The sweet M-I-L of my daughter joined us on a beach outing a few weekends ago. She is a deeply religious Catholic and if all Catholics were like her the Church would be a shining example of what Christiantity is supposed to be. You cannot help but love her. But here is the conversation that left my tongue bleeding as I oh so carefully bit it...!
My daughter: "Mom, you need to tell me the words to Hail Mary so when my son is in school or church I can help him with it."
M-I-L: "It is really pretty easy. You need a rosary. Do you know about that?"
My daughter: "Yes.'
M-I-L: "You know, I say the Rosary every single day. I made a promise to God years ago, when I wanted my first child . (M-I-L went through a NUMBER of miscarriages before the birth of her first.) I promised God that if he gave me a child I would say my Rosary every day after that. Of course, some days I am too busy so I make sure to say it twice the next day. I am afraid that God might do something bad to my child if I didn't"
???? God Help me, please????
My MIL is the same way, only she is no longer Catholic. She has a habit of calling people up who are sick and praying for them over the phone, which is thoughtful and all that, but the way she does it actually sounds scary. I told my husband to promise that he will never allow that to happen to me in case I fall ill. If she insists, he has to make sure I'm high on morphine.
ReplyDeleteReligious and superstitous, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI guess my concern here is Christians that go through their lives in terror each day are deluded. Why can't they see that God, if he does exist,must be so much more than that?
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a time in my life when I told a co-worker I was agnostic. I had to explain to her what it was and she said "Wow. Wouldn't you just pretend to believe to be safe?"
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah. They are out there. In droves.
I was born and raised in a rather strict Catholic household. My mother made a promise to God at her dying mother's bedside (I was just a little girl at that time). She went through incredible pains to keep this promise throughout her entire lifetime and I couldn't believe how much fear was involved. The Catholics believe you should give something up for Lent each year, so one year I gave up Catholicism and I never returned.
ReplyDeleteIronically, I thank God for that decision!