I saw this painting recently in London. It purports to be St Monica being handed her newly born son who was to become Augustine of Hippo.
It seems to me that this painting explains much.
4 responses to “Politics of Pilgrimage”
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Living in Ireland – at one time not too far from Knock – it always astonished me when driving through the village how those who had just visited the shrine seemed to think that it had made them invincible! They’d wander into the middle of the road and totally ignore the traffic streaming around them!
A bottle of Knock holy water in the shape of Our Lady sits behind me as I type – next to a similar one from Lourdes and a knitted Orangeman bedecked with a collarette proclaiming him a member of LOL 1, Portadown! The juxtaposition is deliberate! (I wonder if + David has one on his shelves from the "support Drumcree" shop?!)
Which leads to the question "How do holy water taps work?" – theologically, that is! What is blessed to make it holy? Is it the reservoir (but that is constantly replenished and so eventually, after being diluted for a long time, the water becomes "unholy". Is it the tap itself and the water is sanctified by passing through it?
Discuss!
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Holy Water Taps
Perhaps the water becomes holy when it is applied by the believer to the cat. -
Holy water and questions about pilgrimage
Hmmm, yes I can see the dilemma…I guess the female ordaindees (not a word really, apologies for my attack on the English language) are excluded – though would it be possible to construct a small al fresco altar and hold a ceremony of your own? Pilgrimage places become so because people believe something, not just the ecclesiastical hierarchy, I think? If we don’t go then it is like saying ‘ok, you have that site of devotion then’. (Yikes I sound so serious, which I am, but I really do mean my statements to come out as questions…not commands.)
As to the cat, holy water, and the believer – maybe all the water is holy and we just think we play a role in making it so? Alternatively, maybe the cat is the believer and the water is transformed through a great mysterious purr.
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The Cat in Question
As for the cat in question, she is not a believer as such. Rather, she thinks that she is the only proper object of veneration.
Previous Posts
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Car Stickers
Hurrah! Scottish Episcopal Car Stickers. At last! We have cried in the wilderness (and in the Information and Communications Board), “How long, O Lord, how long?” Our prayers have been heard. Note that the sticker contains a subliminal message designed to make people believe that if that actually encounter the SEC then they will be…
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Time for an Ascensiontide hymn
[youtube:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=F83nC4H5koU] And whilst you are listening to it, you can have a ponder as to what on earth (or in heaven) is going on over at Kimberly’s blog.
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Special Evensong
Just to note that there is a bumper Evensong on Sunday 4 May 2008 [NB Corrected date!] at 6.30 pm in St Mary’s. You get two choirs for the price of one as St Mary’s Cathedral Choir are being joined by Glasgow University Chapel Choir. These are two of the most exciting liturgical choirs in…
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