Am I supposed to be impressed? Was it the marble pillars or the overabundance of the feast that was supposed to make me ooh and aah? Did you expect the soldiers and guards to astound me or was it the quick, cold efficiency of the servants that was intended to give me chills? Did you really think this pitifully extravagant display would strike awe into me? Don't underestimate us.
Do not forget the countless others that came before you. Remember the ruined empires that once held these lands and the kings whose current descendants make their livings in mines and from behind small market stalls. Remember that in this empire you are a dynasty; you are here because one greedy man killed another greedy man and your line will be cut down just like the one before you. Laugh all you like at the commoners that I call my brothers and sisters but I will remind that one hundred such men as you have risen and fallen from sovereignty in the mere infancy of common farms. And if a mere farm goes on for centuries, showing no interest in the men and women of power who mark its longevity, until something finally comes to snuff it out, then what of the Church. What of the Body that is based neither in the ambitions and artificiality of the world nor in the ancient remnants of holiness in Creation but rather in the eternal power of the Creator?
Banners of war have been sent out and bloodied and scorched and forgotten, and we have endured. Cults and fashionable philosophies have spread like wildfire and burned themselves out just as recklessly, and we have endured. Capitols have been demolished and sown with salt, and we have endured. Skeptics have wallowed in their self-imposed ignorance until everyone ceased to care about their denunciations of knowledge, and we have endured. We have taken on worldly power and seen the gangrene of sin infect our leadership and by the endless grace of God we have endured!
And what of these weapons? Do you think these can bring us down? No, I tell you do not imagine for one instant that your bullets will last longer than our willingness to suffer for Him! Understand this: that guns do not win wars or put down revolutions, it is fear that does that. But what do we have to fear? If you are to make us afraid of death then I am afraid that fear has all been spent, it is what made us in the first place. And we shall respond with a weapon which is beyond worldly understanding. Already, our grace has broken through your frontlines.
You take pride in the strength of your war machine, but what is it in comparison to the Body? Can it possibly hope to even mimick our fullness, our complementary tones and balanced extremes? Do your analysts dine with your soldiers? Do your soldiers learn to write poems and your propagandists learn to fight while each still remain themselves? Ours do. We are as multifaceted, as random in appearance, and as strategically constructed as a forest.
If you think you are superior in lifestyle, that you can tempt us with feasts and treasures, you are to be disappointed. Look around you! The finer your feasts, the more preoccupied the guests are with appearance and reputation and the less real pleasure they are able to partake in. Do you take even the slightest enjoyment from those delicacies you gulp down? I would not trade one afternoon among my brothers and sisters for every pleasure you can offer.
And all this because the King of Kings is in our midsts. The One who set the world in motion and calls every star by name is our commander and He has called us His blessed children.
So I'll tell you one more time, for your own good. Don't overlook us.
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