So they made us wash off our ashes because they are communist athetist fucks and I very reluctantly complied. The show today was about a couple of girls who came in to try on clothes and ended up getting roped into posing in the window as live mannequins. Which we had done before so we were just repeating things from Lee Lee's history. Of course then it was some plus size model friends of ours in bathing suits but that is another story.
So they wanted to get a crowd reaction. You know see people walking by and taking notice and giving them cards to try to get them into the store. The crack production team lined them all up. They had to sign releases and take a photo with the release to show that they agreed to be filmed.
Oh and they had one more thing in common.
Almost everyone of them had ashes on their forehead.
You can't screw around with the big guy.
I should have had faith that he would take care of it.
17 comments:
Living in the rural South, there aren't many Catholics. Forget finding any Jews. Anyhow, I'm the cook tonight and a grandmother came in with two grandkids in tow. They had ashes on their foreheads. Looking out from the kitchen, I was praying to God that the crew wouldn't say anything ignorant. Southern Baptists and Methodists don't really get Catholicism. Thankfully, nothing was mentioned. God is merciful.
Repent and believe in the Gospel.
I understand that Tim but I am a muscular kind of Catholic.
Like Cardinal John Hughes the first Cardinal of New York.
But I had to be humbled and made meek. It was a lesson for me.
Well, Troop, I didn't say WHAT to repent of.
Windbag: My wife tells me she was in South Carolina for some reason in 1979. She found herself in what seemed to be the only Catholic church in the state with about 30 other people. According to my wife, the entire state was at that time not even an archdiocese, only a diocese. Ruth Anne might be able to set us straight, though, on the *real* history of the progress of the Catholic Church down South. I'm personally amazingly ignorant about this subject.
The couple who stood Godparents for our oldest moved, for work reasons, from Boston to Nashville. When the husband died (suddenly—it was a terrible situation), my wife went down to help. She, of course, went to the funeral. She says the Priest had his work cut out rehearsing when to stand, etc. with all the co-workers and friends attending the funeral, NONE of whom were Catholics. The Priest told my wife he was an old hand at 'splainin' devilish Catholic practices to Baptists. He even had pre-printed cheat sheets for Protestants.
Now, of course, we need cheat sheets ourselves with the changed Missal, but THAT's another story....
We hosted my brother-in-law's family during one Christmas. They're Greek, and Orthodox. To the Protestant eye, they're one in the same as Catholics. Precious few have ever heard of the Filioque Controversy or the Great Schism.
Anyhow, the family insisted on attending Mass on Christmas Eve. The nearest Orthodox Church is about 70 or 80 miles away. They decided that Catholic Mass would suffice.
Like hell.
We got there late (blame my sister) and the only seats left were up front. I thought we were going to have a holy war. Somehow, nobody was cut or punched and we got out unscathed. All the way home there was much shouting in Greek and English about the heresies we had just endured.
I didn't bother to tell them that the priest was gay. That information may have led to a memorable Christmas for the entire town.
Tim:
North Carolina has 2 dioceses, South Carolina is one and we're all part of the Atlanta Archdiocese.
When I moved here in 1995, the Catholic population was 3%, give or take, of the population. Our Bishop has been building, building, building beautiful new churches all over the diocese. There are only 3 Catholic high schools in the whole state.
I work at a large law firm. I came back from noon Mass one Ash Wednesday and stopped by the secretary's work station. She whispered, 'Darlin', you have a smudge on your forehead.' I replied, 'I know. It's Ash Wednesday and those are ashes.' She, I kid you not, GASPED and said, 'I'd HEARD of that but never SAW it before.' She's a fervent Baptist in her 50s.
Another story. A Baptist colleague of mine [read also a lawyer], when I explained that he believed the literal Word of God in the Bible should take a gander at John Chapter 6, the discourse on the Eucharist...My flesh is REAL FOOD, my blood is REAL DRINK. He gasped and asked incredulously, 'What are you....CANNIBALS?'
Welcome to my very rich mission field.
My son attended, and I now teach at the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School, which is attached to St Paul's in Cambridge, which is, of course, the Haavahd parish.
Being snooty and intellectual and Cambridge and all, Sunday Masses are, about half the time, at least partly in Latin. There is usually a chanted Latin Introit, and, at odd times, I have no idea why, the Ordinary is in Latin, too. I've become quite adept at chanting the Credo in Latin, bringing me back to my childish Catholic school years in the late Eisenhower Administration (yes, I am that old).
Anyway, one day, we had a visit from a group of Franciscans, and, as luck would have it, the Mass was in Latin. The Franciscans (clad now in denim instead of traditional brown) clammed up en masse when they got to filioque. I was getting ready to collect, standing up front, so I had a ringside view of them agreeing with the Greeks about from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds.
I've got to say, I'm very sympathetic to the Greek view, so I, too, inspired by the Franciscans, refuse to utter the words, "filioque" or "and the Son," when the time comes. There are deep underlying issues completely beyond anyone's patience here.
Call me a heretic, but I generally agree with Greek theology. And, as windbag points out, the Greeks have no lack of theology, especially that which points to grotesque Catholic heresies.
Why can't we all get along?
Thanks, Ruth Anne. What you say comports pretty closely with my wife's impressions. It does sound, though, like there's been progress during the past 20 years or so. THREE Catholic high schools is not bad, considering!
Why can't we all get along?
In the very early days of the innertubes, I used to frequent a theology forum where we bashed each other with our theology, just dying to get to the point where we could cry, "Heretic!!" I don't do that anymore.
If we can agree on the Apostles' Creed, we have much more in common than not. I can tolerate the different flavors of the same faith.
And there's grace to be wrong.
I am glad it worked out.
I made pasta. Cut up fennel, celery root, garlic, brussel sprouts in the food processor (small dice). I sautéed that with some olive oil. Then I added apple juice (I did not have a bottle of white wine open) and some golden raisins. Some chopped mini sweet pepper. I added that cooked mixture to some cooked ziti and presto. It was awesome. Very popular with the herd.
A nice thing about your blog, Trooper, is that (unlike *other*
blogs) yours does not riducule religious beliefs.
Especially that blog that goes out of its way to mock Christians and Catholics on every religious holiday.
Stoopid Christians.
(Sorry, just trying to make everyone feel at home.)
All you needed, Troop, was someone saying "Hey! Where are your ashes!"
Then you could have made a comment about going down the ash hole.
I really like this, by the way: It's kinda like "How Ash Wednesday Was Saved!"
Trooper, The Good Lord doesn't sweat the small stuff. He focuses on how we live our lives, how we treat other people, being generous and loving. Nothing makes the Good Lord happier than when we help someone out of nothing but love. The Good Lord doesn't give a rat's ass about who wins a ballgame, and I believe he doesn't care what you did vis a vis the ashes. You did it out of love for your wife..the Good Lord abides that.
Off topic...sort of
I wonder if this article about Levi's new campaign for larger sizes
http://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/jeans-ad-sparks-controversy-levis-models-come-other-202400157.html
Might not have something to do with the jeans obsession of Trooper's production guys?
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