surfing: brand x

1999 september 27

indulgence

i am not a catholic.

i flirted with catholicism in my youth, mostly because a majority of my friends were catholics. i'd spend saturday night at their houses, then wake early with them to go to mass. i did all the stand up sit down, kneel kneel kneel stuff, but, unlike my sacrilegious sister, never took communion. i hated the whole peace part of the service, shaking hands with the strangers who ended up in front of me or behind me, and i loved all the ritual, especially the responsorials.

i was always searching for formal structure as a teen.

i picked up a copy of newsweek today and in their little summary section, where they give quips from various news stories, was a bit about pope john paul II handing out indulgences for doing charity work, which i can sort of understand, or going an entire day without smoking or drinking, which i do not understand at all.

the whole concept of indulgences is pretty freaky, rather like buying your way into heaven on the installment plan. well, i was really bad this week, but i'll hand over some cash [in days gone by] or give up the camels [today] and that will pretty much negate the raping and pillaging for the moment.

i'm going to not do something that i shouldn't be doing anyhow and i want heaven's version of brownie points for it. hmmm...

then there's that whole confession thing. as long as you say you're sorry and do some minor penance, all is forgiven.

you know what catholicism is? it's the ultimate religion for wafflers.

well, i'll be bad, because i kind of like it when i'm bad, but just in case, i'll hit the confessional on saturday and i won't smoke next tuesday and i'll be back on even ground.

sign me up! heaven, here i come!

peace be with you, and also with you, claire

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