There’s the most obvious, which is the Jewish tradition (of which I’m pretty familiar) in which there are many sacred items presented in a very similar way as the catholic tradition, right down to the presentation of the Torah (or Bible, in the case of the Catholic Church) to the congregation, paraded about and treated as though its physical embodiment is itself holy. This is pretty common amongst most religious ceremonies, sacred texts. But the way in which it was presented struck me as startlingly similar. Then there were all the pagan rites, which was probably the most interesting aspect for me. Watching a bunch of people practice magic without (for the most part) even fully realizing what’s what they’re doing. I’m going off a bit on a tangent here, and a slightly incoherent one at that, so I’ll wrap this bit up.
One of the things I loved the most about most religious services was the community, the way the congregation gathered together in support of one another (even if it was just to support one another in continuing to be closed minded bigots). The Catholic service, or perhaps just THIS Catholic service, however did not encourage that. There was a single moment in the sermon in which we were supposed to turn and greet the people next to us, but it wasn’t from the heart. We were given a script, “Peace be with you.” We weren’t even forced to try and fake something of our own creation.
At the very least, the actual sermon was beautiful, as was the setting. It will never be a religion I understand, or consider myself part of, but I did appreciate the experience.
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