All Souls'

[kaberett]

For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made, for you would not have made anything if you had hated it. How would anything have endured if you had not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved? You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.

Book of Wisdom 11:24-26. First time I've felt properly welcome in a church in a very, very long time.

(For those of you who are new since the last time I did this explanation: I was raised Catholic; I'm broadly atheist these days, along the lines of "I don't feel guilty for not believing these things any more" and "I can't reconcile my morality with the Vatican" and "I'm trying to live a good and kind life and I don't want to be doing so because of what-I-perceive-as carrot-and-stick coercion"; but November is a month of mourning for me that is neatly bracketed - in several senses - by All Souls' Day and St Cecilia, and I know that ritual is helpful to me. So.)

Comments

[birke]

The Christian elements of my upbringing were too Protestant to have included the Book of Wisdom. Those are nice sentiments quoted.

[kaberett]

This is the first time I've ever met the Book of Wisdom, but - yeah. It was the first reading. It was, as I say, the first time I've felt even a bit welcome in a church in years.

[milkymoon]

I think that even if you're not a practising Christian any more, you can still (and are absolutely allowed to) draw meaning and solace from these rituals, whether you actually believe in God or not. There's no requirement, in my opinion, to need to follow the Vatican's idea of morality or worry about being sent off to Hell if you're not 'doing it right'.

[hairyears]

This... Somewhat.

Solace in rituals is worth having; but in all Catholic ritual the uplifting or inspiring or comforting parts are jarred out of mind by the adjacent reminders of manipulation by guilt, of hypocrisy and outright evil, of self-deception and the knowledge that participating in any of it gives visible support to all of it.

[sorrillia]

My solution to this of late has been to try to find ways to integrate bits of Catholic ritual practice into my pagan practice. After all, the Church had no qualms about integrating local pagan ideas and traditions into its practices as it spread, so it seems natural to me to incorporate the practices I find useful into my own practice.

[silveradept]

That is a lovely, inclusive verse. I'd like to see the Vatican use those more. They might actually get new followers.

[kaberett]

Unfortunately it's the one loving passage in a book that is otherwise very, very full of Smite The Unrighteous (I found when I tried looking this up after the service...), but -- yeah. (Though I have mixed feelings about Catholicism acquiring more adherents; see above regarding my inability to reconcile my morality with the Vatican.)

[silveradept]

Ah, of course. My implication there was that using those passages more would also be accompanied by the moral changes necessary to actually practice a religion of kindness and non-judgment, but I didn't explicitly say so. More followers if and only if they were genuinely willing to do what is necessary to put those verses into practice and shun the verses that encourage the opposite.

[cheyinka]

It shows up once every three years (at least; it might show up on a weekday somewhere)! (This is my favorite thing about the modern Mass; a three-year cycle rather than a one-year cycle means more variety in readings.)

[kaberett]

Sorry for the confusion; I went to a Sunday vigil! Agreed on three-year cycle, though I am still so not over the change to "and with your spirit" (and continue to muleishly say "and also with you"...)

[cheyinka]

Don't apologize, it should have been obvious to me from the beginning that I couldn't have attended an actual All Souls' Mass, since 1) my parish didn't offer one 2) I didn't physically go to a church on Saturday, but it took rereading my comment (once posted, naturally) before the light came on.

I do like "and with your spirit", though! I at least don't stumble over it anymore, unlike the Creed which I've discovered now requires active participation (ha ha ha it is a Vatican II joke) to say correctly, which is increasingly difficult with a toddler.

[shinyshoes]

I have read many/most "Scriptural" type books from nearly every religion, and every last one of them contains something amazing and beautiful and wise. And I'm militantly atheist.

[cheyinka]

I am really glad you asked for help finding that passage yesterday; it meant when I heard it this morning I was, I guess, better primed to really hear it when I heard it, and I've been thinking about it all morning since. Thank you. :)

[kaberett]

You're welcome! (I'm afraid I'm struggling to match up names, but I don't expect you to tell me unless you'd like to, obviously!)

[cheyinka]

Oops! I'm zonohedron in IRC. :)

[shewhostaples]

Thank you for this post, both parts of it. I have a post cooking on how-my-faith-has-changed, but it is cooking very slowly, and the thing is that I am feeling a lot more comfortable about having it, and a lot less comfortable finding words about it, so.

(November begins on 29th October for me these days. What you say about it here resonates very much.)

[fyreharper]

More comfortable with having it than with putting it in words, yes, this resonates (although I have always had trouble with the words part).

[liv]

Something reminded me, I meant to respond to this post by pointing you to a pretty German calligraphy version of Wisdom.

(I think I maybe have thoughts about finding comfort in fragments of otherwise intolerant scripture, but they probably belong in the post I'm brewing about being a Queer Jew.)

[kaberett]

Your thoughts are as always welcome. ♥