First Holy Communion (reflections)
May 10, 2018 at 1:21 pm
(This post was last modified: May 10, 2018 at 1:30 pm by vulcanlogician.)
So, I went to Mass last Sunday at the behest of my sister. Her son (my nephew) was going to receive First Holy Communion. (For those unfamiliar with Catholicism, that's when you eat a small piece of plastic for the first time and everybody makes a big deal about it.) Anyway, I payed attention to the proceedings and figured I might produce an account of it as perceived through the lens of skepticism. I even made sure to check my biases and study the ceremony for positives... goods which might be derived uniquely from theistic ceremony. Here is what I came up with:
First off, I want to say that I participated merely to be a part of an event in my nephew's life--not to endorse religion influencing him in any capacity. Whereas others gave him gifts like a rosary, a statuette of Mary, and a Christian coloring book, I gave him toys--something that I feel is of real practical value for a boy his age. Furthermore, he's a sharp kid. And when he's old enough to start asking questions, his uncle will be there to let him in on the other side of the story.
First observation: holy water. About a third of the way into the proceedings, a deacon strolled up and down the aisle using a pestle-like object to sprinkle holy water on the crowd. A droplet hit my forehead. The burning was mild, but that's not really the issue I took with it. After all, it seems rather harmless to sprinkle little bits of water onto a crowd, and (admittedly) I found the place to be remarkably free of vampires. But isn't it odd that, this day and age, masses of people attribute special holy powers to ordinary water? Seriously, its just water. And it takes a bit of imagination to consider it otherwise.
The only thing that differentiates it from "normal" water as that it has been blessed by a priest. So what? That brings up my next issue: blessing. At one point during the ceremony, the priest talked about these little plaques that were given to each of the participants commemorating their first holy communion. Fine. But then he added that he had personally "blessed" each one. What good does it do to "bless" something? This is starting to sound less like reality and more like D&D. It's all fine and good that if (while carrying the plaque) my nephew were to receive a +1 bonus to his saving throws, but there is absolutely no evidence that anything remotely like that is the case. However, I'm sure that "blessing" holds a real meaning for many that were in the church that day. If you pressed a believer to give an explanation for what a blessing practically does, I'm guessing you'd either get a shrug or a convoluted explanation that resembles the saving throws concept.
What I did like was the homily. The priest talked about cultivating love within oneself, not only for family and close ones, but also for strangers. This seems like a good idea to me. I have reservations about equating love with Jesus or advising one to express love to an imaginary being. But where else (outside of religious institutions) do people intentionally and meditatively cultivate love within themselves? Hippies do it, I guess. But otherwise this sort of thing is only practiced in a religious context.
Freed from its doctrinal trappings, I think this sort of spiritual exercise may be of benefit. What do you say? Is gathering together with other people to intentionally cultivate love within oneself a beneficial spiritual exercise? Or is it just wishful/imaginative thinking that serves no real purpose whatsoever? As atheists, I think we sometimes forget that maybe some people don't go to church just to hear about Sky Fairy. Perhaps some are motivated to participate in a spiritual exercise they can't really do anywhere else.
First off, I want to say that I participated merely to be a part of an event in my nephew's life--not to endorse religion influencing him in any capacity. Whereas others gave him gifts like a rosary, a statuette of Mary, and a Christian coloring book, I gave him toys--something that I feel is of real practical value for a boy his age. Furthermore, he's a sharp kid. And when he's old enough to start asking questions, his uncle will be there to let him in on the other side of the story.
First observation: holy water. About a third of the way into the proceedings, a deacon strolled up and down the aisle using a pestle-like object to sprinkle holy water on the crowd. A droplet hit my forehead. The burning was mild, but that's not really the issue I took with it. After all, it seems rather harmless to sprinkle little bits of water onto a crowd, and (admittedly) I found the place to be remarkably free of vampires. But isn't it odd that, this day and age, masses of people attribute special holy powers to ordinary water? Seriously, its just water. And it takes a bit of imagination to consider it otherwise.
The only thing that differentiates it from "normal" water as that it has been blessed by a priest. So what? That brings up my next issue: blessing. At one point during the ceremony, the priest talked about these little plaques that were given to each of the participants commemorating their first holy communion. Fine. But then he added that he had personally "blessed" each one. What good does it do to "bless" something? This is starting to sound less like reality and more like D&D. It's all fine and good that if (while carrying the plaque) my nephew were to receive a +1 bonus to his saving throws, but there is absolutely no evidence that anything remotely like that is the case. However, I'm sure that "blessing" holds a real meaning for many that were in the church that day. If you pressed a believer to give an explanation for what a blessing practically does, I'm guessing you'd either get a shrug or a convoluted explanation that resembles the saving throws concept.
What I did like was the homily. The priest talked about cultivating love within oneself, not only for family and close ones, but also for strangers. This seems like a good idea to me. I have reservations about equating love with Jesus or advising one to express love to an imaginary being. But where else (outside of religious institutions) do people intentionally and meditatively cultivate love within themselves? Hippies do it, I guess. But otherwise this sort of thing is only practiced in a religious context.
Freed from its doctrinal trappings, I think this sort of spiritual exercise may be of benefit. What do you say? Is gathering together with other people to intentionally cultivate love within oneself a beneficial spiritual exercise? Or is it just wishful/imaginative thinking that serves no real purpose whatsoever? As atheists, I think we sometimes forget that maybe some people don't go to church just to hear about Sky Fairy. Perhaps some are motivated to participate in a spiritual exercise they can't really do anywhere else.
