I grew up in a Midwest Catholic household. Dad was from French-Canadian stock. He seldom went to church but his sisters were zealots. They frowned a lot. Ma was devout but not as strict as her sisters-in-law. She went to Mass every Sunday, made hundreds of rosaries “for the missions” out of nickel wire and plastic beads and made her children go to church and catechism every week. Also . . . no meat on Friday, not even for Dad, who laughed a lot.
I spent much of my childhood worrying that Daddy would go to Hell for not going to Mass on Sundays. In the 1950s, this was a “mortal sin.” Ma explained it away by saying he had “a heart condition,” which he did, but even as a kid I wasn’t buying that excuse. He could go to work. That meant he should go to Mass according to Sister Mary Joseph. But Dad was a generous man. The priest would come to our house to have a drink and solicit a pledge for some drive or another. Dad would write a check. I believe these contributions gave him an exemption from eternal damnation.
I left the Church when I left home to go to college mostly because I thought it was sexist and I found the doctrine contradictory. That and I was adamant that I was going to use birth control until I wanted a child.
I am, however, grateful for having been raised Catholic. There was beauty and drama and ceremony and ritual that served my soul. The archaic Latin . . . candles . . . incense . . . changing the priests’ vestment colors with the seasons . . . Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. I still value ritual and a sense of reverence.
One of our rituals at home was saying grace before meals: “Bless us Oh Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty through Christ, Our Lord, Amen.” It rolled out of our mouths like a single word.
My current favorite grace was introduced to me by Beloved Son several years ago. Whenever he and I eat together, we say it and I try to say it as often as I remember. It is from Thich Nhat Hanh.
This food is the gift of the whole universe, the earth, the sky, and much hard work.
May we live in a way that makes us worthy to receive it. May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially our greed, our judgmentalness, our fears, our aggression, and our defensiveness. May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness. We accept this food so that we may realize the path of love and compassion.
I’m not “religious,” but I am connected to Spirit every day. Water and food, our most essential elements of survival, are gifts. I like to say thank you for them. I don’t remember to do it all the time. But when I do . . . my world feels clear and grounded.
Thank you Gary. I finally downloaded this. I didn’t catch this comment earlier. Just this week I set up a new email account for me on this site (a half-day job when someone who knows what she’s doing would take 5 minutes . . .) that emails me with every addition. This will help me stay on top of things. Again, thank you.
I posted the ebook (.pdf format) at this link for you to download:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nzwzsq
Funny . . . I had not thought of Soupy Sales for years until my brother posted that “grace.”
I think I would be very interested in Ehrman’s work . . . maybe the ebook version. I am buried in books I haven’t read yet. My postmistress said to me the other day, “How do you have the time to read all of these books?” [that get sent to me], but I’m always curious about interesting ideas. More curious than I have the time to execute, but that’s not a bad thing.
Interesting that you mention Soupy Sales, as he passed away today.
Incidentally, I just read Bart Ehrman’s “Misquoting Jesus – The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why”. Ehrman is a world-class biblical scholar who compares the various manuscript sources, and concludes that much of the sexist language in the scriptures was added by scribes and translators in relation to the customs and biases of their times. I have e-book and audio-book versions of this I could transmit to you if interested, as well as a used copy I picked up at St. Vincent DePaul for a dollar.
He’d like the AMEN part, at least. I mean most people would say this particular grace without it. Where did we learn this anyway? Was is Soupy Sales?
not fair!
Over the teeth and thru the gums, look out stomach here it comes, AMEN.
Did you want both of these versions or only one? . . . and what would Father Veryser say?
Over the teeth, thru the gums, look out stomach here it comes, AMEN.
Ah if you speak to Him everyday – the Spirit as you say – you may well be on your way to Heaven – wouldn’t that be wonderful??? 🙂 I think that’s my main reason and also b’c I would BE NUTS without Him – heck – I’m nuts with Him … 🙂 Great thots and memories from your childhood. My Mom never went to church either b’c she used b/control and was chewed out by a priest … 🙁 She’s living with me now.
God bless your day!
Bevy
What a lovely grace by Thich Nhat Hanh – thank you for sharing this!