Queen of Swords
August 26, 2003, 02:21 PM
Today a group of Catholics came to my parents' house to pray for them. My parents aren't Catholics and my father disagrees with practically everything they say, but he said nothing because he thinks that anyone devout and kind-hearted enough to come to his house and pray for him deserves a hearing. I heard my mum looking for a clean white cloth - which the Catholics had apparently asked her for - but I was busy writing and didn't pay any attention to what was happening in the living-room.
After the Catholics left, I went to the living-room to take away the empty water glasses. I walked inside and stopped dead. A white towel had been spread over the top of the stereo. Standing on it, in the place of my parents' photograph, was a two-foot-tall framed picture of a long-haired Jesus, holding up his hands as though he was going to squeal, "Girlfriend!" and smack someone playfully. On either side of him were smaller pictures of Mary and some saint I didn't recognize; directly before the picture was a six-inch-tall crucifix and a bowl full of lighted candles. There was also another, taller candle in my saucer (!) and two rosaries, one dark red and one dark blue.
I stared at the entire set-up for a long moment and then said, "Dad, you're not going to leave this here, are you?"
My dad, who had been saying just the other day that he didn't like all this Catholic kowtowing to graven images, muttered that the Catholics had erected the thing out of the goodness of their hearts. "Besides, they'll be back in two weeks to take it away."
"Oh, good," I said. "I just hope the pastor of your church doesn't drop in before then. You know, if we put a few flowers there and maybe a lingam, it'll look like a Hindu shrine."
"What's a lingam?" my mother wanted to know, although she didn't like my answer very much. Anyway, I had no idea that part of Catholicism involved the construction of elaborate shrines for people who might not even be Catholics. Will the prayers not work if one aspect of the set-up is missing, like the white towel? How long do the candles have to burn? (My dad blew them out immediately, so I said, "Happy birthday!") And most of all, what's the difference between this and so-called pagan rites?
Oh well, two weeks more and Jesus, along with his painted entourage, will have moved on to blesserize someone else's home.
After the Catholics left, I went to the living-room to take away the empty water glasses. I walked inside and stopped dead. A white towel had been spread over the top of the stereo. Standing on it, in the place of my parents' photograph, was a two-foot-tall framed picture of a long-haired Jesus, holding up his hands as though he was going to squeal, "Girlfriend!" and smack someone playfully. On either side of him were smaller pictures of Mary and some saint I didn't recognize; directly before the picture was a six-inch-tall crucifix and a bowl full of lighted candles. There was also another, taller candle in my saucer (!) and two rosaries, one dark red and one dark blue.
I stared at the entire set-up for a long moment and then said, "Dad, you're not going to leave this here, are you?"
My dad, who had been saying just the other day that he didn't like all this Catholic kowtowing to graven images, muttered that the Catholics had erected the thing out of the goodness of their hearts. "Besides, they'll be back in two weeks to take it away."
"Oh, good," I said. "I just hope the pastor of your church doesn't drop in before then. You know, if we put a few flowers there and maybe a lingam, it'll look like a Hindu shrine."
"What's a lingam?" my mother wanted to know, although she didn't like my answer very much. Anyway, I had no idea that part of Catholicism involved the construction of elaborate shrines for people who might not even be Catholics. Will the prayers not work if one aspect of the set-up is missing, like the white towel? How long do the candles have to burn? (My dad blew them out immediately, so I said, "Happy birthday!") And most of all, what's the difference between this and so-called pagan rites?
Oh well, two weeks more and Jesus, along with his painted entourage, will have moved on to blesserize someone else's home.