
\nthe last one to step before him appeared. 
\n<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

A shiver ran
\nthrough his fever-racked body–a shiver of exquisite relief.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew you
\nwere here,\u201d he said gasping for breath.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know you
\ndid,\u201d the Comforter smiled, and she lifted the last piece of his shadow and held
\nit in the space between them.  He tilted
\nhis head back and opened his mouth.   He
\nwaited.  Nothing.  He looked at her.  Their eyes locked together.  Finally she moved her hand and placed the
\ntattered piece of shadow into her own mouth. 
\nHe screamed as deep shame burned through his body.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the
\nonly way,\u201d she said, \u201cNo one can digest their entire shadow without the help of
\nsomeone who loves them.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

And the holy
\nman fell into her arms and wept like a baby. 
\nHe sobbed and sobbed clutching her for dear life.  After a long time, he was able to sit up in
\nher arms.  She cradled him as he opened
\nhis eyes and looked around him.  He wept
\nagain and collapsed into her arms as the intensity of beauty of the vision
\nflooded his heart and soul and mind\u2014the monstrous circle had become a circle of
\nluminous angels, each one more beautiful than the next, and all of them
\ninfinitely beautiful.  They were clothed
\nin deep white robes with crowns of gold. 
\nSome carried swords and others cups of wine; some carried musical instruments
\nor baskets of fruit, several of them held infants in their arms.  The angel children waved at him with sweet,
\ntiny hands.  And as the Comforter rocked
\nthe holy man the angels drew closer and began to sing.  At first their voices were hushed like the
\nmorning but soon were rejoicing with the full strength of day, with the full
\nglory of spring.  And as they sang the
\nComforter carried the holy man in her arms and lead them all on a joyous
\nprocession to the village in the valley of the hill.  As they neared blossoms sprung at their feet,
\nbirds circled and sang out with the angels, and the villagers came running up
\nthe road to meet them and they all joined in the song.  The young woman who had tried to heal him
\nwith the blue streamer embraced the Comforter and the holy man.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo there
\nwas hope,\u201d she wept.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said
\nthe Comforter, \u201cyou and the others gave it to him and it was ultimately too strong
\neven for his cold heart.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d
\nsaid the holy man to the young woman, \u201cThank you for helping me see myself.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re
\nwelcome,\u201d she said touching his face, \u201cI am so happy for you,\u201d And she turned
\nto join the singing and the heavenly parade.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you
\nthink you can walk yet?\u201d the Comforter asked the holy man.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would
\nmuch rather stay in your arms.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

She laughed
\nand lowered him to the ground and said, \u201cIf you\u2019re able, you must walk among
\nus.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are
\nwe going?\u201d he asked.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo the
\ncastle of the King and the Queen.  They
\nare holding a feast in your honor.  For
\nyou were once lost and now you are found.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Holy Man and His Shadow A Story of Redemption in Three Parts Part Three: Communion He awoke in a dark chamber surrounded by all manner of animals and beasts, monsters, and birds, bats, ghosts, skeletons, reptilian creatures, giant toads and frogs, lizards and snakes, horses and buffalo, giant fish stood around him too on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}