Attending Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral
This was from a friend of mine
So on Sunday as a gesture to Mary Ellen who is nominally Catholic, and to Cory we attended mass at the magnificent (usually) St. Patrick's cathedral.
Mass was poorly attended and the entire of the interior of the cathedral was a huge mass of scaffolding. Here is symbolic point number 1: the work is presumably being done to repair the crumbling structure of the church building having not been maintained for many decades. I.e., I don't think they are doing this to create some incredible new vision of the cathedral. The sermon was very hard to follow due to the poor sound system and the priest was at the altar that seemed to be a mile away. The cathedral was slightly cool and dark and it was bright and hot outside. Probably close to the experience by a typical medieval mass goer. Believe it or not the sermon as best as I could make out was that we shouldn't concentrate on the seen, but that would should concentrate on the unseen and the life hereafter. That's what really counts. There were two collections and so I dropped a 20 for each collection. Here is the kicker - get ready for it. I didn't feel anything particularly one way or the other and as we sauntered out the bright sunlight hit me full force and what did I see right in front of me in all of its glory? The statue of Atlas boom right in front of me! I thought that that was so shocking and such a contrast to the whole mass experience that I just had to share it with you. I will leave it to you to connect the dots and write an essay about it and let me know what it all means if you ever feel like it.
So on Sunday as a gesture to Mary Ellen who is nominally Catholic, and to Cory we attended mass at the magnificent (usually) St. Patrick's cathedral.
Mass was poorly attended and the entire of the interior of the cathedral was a huge mass of scaffolding. Here is symbolic point number 1: the work is presumably being done to repair the crumbling structure of the church building having not been maintained for many decades. I.e., I don't think they are doing this to create some incredible new vision of the cathedral. The sermon was very hard to follow due to the poor sound system and the priest was at the altar that seemed to be a mile away. The cathedral was slightly cool and dark and it was bright and hot outside. Probably close to the experience by a typical medieval mass goer. Believe it or not the sermon as best as I could make out was that we shouldn't concentrate on the seen, but that would should concentrate on the unseen and the life hereafter. That's what really counts. There were two collections and so I dropped a 20 for each collection. Here is the kicker - get ready for it. I didn't feel anything particularly one way or the other and as we sauntered out the bright sunlight hit me full force and what did I see right in front of me in all of its glory? The statue of Atlas boom right in front of me! I thought that that was so shocking and such a contrast to the whole mass experience that I just had to share it with you. I will leave it to you to connect the dots and write an essay about it and let me know what it all means if you ever feel like it.
If you want to see Medieval, attend a Catholic funeral mass, which is not as extremely ritualistic as I recall a regular daily Catholic mass to be.
I with family attended my father's Catholic funeral this month after his body had to be transported from another state to Alabama to be buried beside my mother.
Among those viewing the mass were my adopted daughter and her brand new husband both with Protestant childhood backgrounds.
My son had seen my mother's funeral mass but I had to remind him that the "smelly smoking stuff" was called incense.
Off and on, the swings of an incense burner was paraded up and down and also so were the sprinkles of holy water.
When my dad's coffin received a healthy walk-around sprinkle of holy water, I could not help but think, "That should keep away the evil spirits after Dad's been dead a whole week."
Guess modern Catholics would just call that a purification rite and say no more.
After the mass, I remarked to my daughter and her husband, "Bet you never saw anything like that."
The hubby just somberly nodded and nicely asked if they could skip the graveside service.
I graciously told them that everything was cool. "Be safe."
Both my parents now lie side-by-side after receiving the all the Catholic rituals and rites they wanted. That's all that matters.
Friendships are valuable and to support our friends we join them in rituals they find important tho' are without meaning to us. This should be seen only for what it is, friendship and not support of the ideology behind the ritual.
There are two religious events I have attended in recent years, one was unpleasant from start to finish, in the other I felt ok at the time but looking back, I have some disquiet.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.758853,-...
I would not give them a dime. It was the story of Galileo that caused me at a young age to say no-way to the christianity and religion.
' Given that poorly defined and enforced property rights lie at the heart of so many environmental problems, especially in poor countries, this whole area is a big omission from this encyclical. ' from
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commenta...
The UK's Lord Monckton, a real climate expert, is a staunch Catholic, I wonder if he will comment.
tributing $20? So what did you expect to experi-
ence? Exaltation?--I am aware that all Galt's Gul-
chers are not required to be Objectivists, but I do
think it is still rather odd.
I've only been in a Catholic church twice in my adult life, once for a funeral, and once at the old Indian one south of Tucson and I can well remember the oppressive feeling of weight and doom and gloom that was present throughout those brief visits. In one way I was reminded of a carnival ride with all the decoration, the back ground of mystery for the laity behind the altar, and the acolytes in their robes with magic water and smoke. But it was also apparent that the parishioners gathered from the poor were expected to give, both financially (even if just pennys) and personally--to accept their life as it was with the word pictures drawn by the priests as hope and eventual payment for sacrifice of today's life.
The reasons one might find that entices entrance to the mysteries and magic contained within are really unimportant, compared to the revelation seen when returning to the light of the day and reality of individual achievement.
From a true Catholic
Most here at the Gulch are not going to share your faith, so that's something to be aware of.
More directly in response to your post, the point of the AS book is that Atlas should SHRUG OFF the world. As Galt, Rearden and Mulligan found in the book (and I'm sure many here in the virtual Gulch have also experienced) the moochers of the world will pile on and keep piling on, and nothing short of your total sacrifice is sufficient.
Those in the Gulch (both Virtual and literary) have recognized that a need on the moochers part does not necessarily create an obligation on the producers part.
Welcome to the Gulch.
VG