Catholic Mass.

Three of us went to Catholic Mass this morning. My clothes smell of incense. I actually thought the incense smelled nice, though. I wonder if the Book of the Four Gospels thought so as well. It was well smothered.

We participated in as much as possible. We didn't pray to the saints or to Mary. I was the only one to bow to the altar on the way out (I was bowing to Jesus, in the direction of the altar?). I thought the whole thing in general was pretty good. It seems like it would be a nice place to go if I was Catholic. The people were nice.

There was much less of an emphasis on the transubstantiation of the Eucharist than I expected. It appears that they don't actually believe that the bread and wine physically change into the body and blood of Christ, they just change substance. Their physical appearance remains the same. I always thought that you took them, and then the priest transubstantiated them when they are already in your body.

The sermon was about community, but the priest threw the word "tradition" in as many times as humanly possible. The point of the sermon was that the members are in constant communion with each other, and with the deceased members of the church. A little sketchy, but his purpose was to build a sense of community within the body of believers, which, in itself, is a good thing.

It was quite clear, however, that his reasoning was not from the Bible. His only reason for most of the beliefs he stated was tradition. I heard the words "this is the oldest" far too many times to count.

The final result is that I'm a little bit less ignorant toward Catholicism, and I would say that they are good people honestly seeking the truth, yet, in my opinion, further away from it than I am. We'll find out when we get to heaven.

Next time Jon gets a break from his Sunday ministry we're going to try to find an Orthodox church. That should be equally thrilling.