Today was my free Sunday for the month. I went to a ... typical suburban parish.
We sang like ancient Aztecs and praised the sun and moon. Sigh.
Then, we sang one of the dumbest songs ever (well, dumb in the context of a Catholic liturgy. If it's for a religion that isn't theocentric and is just "feel good" and "believe whatever you want to believe," then it makes perfect sense.)
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right
...whatever THAT means.
And this is at the same church which has forbidden:
At that first Eucharist before you died,
O Lord, you prayed that all be one in you;
At this our Eucharist again preside,
And in our hearts your law of love renew.
Thus may we all one Bread, one Body be;
Through this blest Sacrament of Unity.
because the priest doesn't "like" it.
head >>> desk
And we wonder why most Catholics have the theological comprehension of an 8 year old.
1 comment:
Mara, that song about "Tis a Gift to be Simple" is an old 19th century hymn by an American religious sect called the "Shakers". They were very weird...celibates who nevertheless lived together with women, believed a woman named Ann Lee was the "female expression of the deity", worshiped God by dancing in massive groups and shaking in bizarre contortions (hence their name) and a bunch of other stuff...at their height there was only 6,000 of them, and since they don't reproduce, there are only three individual Shakers left on the planet right now.
They definitely had no business doing THAT song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwH6-QmvM5c
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers
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