So Easter has come and gone, and as usual, I chose to partake in my church’s Easter Triduum celebration, performing music with the orchestra.
Beginning with Mass on Holy Thursday and ending with the revelry of Easter Sunday, the Triduum has always been a really spiritual time for me. Mass begins on Thursday and includes the washing of the feet, the introduction of the neophytes, and the start of vigiling. Mass ends with a soft chant, the undressing and removal of the altar, and turning out the lights. People leave one by one, still chanting and praying. Some stay all night to vigil.
The Easter Vigil, held the night before Easter, is likewise symbolic and profound. Mass begins in the dark (having left in the dark on Thursday). All is silent and still. Mass begins with a bonfire, from which the presiding priest lights the pascal candle. That sole light is what leads parishioners into the church, and from it, one by one, each person lights their candle and shares the pascal light. Slowly, the lights come back on, candles are extinguished, incense is lit. Neophytes are baptized, confirmed, and receive their first Eucharist; they are anointed with holy oils such as chrism.
By the end of Mass (a 4-hour marathon Mass, no less), joy and elation abound, and all are ready to return to church the following morning to spread the joy of the risen Christ.
I’ve always enjoyed this ritual. It seems to make me feel so much more connected than I do at other times of the year. But as I was sitting in the dark church, watching a spring bonfire, while a priest led a line of people around the church by the light of a single candle, it hit me: this is so pagan it hurts. I almost broke out laughing, and nearly knocked my flute onto the floor.
I’m fully aware of how the majority of “christian” holdiays came to be, and the fact that the Catholic religion was largely shaped by the pagans that they annexed and converted: they refused to convert because they wanted their holidays, so the Catholic Church gave the holidays new names and purposes but allowed the pagans to continue their practice (thus Yule, the winter solstice, becomes “Christ’s Mass;” Ostara, Easter; and Samhain “All Soul’s Day).
What struck me as so odd was that even though I’m fully aware of these things, and the fact that I consider myself just an eensy bit pagan, I’ve never done the ritual thing. I always thought it was so odd, doing a banishing, calling the corners. But the very thing I feel most connected to is one of these very same odd rituals, complete with incense, big spring bonfires, candles, and chanting. It just had a different label on it.
When it comes down to it, I think it must be realized that all spiritual destinations are the same–we just don’t agree on the name or the path.
3 Comments
April 3, 2008 at 12:26 pm
“When it comes down to it, I think it must be realized that all spiritual destinations are the same–we just don’t agree on the name or the path.”
The problem is that Yeshua said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but through me.” And Scripture teaches that there is but one God. The others are dead, unbreathing, lifeless idols! The catholic church along with the professing protestant church worship a messiah that bears no resemblance to the ONE who throws the Torah Shadow! It is a messiah of their own making and that is why pagan ritual, in opposition to HIM, has found its way into the professing body! Wake up and come out while you can. HE is coming back and judgment will be according to HIS Word – Torah!
April 3, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I applaud your faith; it is truly important to have. However, it is your religion–i.e. the indoctrinated structure of what faith and spirituality should and shouldn’t be–that is leaving you blind.
Take a step back for a moment: how did all of the major world religions begin? With one single man, a “prophet” if you will, claiming that the one universal deity (whether known as God, Allah, etc.) had spoken to them and had given them a message to preach to the lands. And from these moments, the books that were written (Torah, Bible, Koran) to instruct followers of each path all included statements of “I am the one and only, all other gods are false idols” (Exodus 20:3 in the Bible; in Judaism, as listed in the Aseret ha-Dibrot, Exoxus 20:3-6; and in the Koran, chapter 47:19). In fact, all three books have an eerily similar list of commandments, including #1 (“I am the Lord your God to be worshipped”) and #2 (“Worship no gods but me, for these are false idols”). Incidentally, in response to your comment about Catholics and Protestants worshipping a “Messiah that bears no resemblance to the ONE who throws the Torah Shadow” (and I’m assuming here that you mean Jesus Christ), the Bible does have such a response: to also worship Jesus is to worship the one and only God (John 1:14).
So if all of these major religious books agree, then isn’t it your religion (and not your faith) that tells you to correct those of differing religions for being “wrong,” when in fact we all agree on the same thing but just assign a different name to God (be it Yahweh, Allah, etc.) and have had a religious institution set up by non-divine humans tells us how to worship said God?
April 8, 2008 at 12:39 am
A lovely post indeed! Sums up my own beliefs that every religion is but another path leading to the same end.
Blessings