Yeah, speaking of the cross, i've decided my first post will be about the recently concluded Holy Week. A little disclaimer: I'm a Roman Catholic, born and raised. I'm not religious in the traditional sense though. I'm (was?) a member of Youth For Christ so you get the idea. Reason for the explanation is that i firmly believe I'll be chastised by devout Christians after this post....
Coz of all the Catholic practices, Holy Week is up there with the I-just-don't-get-it type of things for me. You are made to remember Christ's death for a week (days? how long is it anyway?really?) eat anything but meat during the observance (what's with meat anyway?is fish 'meat' different?) and you get all sorts of reminders like: "Don't take a bath," "Don't go to the beach," (yeah, goodluck with that one.) Summarized, it's actually, "Don't be happy, Christ is dead."
I don't know about that last one, but i'll be damn scared if it was true. I mean, imagine even A DAY without Christ. Yeah, i thought so.
And really, if I were Christ, I'd dread the day the whole world mourns because I died. I mean, wasn't that the point of His resurrection, for us to remember that He's ALWAYS around?
Speaking of being Christ, I'd have a lot of questions--no, inquiries to be politically correct-- about certain traditions of which I'm supposed to be the center of. So let's pretend for the time being, blasphemy as it is,that I'm Christ (Okay Bro, you can hit me with lightning anytime now.) I'm supposed to be God's Son, almighty and stuff, but He decided humans are assholes in need of some saving so I was born in a manger instead of a cloudy, airy golden crib with angels hanging in my playpen singing You Raise Me Up. I grow up, preach and become one with the people: I live with them, eat with them, and get persecuted with them. 'Coz that's my goal--to be one and the same with humans. Right? I was the perfect picture of simplicity, selflessness and dignity.
So I die, rise from the grave and the rest is Bible history. Then people start building churches to, uhm, pray to me. First they were simple places of worship that transformed into--mansions. If one were to measure them, modern-day churches would probably own 80% of gold, gold paint, and gold-plated things in the world. Nothing wrong with that, really. I mean, if one wants to pray, it's best to pray in somewhere nice. Really nice.
One thing though, if I (Christ) wanted to be one with the people, plain clothes and all, then why are people celebrating me (Christ) and my miracles in a house of gold? It is also customary, required in earlier times actually, to dress up and wear something 'nice' when going to church. Didn't I (Christ) preached rocking a shepherd's getup?
No lightnings yet. Enough with this being Christ thing.
As i said, I'm Catholic and I believe in whatever good the Catholic Church teaches. What i don't get is the implementation of these beliefs (I say that in a very democratic, I-don't-want-to-get-crucified kind of way.) One should pray every 3pm and/or 6pm. One should go to church every sunday. Can't one pray while alone in his room on a Friday before going to a party? Or while in an MRT station waiting for a train? Of course one can, the church would say. But if you don't follow our rules, they would also say, you commit a sin. Amen?
And also, what ever happened to the supposedly greatest gift of God to man, you know, free will?.......
These are but one my many musings about the many things in this wonderfully twisted world of ours (I hope there'll be another time when i have absolutely nothing to do so i can put into words other ideas, though I doubt you'd want that.) If anyone can shed light unto them, good for you.
Every major organized religion has traditions. I think you're confusing enmity towards these traditions and your disdain for the skewed reasoning of the people behind the catholic church, specially when it comes to government meddling.
ReplyDeleteYeah, i recognize that, that's why i limited my post to the catholic ones..well, i wouldn't describe it as enmity or disdain, curiosity and logical inquiry maybe? and as i mentioned in the post, i have reservations about the implementation of Christian beliefs. It's hard to differentiate the true essence of a tradition from the logic and reasoning of those who initiated and implement(enforce?)them. For those who follow these traditions, utmost respect is what they deserve for they have their own reasons for doing so (not to mention probably more than half of them don't know the real reason behind the traditions)
ReplyDelete[Com’on. Christmas is celebrated here for months. And Holy Week = 7 days pisses you off? What’s wrong with remembering the death of Christ? If you’re a Catholic, you should know that his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection are central truths of the faith. On fasting and abstinence – what is so wrong with sharing in the sacrifice of Christ? To quote EWTN: “It is a traditional doctrine of Christian spirituality that a constituent part of repentance, of turning away from sin and back to God, includes some form of penance, without which the Christian is unlikely to remain on the narrow path and be saved (Jer 18:11, 25:5; Ez 18:30, 33:11-15; Joel 2:12; Mt 3:2; Mt 4:17; Acts 2:38). Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed (Lk 5:35). The general law of penance, therefore, is part of the law of God for man.”
ReplyDeleteOn meat and fish – this is simple. Meat has been generally considered luxury relative to fish. Thus we’d like a Quarter Pounder instead of Filet o Fish at any given time. And by the way Catholics are obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday only. All days of Lent are abstinence days (What’s one day in a week of seafood?)
On not taking a bath – nothing prevents you from taking a bath!
On going to the beach – If you’re really a Catholic, you should know that the right place to be during Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday is in church, not in Boracay. There are plenty of other weekends for hitting the beach.
Summarized, it’s actually “Christ died for us. He wants us to turn away from sin.”]
//I don't know about that last one, but i'll be damn scared if it was true. I mean, imagine even A DAY without Christ. Yeah, i thought so.
ReplyDeleteAnd really, if I were Christ, I'd dread the day the whole world mourns because I died. I mean, wasn't that the point of His resurrection, for us to remember that He's ALWAYS around?//
[Uhhhm, we’d like to be reminded that he died for use, saved us, and will rise again just like him. In the same way that we commemorate every year Independence Day, Rizal Day, Labor Day, etc. What is wrong with that?]
//Then people start building churches to, uhm, pray to me. First they were simple places of worship that transformed into--mansions. If one were to measure them, modern-day churches would probably own 80% of gold, gold paint, and gold-plated things in the world. Nothing wrong with that, really. I mean, if one wants to pray, it's best to pray in somewhere nice. Really nice.//
[More like houses of CEMENT. We need big churches to accommodate millions of worshippers. In many parishes, Masses are filled to the rafters even if they are done every hour. Sto. Domingo Church is nice. Manila Cathedral is nice. They provide people a solemn venue for prayer and worship. I’d rather not pray inside the toilet. We’d like a nice house, a big house. But you’d like us to skimp in building houses of God? And what’s wrong with having some gold? We want only the best for God. The bread broken during the Eucharist is placed on a gold paten, and the wine is poured into a gold chalice. We don’t want THE body and blood of Christ on paper plates and disposable cups. We don't want people showing their cleavages when receiving Christ himself in Holy Communion.]
//But if you don't follow our rules, they would also say, you commit a sin. Amen?//
[Com’on. You know the drill. Pray at night before going to bed. Pray in the morning to start your day. Pray before meals. Cyrian, God wants to have a relationship with us. And relationship means constant communication, prayer. Ang dalas natin mag text, mag FB/twitter at mag chat pero sa dasal walang panahon? The 3 pm and 6 pm prayers are devotions and are not obligatory. Of course, neglecting prayers is a sin. Not going to Mass on a Sunday without a valid excuse like sickness is a sin. This is like a club, or a union, there are rules.]
//And also, what ever happened to the supposedly greatest gift of God to man, you know, free will?....... //
[Wow. Seems like you slept through religion class. God gave men free will to do good and avoid evil. If you want to do evil, okay lang, well pray for you.]
//These are but one my many musings about the many things in this wonderfully twisted world of ours (I hope there'll be another time when i have absolutely nothing to do so i can put into words other ideas, though I doubt you'd want that.) If anyone can shed light unto them, good for you.//
[The problem is that people like the ceremonies of the church – baptisms and especially weddings, but don’t want to live the Christian life. They complain a lot but don’t want to transfer to Iglesia, which forbids eating innards and animal blood, or other weirder sects. Now you might ask me, by what authority does the Catholic Church impose these things? The answer is not short.]
woah, first of all thanks for the LOOONGGGG comment!i actually think it's longer than the original post!haha...
ReplyDeleteanyways..ill answer it one by one so you'd get the due respect for reading my blog and for this very long reply :)
first, let me clarify that I don't hate the traditions i mentioned above..they merely confuse and amaze me..that's why i said I don't understand them, particularly the holy week..you're absolutely right when you compared it with the celebration of Christmas..my point was, why can't we celebrate it everyday? i mean if we really want to share Christ's sacrifice, why do it for just a week?
also, my statements include, but are not limited to, the holy week...if i discuss what makes me curious about weddings, baptisms, and the like, maybe you wouldn't have the patience to read my blog!haha
second, im one of those who would prefer a fresh pink salmon over a double bacon deluxe anytime of the year! and im not saying that for the sake of discussion (anybody here wants to treat me to yakimixx??) so say i want to participate in the abstinence of meat, i won't be participating in the true essence of the practice, right? the point, again, is that why single out meat? and who proposed that not eating your favorite food is a form of sacrifice? again (and again) im not trying to contradict these christian doctrines, im trying to understand the reasoning behind them.
no bathing (the elderly told me so, one of the rules apparently, am i the only one who has been told this?) and no going to the beach..you said that if i were really a catholic, id know where to be during the holy week..in connection, you compared our want of big houses and stuff to building glamorous churches because as you said it's supposed to be for Christ..correct, praying should be done with respect, but respect is relative, isn't it? say a businessman who double-crosses people for a living goes into a church, prays his heart out every sunday, would you say he's religious, would that be ok? would that be more ok than a single-mom in tattered clothes, praying inside a cubicle in an mmda urinal in edsa, begging the Lord for something to eat? respect is relative...i don't believe i need to go to a so-called "holy" place just to pray..(and for the record, gold in churches ain't just "some")
as for not attending the sunday mass being a sin, short example..Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo goes to mass every sunday..i know a mom who doesn't, but offers her life to the betterment of her kids..you decide :)
as for praying, i totally agree with you with that one..we tweet, we chat all the time, why not pray all the time right? yeah, exactly my point..thus, we don't need no time slots to pray, we don't need no dates..every this, and every that, every sunday, every first wednesday or whatever..pray all you want, whenever you want.
since you quoted me, ill return the favor :p
:[Wow. Seems like you slept through religion class. God gave men free will to do good and avoid evil. If you want to do evil, okay lang, well pray for you.]--- im pretty sure you misunderstood the context of my statement there..what i meant by free will is that, can't we pray without thinking of rules? can't we profess our faith without worrying whether it's a sin or not because the church said so? aren't church people human also? if one is a sinner by simply not going to church every sunday, doesn't that alienate others who want to go to church, maybe mondays?
"by what authority does the Catholic Church impose these things? The answer is not short."---- i bet it isn't, but i little effort from them trying and explaining it to all :)
erratum:
ReplyDelete"by what authority does the Catholic Church impose these things? The answer is not short."---- i bet it isn't, but i see little effort from them trying and explaining it to all :)
//why can't we celebrate it everyday? i mean if we really want to share Christ's sacrifice, why do it for just a week?//
ReplyDelete[We Catholics celebrate and proclaim Christ's sacrifice EVERYDAY. It's called MASS. Not only do we worship God in Mass, we receive his body.]
//also, my statements include, but are not limited to, the holy week...if i discuss what makes me curious about weddings, baptisms, and the like, maybe you wouldn't have the patience to read my blog!haha//
[I have lots of patience. Try me. :))]
second, im one of those who would prefer a fresh pink salmon over a double bacon deluxe anytime of the year! and im not saying that for the sake of discussion (anybody here wants to treat me to yakimixx??) so say i want to participate in the abstinence of meat, i won't be participating in the true essence of the practice, right? the point, again, is that why single out meat? and who proposed that not eating your favorite food is a form of sacrifice? again (and again) im not trying to contradict these christian doctrines, im trying to understand the reasoning behind them.
[Salmon is expensive. Try tilapia. Substituting porkchop with Norwegian salmon in my view is not penance. Why meat? It's tradition. We inherited these traditions from the first Christians, those who knew, or knew those who knew, Christ. And there are other forms of penance, like not going to the beach on Good Friday. If you listed to the priest last Ash Wednesday, he would have said that Lent is a period of praying, fasting, and almsgiving (charity).]
//no bathing (the elderly told me so, one of the rules apparently, am i the only one who has been told this?)//
ReplyDeleteI haved scoured the Catechism and nowhere does it prevent good hygiene.]
//and no going to the beach//
Yes. Be united with Christ's suffering. Building sandcastles and watching girls will distract you from that.
//praying should be done with respect, but respect is relative, isn't it? say a businessman who double-crosses people for a living goes into a church, prays his heart out every sunday, would you say he's religious, would that be ok? would that be more ok than a single-mom in tattered clothes, praying inside a cubicle in an mmda urinal in edsa, begging the Lord for something to eat? respect is relative...i don't believe i need to go to a so-called "holy" place just to pray..(and for the record, gold in churches ain't just "some")//
Praying is for everyone. Even for sinners. Of course you can pray anywhere, anytime. But Sunday Mass, attendance is a must. We have obligations as Christians. Faith without good works (which includes keeping holy the Sabbath day) is dead.
//as for not attending the sunday mass being a sin, short example..Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo goes to mass every sunday..i know a mom who doesn't, but offers her life to the betterment of her kids..you decide :)//
the mom should seek God's help. she can't do it alone. she needs God. Now, Gloria is welcome to church all the time. Who knows what's inside her heart. The same thing goes for us. Nothing stops us from going to Church and begging forgiveness after committing sin.
//we don't need no time slots to pray, we don't need no dates..every this, and every that, every sunday, every first wednesday or whatever..pray all you want, whenever you want.//
But Sunday Mass is a commandment. There are lot's of time slots for Sunday Mass. There are masses in the morning, 6 to 9 am, and masses in the evening, 4 to 8 pm. There's no excuse for not attending mass, unless someone is sick or incapacitated in some way. Attending Mass is a separate obligation from praying.
//can't we pray without thinking of rules?//
Of course. Don't think in terms of rules. Think in terms of building a relationship with God, and maintaining that relationship.
//if one is a sinner by simply not going to church every sunday, doesn't that alienate others who want to go to church, maybe mondays?//
one is a sinner if he doesn't go to Mass on a Sunday out of sheer laziness. The commandment is to keep the Sabbath, not Monday, holy.
//"by what authority does the Catholic Church impose these things? The answer is not short."---- i bet it isn't, but i see little effort from them trying and explaining it to all :)//
How about a little effort from you? Catholicism is an adult faith. Go to Catholic websites and explore our faith even more. Study the faith. Read the bible. Who knows, you might get the answers you are looking for.
Ang mga relihiyon, kapag pinagkumpara, parang magkakaibang anyo ng gobyerno-- may kani-kanyang istruktura at batas. Mayroon kang pupirihin at ipagmamalaki at meron ding tiyak ang iyong pupulain.
ReplyDeleteYung tungkol sa bawal na maligo tuwing Holy Week, pamahiin iyon na nahugot mula sa matinding debosyon sa Katolisismo, di yun parte ng doktrina. May mga ganyan ding sistema sa iba pang relihiyon, aminin nila o hindi.
Yung tanong na bakit hindi natin (Katoliko) gawing araw-araw ang paggunita sa pagkamatay ni Hesus-- eh, tingin ko, alam naman kasi natin na 'bola' lang ang kauuwian ng sagot.
Bakit pa ba naimbento ang araw na Linggo para ilaan sa pagsimba di ba? Ang ibang relihiyon, may partikular na araw din para sumamba o mangilin sila. Ganundin ang lohika kung bakit week lang ang Holy Week at sa Pinas ay ilang buwang pinaghahandaan at ipinagdiriwang ang Pasko. Tao lang kasi ang bumuo ng doktrina ng isang relihiyon.
Sa mga sambahan o simbahan o pook-dalanginan, bakit nga ba pinagaganda- mala-palasyo....
ang sagot, dahil likas sa tao ang magtanong at maghanap ng 'diyos' o makapangyarihang lumikha... at kapag sa paniwala nila ay nasumpungan nila iyon-- paglalaan nila iyon ng magandang lugar sa kanilang tirahan, sa komunidad. Kung hindi man gumamit ng imahen, lilinisan at lalagyan ng matibay na bakod ang sambahan, sa paniwalang ikalulugod 'makita' iyon ng diyos.
I'm a Catholic... in paper, to tell you honestly for some big reasons-- naging isyu man sa akin ang existence Niya pero may pananaw pa rin ako na di ako yung tipong lilipat pa ng relihiyon.
Nasa akin ang problema (siguro).
Hindi naman kasi relihiyon ang magsasalba sa akin kundi yung paniniwala ko o tinatawag ng iba ay pananampalataya.
Pero ang nakakaasar lang sa ibang tumatalikod sa Katolisismo ay paggamit nila ng litanyang 'pero nang ako ay mapabilang sa ____ (bagong relihiyon), malaki ang ikinabuti ng katauhan ko at pagkatao ko'
naaasar ako sa kanila, kasi parang as if napariwara sila dahil sa relihiyong kinalakihan- hindi naman kulto ang Katolisismo... kalokohan naman iyon.
nice blog anyway
to toplatsi (aka wilson,haha):
ReplyDeleteYung tanong na bakit hindi natin (Katoliko) gawing araw-araw ang paggunita sa pagkamatay ni Hesus-- eh, tingin ko, alam naman kasi natin na 'bola' lang ang kauuwian ng sagot. === well not really, kasi relative pa rin naman siguro ang way ng paggunita sa pagkamatay ni Hesus..we each have our own way of paying tribute to him, so some can do it everyday i guess..
"Tao lang kasi ang bumuo ng doktrina ng isang relihiyon." - mismo!
"sa paniwalang ikalulugod 'makita' iyon ng diyos. " - exactly my point. sa tingin ko lang kasi, kung ako yung tipo ng diyos na simple, hindi mahilig sa karangyaan, hindi mahilig sa ginto, eh hindi rin siguro ako matutuwang makita na yun ang mismong inaalay sakin ng mga tao, tingin mo?
Hindi naman kasi relihiyon ang magsasalba sa akin kundi yung paniniwala ko o tinatawag ng iba ay pananampalataya. - yes!
//kasi relative pa rin naman siguro ang way ng paggunita sa pagkamatay ni Hesus..we each have our own way of paying tribute to him, so some can do it everyday i guess..//
ReplyDeleteof course. but we also have to keep the commandments, like keeping holy the Sabbath day, which for Christians is Sunday, the first day of the week, the day of resurrection.
See 1 Cor. 16:2 - Paul instructs the Corinthians to make contributions to the churches "on the first day of the week," which is Sunday. This is because the primary day of Christian worship is Sunday.
//"Tao lang kasi ang bumuo ng doktrina ng isang relihiyon." - mismo!//
Nope. The sacraments, our central activities -- Baptism, Confession, The Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick were all established by Christ.
//sa tingin ko lang kasi, kung ako yung tipo ng diyos na simple, hindi mahilig sa karangyaan, hindi mahilig sa ginto, eh hindi rin siguro ako matutuwang makita na yun ang mismong inaalay sakin ng mga tao, tingin mo?//
Mary was washing Jesus' feet with expensive perfume. "But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii [2] and given to the poor?' Jesus said, 'Leave her alone, so that she may keep it [3] for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.'".
FYI. The Church is the world's largest charity organization. Maraming bahay ampunan, ospital, etc. ang simbahan.
//Hindi naman kasi relihiyon ang magsasalba sa akin kundi yung paniniwala ko o tinatawag ng iba ay pananampalataya. - yes!//
This is what St. Paul said about religion: 1 Timothy 3:16 "No one can deny how great is the secret of OUR RELIGION: He appeared in human form, was shown to be right by the Spirit, and was seen by angels. He was preached among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, and was taken up to heaven." [Good News Bible] The early Christians had RELIGION. Now if you want to be a Christian, you need RELIGION.
to anonymous:
ReplyDeleteall your opinions are based on the bible i see, but have you ever wondered about the veracity and accuracy of the bible? again, don't confuse this statement as the questioning of the values and teachings of the bible..im merely asking something logical..sometimes, the best written works have typos, news aren't always true to the letter..so have you ever wondered in the possibility that the bible now is somehow different (if not totally divergent) of the bibles in the 19th, 13th or 1st century? it's 2,000+ years old right?
furthermore, for clarity..
ReplyDelete"The sacraments, our central activities -- Baptism, Confession, The Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick were all established by Christ."
no, these traditions (or implementation thereof) are the representation and symbolism of SUPPOSED works of Christ AS PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THEM..they are not exact, absolute truths my friend
//have you ever wondered in the possibility that the bible now is somehow different (if not totally divergent) of the bibles in the 19th, 13th or 1st century? it's 2,000+ years old right?//
ReplyDeleteCorrection: 3,000 years old. The earliest bibles we have date to the 4th century. I'm not worried. Because we have the Church, the authentic teacher, and authentic interpreter of the bible. In any case let me quote an essay: "There is far more evidence for the Bible than there is for certain books of classical antiquity that no one dreams of disputing. There are, for example, only fifteen manuscripts of the works of Herodotus, and none earlier than the tenth century; yet he lived four hundred years before Christ. The oldest manuscript of the works of Thucydides is of the eleventh century; yet he flourished and wrote more than four hundred years before Christ. Shall we say then 'I want to see the handwriting of Thucydides and Herodotus or else I shall not believe these are their genuine works. You have no copy of their writings near the time they lived; none, indeed, till 1400 years after them; they must be a fraud and a forgery'?"
//no, these traditions (or implementation thereof) are the representation and symbolism of SUPPOSED works of Christ AS PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THEM..they are not exact, absolute truths my friend//
ReplyDeleteBelieving that the bible, while written by humans, is inspired by God requires faith. The sacraments are in the bible. The Church administers them because Christ plainly commanded so or did them in his ministry. There is no reading between the lines there. The plain meaning of the text of the bible is there. That is why the Church as been doing this for 2,000 years. These are teachings that the human mind can conclude as reasonable.
Get a bible and look this verses up. Brush up on your catechism.
Baptism : Matt. 28:19-20 - Jesus commands the apostles to baptize all people "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Confession : Acts 19:18 - many came to orally confess sins and divulge their sinful practices. Oral confession was the practice of the early Church just as it is today.
Eucharist : Acts 2:42 - from the Church's inception, apostolic tradition included celebrating the Eucharist (the "breaking of the bread") to fulfill Jesus' command "do this in remembrance of me."
Confirmation : Acts 8:14-17 - the people of Samaria were baptized in Christ, but did not receive the fullness of the Spirit until they were confirmed by the elders. Confirmation is a sacrament that Jesus Christ instituted within His Catholic Church to further strengthen those who have reached adulthood. Even Kate Middleton thought she needed confirmation before marrying Prince William.
Matrimony : Eph. 5:22-32 - Paul says that the sacramental union of husband and wife is the image of Christ and the Church. Just as Christ the Bridegroom and His Bride the Church are inseparable, so are a husband and wife also inseparable.
Holy Orders : There were bishops in Paul's time. 1 Cor. 4:17 - Paul calls Bishop Timothy a beloved and faithful "child" in the Lord. 1 Tim. 3:2 - Paul cites a requirement on becoming a bishop.
Anointing of the Sick : Mark 6:13 - the apostles anointed the sick with oil and cured them. This is a sacrament of the Catholic Church instituted by Christ which heals us physically and spiritually. James 5:14 - the presbyters (priests) are called to anoint the sick with oil and pray over them. Their sins are forgiven. This is the sacrament of the sick, also called extreme unction.
to anonymous:
ReplyDeletewell, i don't think i can explain enough my point with regard to the differences in the versions of the bible. i don't question it's inspiration, i'm merely asking whether it's as the same as it was before, because i know you know it went under a lot of revisions.
"There is no reading between the lines there. The plain meaning of the text of the bible is there" - i sure hope so, so that a lot more people would be able to understand it..
anyway, thanks for taking time to comment and expound on your beliefs..i'm not out trying to convince people with my ideas, i'm just trying to elicit thoughts and opinions..i'm old enough to know i won't be able to and shouldn't try in the first place..continue to be passionate about your beliefs, as i know i will be :)