Zeus and Catholicism

Here is an unusual painting entitled The Infancy of Zeus by Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem.  I would have thought this would be Zeus' "holy family" portrait.  It looks like Joseph, Mary, the baby and the usual assortment of barnyard animals.  I assumed it was Kronos and Rhea with Zeus in the picture.  However, as an interesting contrast to the traditional Nativity scene of our Lord, both parents here are adoptive.  Since Kronos, Zeus' father, had a bad habit of eating his children, Rhea hid Zeus away in the care of this odd family.  Bare breasts aside, the nymph Adrastea who is holding baby Zeus in her lap is not his nurse.  It is actually the goat in the bottom right of the picture.  Check out the look the cow is giving the scene.  Now I am going to be checking out the facial expressions of cows in Nativity scenes.  Are they usually that grumpy?

Remember those Greek gods and goddesses?  They were hanging around for all eternity on Mount Olympus.  Seemingly they had nothing much to do except have sex out of wedlock with all manner of man and beast and then fight with each other.

When I was young and read some of these stories (and that is the extent of my expertise, I do not pretend to be an expert on Greek mythology) I was SO happy that I was not immortal like those guys.

BUT . . .  Now I see that I am.  Not in the way where a mother tells her wild-driving son "You are not IMMORTAL you know!"  Instead, in the gonna-be-around-for-eternity-with-or-without-Jesus way.

We need to remember that even though we are, AMAZINGLY immortal, we are not God.  Our long eternity will be determined pretty much by how well we keep that in mind in our earthly time.

One other interesting point of comparison, the blood of the Greek immortals (like Zeus) was called ichor.  If humans drank it they would die.  In contrast, we drink the blood of Jesus to live, to have life.

I am glad I don't live in Ancient Greece, not knowing what we know today about Christianity and thinking Zeus was the biggest, best thing out there.  And I am happy I live in an era when, hopefully, the cows are happier than the one in the picture.

Eucharist as Food

I had never heard the term "holy anorexics" until last week. It refers to saints and holy people (like Catherine of Siena) who ate little or nothing besides for receiving Eucharist frequently. I am not an expert on this topic. However, I have been ATTEMPTING to fast regularly for almost 30 years now. Sometimes it is really hard. My most successful attempts have been after receiving Eucharist. TRY IT!

Eucharist as "Magic"

I'm gonna "get calls" on this one! People will probably be upset at the idea of Eucharist as magic. Smells and bells and all that hocus-pocus. I'm going to make the point here that the Eucharist does resemble a good "magic" and that that is a good thing. If the word "magic" bugs you, just substitute "mystery" for the remainder of this posting.

So the priest, by imposition of the bishop's hands, receives the grace and spiritual power to change a piece of bread and a cup of wine into Our Lord's body and blood. He can do this several times a day if he says the right words and has followed all the rules properly. If he is a very holy man he can do this. If he is a total jerk he can do this. I cannot do this. In a general sense, if he says the words wrong and doesn't follow the rules the bread and wine will still be bread and wine.

There are lots of priests in this world. Many are holy guys. Some are not as holy as they should be. It's not my problem to sort it out. Thank you, God.

In the Protestant churches I attended as a child, if the pastor was uninspiring with his homily or personal holiness there wasn't much the church had to give you except maybe some fellowship. I appreciate the "magic" in the Catholic Church that transcends our human limitations.

A couple of stories from history. The Jesuits were recalled to Europe in the 1700s from the mission field here in North America. Priests here had DIED trying to bring the Catholic faith to the Native Americans. Then the enthusiastic new converts they had made here were abandoned. Many areas would not see a priest again for over 100 years.

Imagine generations of no sacramental marriages, no Eucharist, no reconciliation, no sacraments to help you prepare for death. Before and after this time in these remote areas when a priest came to town he had to spend huge amounts of time just giving basic sacraments to residents. At least the people could baptize each other when no priest was handy. But how would it even be possible to hand down the faith for maybe four generations without having any sacramental help?

I've been reading Charles Dickens' A Child's History of England. (Good book.) I'm in the middle of the 1100s and the Catholic Church is a mess. High offices in the Church were given to the king's buddies as presents. Going back a little earlier in their history, some of the priests were common criminals, even murderers! The amazing thing is that the Catholic Church even remains today. That is a huge miracle!

So maybe your priest is a jerk. Maybe he's too conservative or too liberal. Maybe he is from a foreign land and you can't understand his accent. Because the power is from God's holy "magic" and not the worthiness of the priest or (heaven help us) the worthiness of US, Eucharist still works. Thank the Lord that there is still a Catholic Church and someone anointed to bring you Our Lord's body and blood.

Eucharist as Consummation

Once I heard someone compare Eucharist to the physical consummation of a marriage. This idea stays in my brain for two reasons. First, well come on, it's gonna stick in your brain too now that I have said it. Second, because it answers a lot of questions and make some strange-seeming things make sense.

Compare joining the Catholic Church to getting married. There is a lot of preparation involved with both. I say this as a woman who was required to give up every Saturday evening for a year in my preparation to join the church. (I was only asked to prepare for a few months for my marriage.)

You have this whole physical two-become-one concept, perhaps with both. And there is this physical thing you do. In either case, if you explain it to a sixth grader they will tell you it sounds pretty gross.

In this context, however, it is easy to understand why everyone isn't invited to partake of Eucharist in the Catholic Church. There are a lot of very nice, good, probably holy people, who are excluded. But just as you shouldn't be going around consummating non-marital relations in the one way, the same is true in our relationship with Jesus and the Church.

A marriage involves a big commitment. You go through processes, you fill out paperwork, you make a public statement, you make a life commitment. Only under these circumstances can two really become one flesh and the system work as it should.

So the church asks for "date night" once a week and on a few major holidays. If you didn't show up for date night with your spouse it would not bode well for your marriage. This is one of the many reasons Catholics need to be present at Mass on Sundays.

I'm sorry that the Catholic Church seems like such an exclusive club and I hurt for those who through remarriage, mortal sin, or lack of understanding/interest are excluded. May the Lord heal our separations and divisions and bring us all together at the table soon.