REMEMBERING GOD IN A BAR OR A BROTHEL










“It is better to sit in a bar thinking about God than sit in a temple or church thinking about whisky,” I told my wife, this morning.

“Who said,” my wife asked, even before I could complete the sentence, knowing well that it was not nine.

“I don’t know who said it,” I explained to my wife, “But Joe (my friend) sent it.”

“So, where you want to be,” my wife asked me, “in a church or in a bar?”

Joe has this uncanny way of making me laugh - mostly at my own self - early in the morning and late when I go to bed…. He and I, who are Catholics, who follow Jesus Christ… yes, he and I, both, know that we have met Jesus on the busy streets and in the midst of chaos more often than we have met Him inside the church. We have felt His touch more in our sorrows and longings than in the beads of our rosaries…

So, what is the point in being inside a temple or church thinking only about going back to wine, women and wealth? Is it not better to be in a bar, brothel or casino thinking about coming back to God?

“Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell,” said Bonnie Raitt, “Spirituality is for people who have already been there.”

“So, where you want to be?” my wife has asked me…

Joe, tell where!!!!

GERALD D’CUNHA
       Pic.: Anil Bedi

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