The Confessional

According to Baudelaire, “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.”

But I wonder. After shepherding the faithful for most of my still-limited adult life, was the poet wrong? Could it be that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he was God and then that God took the place of their devil?

Is it blasphemy to wonder such a thing?

For I have seen more evil in the faithful and more good in the faithless than any man thrice my age ought see.

And if I wonder it in my heart, mustn’t I wonder it aloud?

For I committed myself to the sacrament—the shepherding His flock. Is honesty not a prerequisite?

Are there dishonest questions?

You think me blasphemous, but let me tell you my tale. And then you may decide, my child, but I must warn you, alas, such things are secrets I barely tell—which I guard still in name though not in deed.

To be fair, they told me not to go alone from the outset.