tinytherese Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 So one of my friends brought up that she wanted to make holy water and asked me how you go about doing that. I said that you need water ( ) and a priest to bless it. She responded how she didn't like how Christianity had rules and rituals like that. I asked what was so hard about just going to a priest and asking him to bless water would be. Heck it only takes moments to do. (I didn't say this in a mean way.) She said that it was still too much for her. (I'm not sure why totally.) She also said that in some areas of her country there are areas where there are no priests for one to get to and she appeared to be implying that priests are unnecessary for one's faith. It's just an external. I told how rules play such a significant role in our lives by bring up the examples of how rules are at our school and on the road for driving. She said that she understood that but didn't know how to describe how she could reason her beliefs regarding practicing her faith. It seemed to at least to get her thinking. She stressed how one she had a personal relationship with Our Lord (and I informed her that I did too.) So I thought that this would be a good topic for the phamily to discuss when people bring up stuff like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TotusTuusMaria Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 She sounds very defensive. First, she brings it up to you and then she doesn't like what you say and she ends up saying, "I have a personal relationship with our Lord." I would have just said: *blink-blink* "...ok..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kafka Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 how do you make holy water? you boil the hell out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 My dad had a stock answer for someone questioning Catholicism. He'd say that you can go your whole life without visiting a dentist, and still keep your teeth. Going to a dentist sure makes it easier though. Jesus left us the Church not as a burden, but as a way to make things easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Adam Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 Those rules are annoying aren't they. I don't like stop signs or red lights either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groo the Wanderer Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 So...she needs holy water, but does not want to have to get a priest involved. Is she bootlegging it or is she intending to start a freelance vampire-hunting business? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MStar Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 Obviously she's got more going on than just being annoyed that she can't make her own holy water. She probably has a problem with all the little rules we seem to have (don't eat meat on Fridays, genuflect when you go into a pew, go to confession once a year, go to Mass every Sunday and on holy days of obligation, don't receive communion in other churches, fast on these days and abstain on those, etc.) You can probably see why to a non-Catholic this looks like a lot of Catholics trying to follow all these rules and possibly missing the point, a relationship with God. And I can attest that it is very possible to follow all the rules and so consider yourself a good Catholic (everyone sees that you're doing it all right, so you must be one of those "good Catholics") and never actually realize that you're completely missing the point. I've been there, and done that, and it took my non-Catholic friends to push me to God in a way I'd never been pushed before. I know the rules are supposed to help us, but I don't know how to explain them very well, because I can also see them as something that could easily get twisted into an external focus only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest maja Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 [quote name='MStar' post='1862933' date='May 9 2009, 03:59 PM']Obviously she's got more going on than just being annoyed that she can't make her own holy water. She probably has a problem with all the little rules we seem to have (don't eat meat on Fridays, genuflect when you go into a pew, go to confession once a year, go to Mass every Sunday and on holy days of obligation, don't receive communion in other churches, fast on these days and abstain on those, etc.) You can probably see why to a non-Catholic this looks like a lot of Catholics trying to follow all these rules and possibly missing the point, a relationship with God. And I can attest that it is very possible to follow all the rules and so consider yourself a good Catholic (everyone sees that you're doing it all right, so you must be one of those "good Catholics") and never actually realize that you're completely missing the point. I've been there, and done that, and it took my non-Catholic friends to push me to God in a way I'd never been pushed before. I know the rules are supposed to help us, but I don't know how to explain them very well, because I can also see them as something that could easily get twisted into an external focus only.[/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest maja Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 To make Holy Water, One needs to have Blessed Salt to add to water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TotusTuusMaria Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 [quote name='MStar' post='1862933' date='May 9 2009, 03:59 PM']Obviously she's got more going on than just being annoyed that she can't make her own holy water.[/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle_eye222001 Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 When people go on these arguments of "personal relationship" with the implication that religion, dogmas, and doctrine hinder their faith, they are basically arguing that they want to worship God as they want God to be and not what he is. If this freelance worship worked....then truth is relative and pinning absolutes becomes impossible. Basically these people want it to become a free for all and they assume that it's all acceptable. While rituals and tradition and Tradition seem to get in the way sometimes, they are what keep the faith as it is, and protect us from inventing a new faith. ---------------- Now playing: [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/story+of+the+year/track/message+to+the+world"]Story Of The Year - Message To The World[/url] via [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/"]FoxyTunes[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rose wrought of iron Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 [quote name='maja' post='1863036' date='May 9 2009, 06:33 PM']To make Holy Water, One needs to have Blessed Salt to add to water[/quote] I like to cook using blessed salt. As my grandma says, "sometimes we need all the help we can get." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MStar Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 (edited) [quote]When people go on these arguments of "personal relationship" with the implication that religion, dogmas, and doctrine hinder their faith, they are basically arguing that they want to worship God as they want God to be and not what he is.[/quote] Could you clarify this? How does the fact that they're uncomfortable with traditions mean they want to worship God as they want Him to be? [quote]While rituals and tradition and Tradition seem to get in the way sometimes, they are what keep the faith as it is, and protect us from inventing a new faith.[/quote] I get this when it comes to major Tradition, but how can you argue that for small things? Things like needing a priest to bless the holy water (and putting salt in it? I've never heard of that...) Because those evolved as the Church grew, therefore it couldn't follow that they keep the faith as it is - it seems it could be argued that they've caused changes. Edited May 9, 2009 by MStar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle_eye222001 Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 [quote name='MStar' post='1863059' date='May 9 2009, 06:54 PM']Could you clarify this? How does the fact that they're uncomfortable with traditions mean they want to worship God as they want Him to be? I get this when it comes to major Tradition, but how can you argue that for small things? Things like needing a priest to bless the holy water (and putting salt in it? I've never heard of that...) Because those evolved as the Church grew, therefore it couldn't follow that they keep the faith as it is - it seems it could be argued that they've caused changes.[/quote] I guess my main point is that it seems that since they are uncomfortable with the current practice, they want it to be different. However, this boils down to mostly "feeling" as they almost always ignore the Church's explanation for something. In the first post, the person complaining offered no historical argument and was going purely off of feeling. The person was sounding like a person who is their own authority for deciding how to worship God and that God must accept their idea of it even though they are rejecting the Church Christ instituted on earth. I guess the small things do not matter....however what is small? Obviously Tradition is big. tradition would be small. I disagree with needing a priest to bless water for it to be holy to be a dismissible small thing though that is another thread in of itself. ---------------- Now playing: [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/skillet/track/rebirthing"]Skillet - Rebirthing[/url] via [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/"]FoxyTunes[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicCid Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 "The love of God consists in this: that we keep his commandments- and his commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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