My faith began in the Roman Catholic Church. I was baptized there as a baby by my mother and father. I grew up going to mass with my 6 siblings. This is a pic of my sis, Jan, just before Easter Mass in the mid 60's at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX. I loved going to mass.
It was only later in life in my 20's when I became an active and passionate follower of Jesus that I left the Church of Rome, becoming an evangelical.
Yet, my roots remain in the orthodoxy taught in my youth. The trinity, the virgin birth, the Apostle's Creed and much more. For that I am very thankful.
So when The Pope announced (in Latin) his decision to resign during a mass with the college of Cardinals, I could almost hear the majesty of his words. This had not happened in 600 years.
As a former altar boy, I also wondered what was going through the minds of the mass' participants as they heard the historic news.
Then I had to chuckle, as I did when serving the Latin mass in my youth. .
It turns out that not a few of the folks in attendance did not know Latin. The decision had to be translated and explained to them. A lot of them.
And then to all the world.
Somehow in the 21st century, the significance of the Pope's stepping down combined with the simple lack of knowledge of The Roman Catholic Church's foundational language seemed to meld together appropriately to paint a more complete picture of "faith" in this century.
May we all know what we believe and why. May we all know when to serve and when to allow The Lord to simply embrace us, when we are no longer physically able to serve.
Thank you Pope Benedict for your service to The Lord and to others.
Den
Interesting confluence in our pasts, Den. My altar boy days came just at the moment our part switched from Latin to English, which was a bit of a disappointment to me. Not that reciting the phonetic lines on the laminated scripts would have made me fluent in any way, but it amplified the element of mystery.
As far as the religious journey beyond R.C., I took the road less traveled by.
Posted by: fortboise | February 12, 2013 at 09:12 AM