I often think of my paternal Grandma. I love her beyond words. Well, maybe I'm being dramatic. I could probably describe how much I love her in any number of ways.
I could write a litany to describe her. I like litanies, especially the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A litany drills you right down to the core of an archetype. Words of power and images of faith. After an invocation was read by the priest, the congregation would reply in unison the following supplication: "Pray for us!" If you could pay attention long enough, it was magical. Not much different than a Babylonian prayer to Ishtar.
Those old fathers of the church really knew what they were doing on a deep psychological level. In addition, the BVM litany gave you an indulgence of 7 years off your time in Limbo! But I digress. Grandma.
She was Protestant to my Catholic. Raised Southern Baptist, she became Pentecostal in middle-age. She could talk in the language of the angels if the spirit moved her. I was scared of her church and only went with her once. You may think pre-Vatican II Catholicism was metaphysical woo woo, but that's only because you never went to Grandma's church. Still, she believed. Her life wasn't easy and it got her through a lot.
I never told her I lost my faith. How could I?
The nuns said non-Catholics wouldn't go to heaven. They told us lots of crazy stuff, trying to make sure we'd never think for ourselves. That's how I knew religious dogma was purposely manipulative, because my Grandma was the holiest person I ever met. If Grandma couldn't go to heaven, then there must not be a heaven.
To be fair, Pentecostals believe Catholics are a cult and will burn in hell. With 7 Catholic grandchildren, I wonder what Grandma thought about that?
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| A Mother Goddess if I ever saw one! |
O my goodness! I love her!
ReplyDelete"If Grandma couldn't go to heaven, then there must not be a heaven. "
Above us only a magnificent sky and stars and planets forever and ever (-:
She would have loved you, too.
DeleteYes, litanies. You describe this just as it is. I never found it difficult to join in despite the fact that I don't know the first thing about church services. My in-laws were always so very worried about my heathen status, they even went on a pilgrimage to pray for me.
ReplyDeleteWow. They must have loved you a lot. That's one way of looking at it, ha!
DeleteI agree with your grandmother, I too being raised Catholic,believe all religions are a cult to a point. Only this cult you can leave. My father would have drank the kool-aid and wore nikes if the Pope told him to. Just like Jim Jones right? My father actually told my methodist raised boyfriend/husband that he felt sorry for him because he couldn't get into heaven not being Catholic. Oh brother! Yes, I rebelled.
ReplyDeleteSheesh! I'm quite sure my father baptized my daughter when I wasn't there and my mother was babysitting her. He was quite concerned about her mortal soul. It gives me a headache just thinking about it.
DeleteMy mother-in-law was the most devout Catholic I knew. Her faith sustained her through many hard times and heartaches. Anyone who is fortunate enough to have that kind of faith no matter what form it takes will be rewarded.
ReplyDeleteI loved my grandmother that way, too. My maternal grandmother, the only grandmother I had.
ReplyDeleteI was introduced to religion at a very young age but rapidly concluded that it made no sense and was full of contradictions. But I think I'm very much in the minority here in Northern Ireland as the majority are believers of one type or another. Just as you loved your paternal grandma, I loved my maternal grandma. She was very easy-going and witty and had a great sense of humour.
ReplyDeleteI was raised Catholic but gave up on religion a while back. Now it all seems like fake rules and fairy tales to me.
ReplyDeleteThe woman who helped raise me -- she took care of me and my brother as a household employee, but she was really more of a surrogate grandmother -- was also Baptist and I was scared of her church too. Lots of hellfire and brimstone, which we stolid Presbyterians never talked about. Having said that, it always seemed to weird to me that religious divisions between Catholics and Protestants (and various types of Protestants) affected human relationships so much -- while all worshiping the same God!
ReplyDelete"The nuns said non-Catholics wouldn't go to Heaven." I pause for reflection. That would mean more people would automatically go to Hell (Is that destination entitled to an initial capital letter? Let's be even-handed here.) than would go to Heaven.
ReplyDeleteLet's pause yet again. I assume Catholics imagine Heaven will be well-run. Like, say, Walmart. So there would be book-keeping since figures are the best way of reducing an organisation's performance into an easily understood language. Profit and loss, etc, etc. And that there would be annual reports to show whether one year showed better or worse figures than those that preceded it.
And that the records would be comprehensive, starting roughly two thousand years ago. Moving from parchment to paper to punched cards to hard disks. And that the board (even if this consisted of just one person) would meet regularly to discuss trends and formulate policy on the basis of hard facts.
Two thousand years of steadily worsening figures for Heaven. While Hell found itself building more and more multi-storey tower blocks of apartments. Yet no change in Heaven's marketing strategy. A motion recommending that the sales staff (ie, the priests) be allowed to switch from IC engine cars to electrics not even making it to the agenda.
Query: should Heaven consider hiring a business consultant?
I am laughing too hard to reply.
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