Post by debutante on Apr 10, 2020 12:18:40 GMT -5
Today is one of the more important days of the Catholic church liturgical calendar. "Good Friday" is not as "ceremonial" as it was in my youth -- but there are still services held.
However, with the advent of this Corona virus -- I find myself thinking of how something like this would have affected those long ago "Good Friday" ceremonies.
I will be honest here. As a child, I hated "Good Friday" and all it entailed.
The one aspect of Catholicism that always rubbed me the wrong way was the constant morbid fixation on the Crucifixion. It was a general attitude that reached a fevered pitch on "Good Friday".
I could deal with the fasting. It was a weekly Friday thing -- so it was no big deal. It was everything else.
Of course, there was no school that day. You'd think that would make children happy, wouldn't you? But your "day off" was to be spent doing "nothing" particularly between the hours of noon to 3pm. By nothing -- I mean exactly that. You were allowed to think. Other than that -- nothing. No reading, no television, no talking, -- presumably you were to ponder the sacrifice which, for a child is a bit rough.
Not to worry. If your imagination couldn't quite bring the horror clearly to mind -- the ceremony certainly would.
Our parish had this one particular crucifix that only appeared on "Good Friday". A more horrible depiction of human suffering I could not describe, except to say Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" would come in second place.
This object of veneration was blessed (therefore, a sacramental with all the rules and regulations thus applied).
It is at this point -- my musings in regard to the Corona virus take flight.
People did not just view this crucifix.
It was not in a stationary stand. It was held by the priest at the front of the center aisle of the church. The parishioner was required to kneel down at the back of the church and proceed (on their knees) down the aisle to the front of the church where they would kiss the feet of Jesus on the cross.
I should mention here that our church had this deeply textured ceramic tile which made this process incredibly painful.
Now to be fair...an altar boy would wipe the feet of the crucifix after each parishioner kissed it -- presumably to clean it. But I doubt there was any disinfectant on the cloth. It was an attempt to give an appearance that health considerations were in place.
And today, I am wondering how that ceremony managed to survive past the Spanish flu in the first place.
And if it still exists somewhere today (in a more primitive part of the world) I can't imagine how it will survive this pandemic. (Even though I am sure this virus coverage is being media manipulated for political gain and hence, to be taken with the proverbial grain of salt).
One strange little coincidence of note -- whilst that ceremony was in common usage -- I noticed that it always rained on "Good Friday". Always-- without fail-- every single year.
Once the ceremony fell out of usage -- I saw my first sunny "Good Friday" -- and many thereafter. I thought it was my imagination, so I asked a childhood friend. She noticed it too. Weird. But I digress.
Anyhow -- truth be told, as a child -- I did get smacked around by a nun for telling her that I thought that ceremony was an unsanitary practice. She took it as my insulting God. How she arrived at this conclusion escapes me.
I was watching Laura Ingraham and being a Catholic herself, she was seriously upset about the prospect of missing Easter services this year. Catholic guilt is programmed in at an early age -- you're at fault, even when you're not.
I couldn't help but wonder how she would feel if she were older and remembered what I do. Perhaps then, she wouldn't be so eager to resume. I often fear that someday, someone will decide to bring that ceremony back.
Did I mention even very old people attempted this? I remember being about five years old--standing at the back of the church and feeling completely horrified that people who could barely walk were attempting to do this -- and no priest went up to them to tell them God would understand if they didn't. And I didn't understand why they thought God was so unkind that he would want these old people to suffer so.
Ah...so there are my musings of the past...and the Corona virus and the Spanish flu that should have stopped something long ago, but oddly didn't.
Blessings to all on this Holy Day.
--Debutante
However, with the advent of this Corona virus -- I find myself thinking of how something like this would have affected those long ago "Good Friday" ceremonies.
I will be honest here. As a child, I hated "Good Friday" and all it entailed.
The one aspect of Catholicism that always rubbed me the wrong way was the constant morbid fixation on the Crucifixion. It was a general attitude that reached a fevered pitch on "Good Friday".
I could deal with the fasting. It was a weekly Friday thing -- so it was no big deal. It was everything else.
Of course, there was no school that day. You'd think that would make children happy, wouldn't you? But your "day off" was to be spent doing "nothing" particularly between the hours of noon to 3pm. By nothing -- I mean exactly that. You were allowed to think. Other than that -- nothing. No reading, no television, no talking, -- presumably you were to ponder the sacrifice which, for a child is a bit rough.
Not to worry. If your imagination couldn't quite bring the horror clearly to mind -- the ceremony certainly would.
Our parish had this one particular crucifix that only appeared on "Good Friday". A more horrible depiction of human suffering I could not describe, except to say Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" would come in second place.
This object of veneration was blessed (therefore, a sacramental with all the rules and regulations thus applied).
It is at this point -- my musings in regard to the Corona virus take flight.
People did not just view this crucifix.
It was not in a stationary stand. It was held by the priest at the front of the center aisle of the church. The parishioner was required to kneel down at the back of the church and proceed (on their knees) down the aisle to the front of the church where they would kiss the feet of Jesus on the cross.
I should mention here that our church had this deeply textured ceramic tile which made this process incredibly painful.
Now to be fair...an altar boy would wipe the feet of the crucifix after each parishioner kissed it -- presumably to clean it. But I doubt there was any disinfectant on the cloth. It was an attempt to give an appearance that health considerations were in place.
And today, I am wondering how that ceremony managed to survive past the Spanish flu in the first place.
And if it still exists somewhere today (in a more primitive part of the world) I can't imagine how it will survive this pandemic. (Even though I am sure this virus coverage is being media manipulated for political gain and hence, to be taken with the proverbial grain of salt).
One strange little coincidence of note -- whilst that ceremony was in common usage -- I noticed that it always rained on "Good Friday". Always-- without fail-- every single year.
Once the ceremony fell out of usage -- I saw my first sunny "Good Friday" -- and many thereafter. I thought it was my imagination, so I asked a childhood friend. She noticed it too. Weird. But I digress.
Anyhow -- truth be told, as a child -- I did get smacked around by a nun for telling her that I thought that ceremony was an unsanitary practice. She took it as my insulting God. How she arrived at this conclusion escapes me.
I was watching Laura Ingraham and being a Catholic herself, she was seriously upset about the prospect of missing Easter services this year. Catholic guilt is programmed in at an early age -- you're at fault, even when you're not.
I couldn't help but wonder how she would feel if she were older and remembered what I do. Perhaps then, she wouldn't be so eager to resume. I often fear that someday, someone will decide to bring that ceremony back.
Did I mention even very old people attempted this? I remember being about five years old--standing at the back of the church and feeling completely horrified that people who could barely walk were attempting to do this -- and no priest went up to them to tell them God would understand if they didn't. And I didn't understand why they thought God was so unkind that he would want these old people to suffer so.
Ah...so there are my musings of the past...and the Corona virus and the Spanish flu that should have stopped something long ago, but oddly didn't.
Blessings to all on this Holy Day.
--Debutante