I have been Catholic all my life - sort of. I mean I was baptized as an infant. We celebrated Christmas and Easter - we got presents and had dinner with family. Aside from a funeral or two I had never been to church until I was 12 years old. At that point I started going to church with my step-mom (or Nana as she is now known) took me to church. Very quickly, over the course of a single summer, it became a rather large part of my life. It stayed that way through high school, waivered a little in college and then returned to it's proper place shortly before Hubby and I were married.
In my married life I am a pretty regular Catholic. Church on Sunday variety. I probably do not stand out as the Catholic one in a crowd - at least not most of the time. I certainly come off conservative which I suppose is common for a Catholic but still. My kids pray. They know God. They know Jesus. They are comfortable in church. I feel I could be doing some things better but then again I suppose that is pretty normal in most cases. All in all though I have been pretty content in my faith and where it fits into my life.
And all of this was confirmed even further while we were away. While we were in Ethiopia I had the opportunity to attend mass there. I was surprised to find a Catholic Church so close because someone had told me that there weren't any in Ethiopia. But then I discovered that Catholicism was the second largest religion in Ethiopia. So, I asked the owner of our guesthouse if she could help us get to church on Sunday - and she was happy to. As a matter of fact she thought the English mass was at 7am and since the cab driver did not work that early she took us herself. But, it was not the English mass at all. It was in Amharic.
And that made it somehow more powerful. It was an amazing experience to sit in this church, halfway around the world, and somehow be connected to all of these people. These people had the same beliefs as me. We stood, sat, kneeled, doing all the proper Catholic moves. And it was so amazing to be there, not understanding a word that they said and yet, somehow still knowing exactly what they were saying. It sort of took my breath away to hear the prayers spoken by all of these people - to know that prayer so well and yet hear it all knew (since they were speaking a different language).
And this Christmas Eve as I sat in church and our priest said, "tonight we celebrate with all our brothers and sisters around the world" those words took meaning for me for the first time. For the first time I could truly feel that connection. I have worshiped with those people around the world. I have really and truly experienced the strength and community of my church.
We were accepted in Ethiopia - no one ever treated us badly. As a matter of fact I would say the people there treated us better than most American's treat anyone. But in that church that day I felt uncomfortable. We were the only people with children. Probably because it was 7am and people with children do not go to church at 7am. But I was still so nervous about the kids making noise and how we would be perceived. You know, the rude Americans with the noisy kids. But everyone was so wonderful and I was reminded that we are all the same to Him. These people reminded me of how we all - especially the children - are welcome in the house of the Lord. And I was so glad to be able to consider myself one of them - we are all Catholic.
In my married life I am a pretty regular Catholic. Church on Sunday variety. I probably do not stand out as the Catholic one in a crowd - at least not most of the time. I certainly come off conservative which I suppose is common for a Catholic but still. My kids pray. They know God. They know Jesus. They are comfortable in church. I feel I could be doing some things better but then again I suppose that is pretty normal in most cases. All in all though I have been pretty content in my faith and where it fits into my life.
And all of this was confirmed even further while we were away. While we were in Ethiopia I had the opportunity to attend mass there. I was surprised to find a Catholic Church so close because someone had told me that there weren't any in Ethiopia. But then I discovered that Catholicism was the second largest religion in Ethiopia. So, I asked the owner of our guesthouse if she could help us get to church on Sunday - and she was happy to. As a matter of fact she thought the English mass was at 7am and since the cab driver did not work that early she took us herself. But, it was not the English mass at all. It was in Amharic.
And that made it somehow more powerful. It was an amazing experience to sit in this church, halfway around the world, and somehow be connected to all of these people. These people had the same beliefs as me. We stood, sat, kneeled, doing all the proper Catholic moves. And it was so amazing to be there, not understanding a word that they said and yet, somehow still knowing exactly what they were saying. It sort of took my breath away to hear the prayers spoken by all of these people - to know that prayer so well and yet hear it all knew (since they were speaking a different language).
And this Christmas Eve as I sat in church and our priest said, "tonight we celebrate with all our brothers and sisters around the world" those words took meaning for me for the first time. For the first time I could truly feel that connection. I have worshiped with those people around the world. I have really and truly experienced the strength and community of my church.
We were accepted in Ethiopia - no one ever treated us badly. As a matter of fact I would say the people there treated us better than most American's treat anyone. But in that church that day I felt uncomfortable. We were the only people with children. Probably because it was 7am and people with children do not go to church at 7am. But I was still so nervous about the kids making noise and how we would be perceived. You know, the rude Americans with the noisy kids. But everyone was so wonderful and I was reminded that we are all the same to Him. These people reminded me of how we all - especially the children - are welcome in the house of the Lord. And I was so glad to be able to consider myself one of them - we are all Catholic.
4 Comments:
Thanks for your kind words! I love hearing from you.