Take a look at what Beth has written about All Souls Day over on her blog. She’s a young medic who works in the local cancer hospital by day and by night and who works at the altar of the Lord as a server by night and by day.
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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The Sound of the Photocopier
The sound of the photocopier was heard in the land. It is a little known fact that the week before Holy Week is now referred to in the Calendar as Photocopier Week.
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The Scottish Episcopal Church and the "Listening Process"
Seen this? http://www.aco.org/listening/reports/scotland.cfm It is the response of the Scottish Episcopal Church to the “Listening Process” in the Anglican Communion. We will leave aside the fact that although it is supposed to be a process of listening to lesbian and gay people there is nothing in the response about what any lesbian or gay person…
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Sermon – Passion Sunday
This week is the start of a mini-season in the church – we are travelling through Lent towards Holy Week – the Great Drama. This final part of the journey, we call Passiontide. The time of the Passion. There is, of course, a very particular view of what the Passion of Christ is about –…
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Topics to blog about
Andrew has commented on a previous post about topics to blog about. His suggestions are The environment Slavery ( any why it is still practiced ) Ecumenical concerns and relations with other religions Children, and how we can bring them into the Faith Someone else has commented that Andrew could set up his own blog.…
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