This post is about religion. I’m a Catholic, not the overtly religious type though. I don’t feel bad if I don’t go to church every Sunday. As a kid, growing up, Catholic values and beliefs were inculcated in us at a very early stage. Catechism followed by Sunday mass, for a good 18 odd years. I’d have to admit it was mostly due to my parents, not because we had this inbuilt need to be there or allocate a good 4 or so hours in church every Sunday. With time, changes in lifestyles – work & classes pre-dominantly, this routine was broken. I no longer could go to church as often as I did, and strangely I didn’t miss it. I believe in god and that there is a higher power above us, but at the same time I don’t agree with my parents perception that not going for Sunday mass, will send me to the fires of hell and that all ill will befall me.
The bible iterates that a good catholic family should pray together and observe the sabbath, this includes Sunday mass, but does that mean that if you don’t attend mass regularly that you’re a bad person? This break in routine I’ve had has made it difficult to get back on track and prioritize church as a routine Sunday ritual. Even the times that I do get dressed and go, it’s out of obligation to my parents and because it’s the ‘done christian thing’, which I think is a pointless exercise. I’ve been at loggerheads with my father on this, he’s the very religious, pious type and my feisty reasonings with him don’t go down too well. The more antagonized I am, the less likely I am to go.
Prayer is something I do daily, and I’m definitely not an atheist. I have my own sense of spirituality, which obviously my parents don’t get. Probably because there’s nothing tangible for them to see. I don’t ‘tell’ people when I go to church. I don’t have set days or times. I just go whenever I feel like it. I’m still trying to come to a conclusion as to whether my take on this is right, or not. It’s something I’ve wondered for quite some time, and have not come any close to answering.
Notes on Mirrors 