Ash Wednsday

So we did as all good Catholic Hypocrites do and we got our ashes this morning AND we got Communion too! NO we are not the larger Catholic hypocrites who only go to church on Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Easter & Christmas and then talk so above ourselves. We actually do go every week!

Here's our frustration today, were taught that we need to pray in silence & in private. Not to boast about alms giving etc... But were supposed to walk around the whole day with a stamp on our head that announces HEY OVER HERE WERE CATHOLIC SEE WE WENT TO CHURCH TODAY! This is such a contradiction! And why do we make lent a big deal, we should have these behaviors all year long!

We do agree it’s not necessary to boast about alms giving or anything for that matter, it’s called being humble and boasting only makes you pompous anyway no one wants to hear you go about making yourself bigger then you are for your oneself purpose.

The gospel today said do not pray in public like the hypocrites! Which hypocrites is it that we speak of the Muslims who stop whatever they do at certain point of the day to pray? We think this is more devotion the hypocrisy!

When the ashes were placed on our heads the priest said 'Repent & believe in the Gospel'. Which gospel is it that you are referring? The ones only in the bible? Well that's selective don't you think? If you listen to anything in some other gospels that have been written that did not make it into 'The Bible', you'd find there’s a bit more to think about and believe then what were initially taught.

The homily today was fantastic, but really teachings the 'ideas' of lent should be carried the whole year through. Just as the 'spirit of Christmas' is a feeling we should have the whole year too!

Whats wrong with religious instruction?

Growing up we went to religious instruction. We went because our parents went, and their parent before them, its a cycle. Having grown up now with children of our own they too go to religious instruction. Receiving communion and confirmation is a rite of passage like having a sweet 16, but in gaining spiritual enlightenment thru education and personal life experiences, we can’t help but feel religious instruction is in some way brain washing. Kids are conditioned to believe the opinions of the church. Some of these opinions are good to believe like, "Thou shall not kill" but ideas like, "One Life", "Purgatory" or "entering into Heaven and Hell" are really opinions. Sure we are conditioned to believe these things are fact because the church says so because its what’s written in the bible and we believe these things because were told to take it on faith. But there are many Gospels that never made it into the bible because MAN decided to pick and choose what WE should learn and not learn.

Also faith like we've said earlier to us anyway is a God given gift we are all born with. 'Religion' is just rules put on that faith. So when you have a deep rutted faith (feeling) about one idea or another about the Divine, Heaven, God ect... who’s to say you’re wrong!? The youth of any 'religion' should be allowed to come to their own understanding and perception of Faith with guidance of other spiritual and faith filled people. Youths should be allowed find their own sense and connection to The Divine without being force fed info that has be determined by MAN to be a correct interpretation

One might ask then why do we still send our own kids to religious instruction?

We think religious instruction lays the ground work for a foundation of faith. It does put children on a good road to find a solid connection of their own with The Divine! That said, it may be beneficial to teach these 'church thoughts' as opinion not as facts.

What were feeling about the new translation in the Catholic mass

So I went to church Sunday, as usual. I go because it's part habit, part worship, and part gratitude. I'm sorry to say but my church does not feel as welcoming or comforting as it used to. Instead of feeling part of a greater community, I am an outsider. Not yet willing to conform to these changes, and to be honest I don't see that happening at all ever. What the Church (catholic church) is saying, is that we have strayed to far from the Latin original translation of our prayers. Almost as to say lost in translation. Well ok then, lets get this strait.... we've been saying it wrong all these years? Were our prayers not being heard? Was God sitting in Heaven going, ummm what are they saying here? I think not! I think God knows what were praying even if were off by a few words. Is he not all knowing? I don't think there is a language barrier. I believe that God understands our intent, HE gets whats in our hearts. I remember when my brother was little, for a long time he prayed "Our father who art in heaven "Howard" be thy name",  we never even noticed till one day he asked who Howard was?  Really I'm pretty sure God understood his prayer either way! How about when my daughter prays the Hail Mary, and says pray for our 'citizens' instead of sinners.
Why are these changes necessary then? What are the benefits? Besides making parishioners feel frustrated. I'm so disgusted I don't even chant my prayers with the group at church anymore and I know I'm not alone here!

Catholic Hypocrite

I'm tired of people asking me if I believe in God, tired of people telling me I have to practice my faith a certain way. So we mentioned earlier that we have a strong FAITH and that by faith we don't mean religion.  Let me explain.  I believe Faith is a gift that is given to each of us direct from God.  Religions are man made rules put upon  that faith.  We happen to be a part of the catholic 'religon'.  We find comfort in the routine of going to church on Sunday, in the community of it, chanting our prayers, which also by the way we say at home on a daily basis.  However through life experiences and having learned a bit about other religions over the course of my adult life my perception of what I have been told was my faith all the while became distorted.  I began to realize that  I was taught  this was the right way because the holy spirit told some someones many years ago this was it, this is how we should practice, and this was the way God wanted it.    But I'm quite certain I hear and am divine guided each day, call it the holy spirit if you want. To say I'm crazy would be no different then saying the Pope or Mother Theresa, The Apostles  were just as crazy. Now I am in no way putting myself in the same categories as the Pope or Mother Theresa, but just because my life is less holy doesn't mean that the thoughts in my brain and from my heart are any less from 'God'.  No one religion has it all right, though many will profess that they do, and many more will follow even though they have questions. How can we ignore so many spiritual experiences beyond  religious "rules" and be expected to discount it. Well that's what this ramble is all about. Ask questions people, interpret your Faith, Know that God speaks to us all.