Every year, I go to the Easter Vigil service (it's a Catholic thing). My current church has a very nice ceremony. It's always a wonderful mass to attend. After weeks and weeks of Lent, alleluia! It's such a touching and beautiful ceremony, I'm always surprised more people don't go. Maybe it's the fact that it's 3 hours long...
But what always surprises me is the number of people who want to become Catholic. Easter Vigil is when adult seeking to join the Church are initiated. I have a hard time understanding it. I really didn't have a choice. I became Catholic because my mom made me. Not that I mind. It's just that if I was an adult, and was posed with the idea of becoming Catholic, that'd take a lot of convincing.
Because after all, there's so much suffering involved. There's all the guilt. It's not fun. It's a lot of work. It's church every week. It's holy days of obligation scattered throughout the year. It's all this responsibility.
But I guess there are good things about being Catholic. There's so much tradition. But the thing I like the most about being Catholic is that it's work. There's no lip service. Being Catholic is all about getting your hands dirty. It's doing good in the world.
So congratulations to all those new Catholics out there. It's time to get busy.
You're right. I became catholic at 21 and it did take a few years of convincing.
ReplyDeleteIf you're someone who grew up without religion, like me, sometimes you think that if your spouse has a faith that he or she follows, you will go and become one of that faith. It's not a bad idea. I might just become Catholic one day, but I have seen that it's a heck of a lot of work. Maybe that's why all of those people are there. Happy Easter, PGY-2.
ReplyDeleteIf you think Catholisicm keeps the traditions and is a lot of work, look into Orthodoxy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.suscopts.org/