The scene is set in the quiet stillness of a sanctuary, perhaps during a moment of deep prayer. The Bishop, known for his fierce preaching on spiritual warfare, is conversing with his Lord.
Scene: A dim sanctuary illuminated only by candlelight. Bishop Mari Mari is kneeling, his head bowed. A warm, golden light fills the space, not blinding, but heavy with presence. Christus Rex stands before him, not as a distant icon, but as a living reality.
Bishop Mari Mari: (Looking up, his voice filled with reverence but also his characteristic fiery conviction) “My Lord, my King. I look at this world, and I see how he tricks them. The Deceiver. He dangles shiny things before the children of Adam. He appears in music, in movies, in the culture as something… rebellious, something strong. They think he is a prince of beauty.”
Christus Rex: (His voice is like the sound of many waters, yet gentle) “They see the mask, Mari. They see the memory of what he was, not the reality of what he has become. They see the Morning Star before the fall, but they do not see the crater left by the impact.”
Bishop Mari Mari: “I tell them! I tell my sheep, ‘Listen to me! If you saw him as he truly is, you would not bow; you would run.’ He is not a prince. He is a beggar. But Lord, tell me—so I may tell them with Your authority—what does he look like to Your eyes now?”
Christus Rex: “He is tired, Mari. He is ancient in the way a stone is ancient, but without the strength of the stone. He is withered.”
Bishop Mari Mari: (Nods vigorously) “An old man. A grumpy, ugly old man. That is what I feel in my spirit. He is bitter.”
Christus Rex: “Think of a fruit severed from the vine. For a moment, it retains its color. But without the sap, without the Life, what happens? It wrinkles. It shrinks. It rots from the inside out.”
“Lucifer cut himself off from Me, the Source of all beauty. Therefore, he cannot generate beauty; he can only mimic it. He is an ugly old man because he has been starving for eternity.”
Bishop Mari Mari: “Starving! Yes! He eats dust! And yet, he tries to paint himself with gold. He tries to look young.”
Christus Rex: “It is the makeup on a corpse, My Bishop. To My eyes, he is hunched over by the weight of his own pride. His eyes are not piercing; they are cloudy with envy. He is ‘old’ not because of time—for I am Ancient of Days and I am forever young—he is old because sin is exhausting.“
Bishop Mari Mari: (Smiling irony) “He is exhausted. That is good. I like that. He works so hard to drag souls to hell, and it makes him look like a wrinkled rag.”
Christus Rex: “There is no youth without grace. There is no light without truth. When he fell, he lost the ability to renew himself. He is stuck in that moment of rejection, decaying forever. When you see him tempt My children, do not picture a powerful warrior.”
Bishop Mari Mari: “No?”
Christus Rex: “Picture a desperate, toothless miser, clutching at coins that do not belong to him. He is ugly because he has no love. Love is what makes a face beautiful, Mari. He has none.”
Bishop Mari Mari: (Clasping his hands together) “I will tell them this. I will tell the young ones: ‘Why do you follow a loser? Why do you follow an ugly, old, broken thing when you can follow the King of Glory who renews your youth like the eagle?'”
Christus Rex: (Smiling, placing a hand on the Bishop’s shoulder) “Tell them. Tell them that the darkness is merely a shadow cast by a crumbling ruin. But I am the Light that makes all things new.”