I’m watching the midnight mass from St. Peter’s Basilica in high definition for the first time.
It’s the most beautiful, awe inspiring thing I have ever seen on TV!
And I’m not Catholic.
I have watched it several times over the past 30 years or so. It was always interesting. But in high def, I mean, just WOW!
Now, I have to admit, my inner Mennonite is asking questions like, “How many hungry mouths could be fed with the gold in just one of those little statues?”
And, “How many houses could have been built with the human effort that went into constructing such a massive building?”
But now that I’m seeing the celebration in high definition, I’ve got to say the Catholics just might have the right idea. It’s truly awe inspiring.
And kudos to the Catholic Church for utilizing such modern technology to spread their message.
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Matthew Chapter 26:
3 When he was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head. 4 There were some who were indignant. “Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? 5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred days’ wages and the money given to the poor.” They were infuriated with her. 6 Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me.”
Mark and John record the same scene and say the same thing.
Fancy cathedrals and fancy vestments for the clergy to wear during worship services are the property of Christ’s Church, not those running it, and are there for the purpose of glorifying God. Which you obviously picked up on. :-)
The Church is active all over the world running schools, hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, and world-class scientific research facilities. Most who work in it live lives of meager poverty, some even taking a vow of poverty. But yes, some of her resources are spent on efforts to glorify God directly. The celebration of the Mass is an important thing, most particularly at certain high holy days, with all glory directed to God. I’m glad you feel we do it well; I tend to agree. :-)
The vows of meager poverty in the roman priesthood show up clearly in the photographs of this undoubtedly self-glorifying palace in the Vatican City, designed and built for the church organization by Bramante, Rafaello, Michaelangelo and many others over a span of some 120 years.
But I note with some irony that the place cost a lot of money, and that because of this, it was funded largely through sales of indulgences througout catholic Europe. Unfortunately for them, they sold these indulgences also in certain north german cities frequented by a monk named Martin Luther.
Thus the popes of Roman who insisted on piling up all this masonry — which some of us would say had more to do with physical beauty than with beatification — were the primary authors of the protestant reformation that ultimately ripped apart their power over western civilization and which led to the freedoms we now take for granted, and sometimes abuse and well as use.
As for Jeshua of Nazareth, all he really needed for his own pastorate was a small room, a donkey, and his unique vision which won the hearts and minds of so much of the population of this planet. And if you are truly believers, you probably would add that he needed and received the benediction of his own Father, the master of the world.
Or do you really think that a building, which in any case can be tumbled down by any common earthquake, is the representation of what you are to be celebrating this day? The catholics among my relatives assure me that the sprituality of their worship, occasional as it is for most Americans, runs deeper than adoration of the admittedly gorgeous scenery, the colorful robes and the clouds of incense. I would certainly hope so.
Anyway, they do put on a remarkably good show, and the Epicurean in me applauds the Roman Catholic Church for all that.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
As is so often the case, Arnold, you display a nearly invincible ignorance about the Church. Truths, half-truths, and untruths all mixed together in ways nearly impossible to untangle, and not worth trying on a day like today. So Merry Christmas to you, and may God bless you.
Ignorance ought never to be invincible, Dean, and I would be half the man I think myself to be, if I were purposefully to put up an impenetrable shield against either wisdom, truth or even someone else’s opinion.
But for those of us who are not believers in any particular version of a faith-oriented truth, how else are we even able to discuss these matters with a True Believer?
Anyway, Merry Christmas to you as well, and may either the one God bless you and yours — if that in fact is the heavenly order of things. Or may the Commitee of Gods offer the same honor and love, if that is the divine arrangement. And if its none of the above, just have a fine old-fashioned suburban american day-after-Christmas shopping blitzkrieg at the mall; and don’t waste your money on the badly-made chinese crap which constitutes much or even most of what you find in the big and little Walmarts these days.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
You’d be surprised at how much delight a 4 year old can get out of cheap Chinese crap, actually. Anyway, Merry Christmas! :-)
I assume the 4-year old you are talking about is your son Draco. I hope he has a life marked by his share of wonder, self-fulfillment, love, and the understanding of matters worldly and otherwise that (sometimes) comes with great age. If your church can help provide that, than who am I to grumble over the whys and wherefores?
It goes without too much saying that these hopes apply to you as well.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
The Church is only part of it, but sure.
The wonder of a 4 year old is pure joy. His favorite Christmas gift was a toy that cost about two bucks, a little slinky tube. Man if I could get that much pleasure out of two dollars I’d be a rich man. Well, come to think of it, I guess I am. ;-)
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