Ash Wednesday
Today is Ash Wednesday, which means good Catholics go to Mass and get ash crosses on their foreheads. But for me, a bad Catholic, I just decide what I'm going to give up for Lent. So this year, from today until Easter, I am going to give up candy, or more broadly, "sweets." That includes chocolate, candy, cookies, really any desserts; basically anything with sugar as its main ingredient. That does not include soda though, because I debated with myself about giving up soda and realized I couldn't do it, I'm addicted. Good Catholics may give up what's hardest to resist, but like I said, I am not a good Catholic. Plus, as Lent ends on Easter, a day of candy, I figure "sweets" are fitting to give up. So, wish me luck I guess, as the M&Ms and Hershey Kisses I have on my dresser mock me for the next 40 days.
4 comments:
Whoa! Although baptized and officially Catholic by family tradition, I take credit for making you a bad Catholic. Didn't know that Ash Wednesday or Lent were things you even paid attention to. Used to have that splash of ash every year in my Catholic school days. Today at work, my good friend Amy -- whose wedding I went to, came to work with a blackened forehead, and was so embarrassed because everyone made fun of her.
D
Don't get me wrong, I take pride in being a bad Catholic. There are some things in the Catholic Church that I don't believe in, but some that I do, so being a bad Catholic is more a choice than anything else. In today's world, it's true that people make fun of religion; some of it justified, some not. However, Lent is a simple time that any Catholic, bad or good, can observe, and so I chose to do so.
Truth is, I don't much like talking about religion, because it's just an argument waiting to happen, and there are so many stubborn, blinded opinions out there. Mine is probably one of them to a lot of people, but I know what I believe, and that is what's important to me. It's not that it makes me uncomfortable, it's just a lose-lose situation really.
And believe me, I value you raising me a bad Catholic. It allows me to be firmer in my own personal beliefs because nobody told me what to believe, I was allowed to discover on my own what I believed, and that, in my opinion, is much more valuable than the contrary.
Very well said, Kev, and I appreciate the sentiment very much. It is a very complicated subject for me with much good and much bad flowing from institutionalized religion. I have always valued spirituality and deep reflection which leads to personal strength, high character, and ultimately, happiness. Yet I have soured on the projected judgments of flawed human beings perpetrated in the name of religion. In my own self I have been conflicted -- not knowing what to keep and what to reject. From this, I have consciously (not accidentally) tried to show respect and tolerance for others beliefs as I know it is a positive force. Yet I have refused to give blind faith to man-made dogma which divides, shuns, and judges people to hell. In choosing how to deal with this subject with you, my own internal conflict has caused me to be cautious and deferential in your presence, and to allow you to be exposed to different points of view on your own, knowing that some day you would figure out your own path. Sounds like it worked. Cool.
P.S. This blog is a great way to have a conversation like this that I would never have with you in person. Thanks.
D
Yeah, I guess in a roundabout way, the exact thing you (and Mom) consciously gave me space and freedom with, I owe, in large part, to you. Funny how that works. I guess you'll never be able to escape responsibility for me, no matter how hard you try. :)
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