Welcome to Debbie’s Page ‘O Rants. Talk Amongst Yourselves…
Today’s topic:
What the heck happend to my being a good Catholic, or , Oops I sinned again - -
When I was in my early teens, my mother died suddenly….just here today, gone tomorrow, no warning, no indication, and no idea of how this single event was going to change things.
In my head, and based upon my memory of my young self and attitude, the orginial direction of my life was that I was going to be a perfect catholic and potentially a nun – or maybe a catholic school teacher so that I can hang out with nuns, or, at a minimum, I was going to be a girl who admired her parents enough to make sure she made decisions that would impress them….maybe I would have gone to college and got a book smart education on creative writing, or just got married early with some nerdy boy who loved me,and had a few little ones (okay, many many years later part of that kinda did happen)…..but I was barely in high school when my Angel of a Mother died, and my poor loving “what the hell am I going to do with 8 kids?” grieving Dad started making some choices that changed our lives…..and so begins today’s rant – “What the heck happened to my being a good catholic? or “oops, I sinned again”…
I consider myself a bit of an atheist, I don’t believe in much of anything, and I have little faith, let alone pray about anything except all the selfish things like “please make me rich”, and “please keep me looking young”…..for Christ’s Sake (damn it, I sinned again), when I was 13, I prayed for goodwill, I prayed for my family, my teachers, and I prayed that God forgive my sister Donna for calling our mom a witch (yes, I saved you – thank me later).
So, here I am 33 years later, trying to figure out how to turn some of this around. I recently looked up a modern day version of the Ten Commandments and couldn’t help but get very concerned in my complete lack of Christian qualities -
1. The first Commandment forbids us to put anything before God. God is demanding that first of all, we give Him prominence……in my case, since this means never being enslaved by things like your career, car, food and alcohol, television, etc….oops, I sinned again.
2. Commandment number two says that God cannot be captured in a picture or statue. God will not tolerate images, which might replace Him as an object of worship……in my case, a picture of George Clooney was recently replaced by a picture of Mel Gibson (since he went off the deep-end) in my head as a slice of heaven…..oops.
3. Commandment number three is about taking God’s name in vain…..oh For ‘}$(&@ Sake!! ….oops (yes, there is a way to cuss in blogger speak – so does that count?)
4. Commandment four, thou Shalt not break the Sabbath. The early Christians decided to use Sunday. St. Paul said that we shouldn’t judge each other over Sabbaths. We need to take one day off per week. It’s good for us. In my case, finally a commandment I can live with…today, I will not be a HATER!!! oops, just saw a commercial with Halle Berry….oh well.
5. Commandment five – Honor your father and mother. This commandment has a promise attached. “…that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” Family is important. If we continue honoring our parents through our life, our children will see us and hopefully get the message. It is one key to an orderly society. In my case, I am totally free from this one….I knew it would pay some day not to have kids! Although, my period is a week late….jk – no OOPS babies here….
6. Commandment six – Do not murder. Murder must refer to people taking the law into their own hands and killing. In my case, I will have to plead the fifth (you can do that right?)…jk – no oops here….
7. Commandment seven – Jesus rewrote this one when he said “whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Whew, I am not into women, so no oops here…..I do think this commandment will evolve a bit more someday to “whatever happens in Vegas…..”
8. Commandment eight – Do not steal. We all know what that means, don’t be bank robbers, or take 5 finger discounts (oops, but I was only 16). It is written that Where most of us need help is in the “gray” areas like income tax returns, and expense accounts. OOPS, and OOPS!!!! (man, I hope no one reads this….)
9. Commandment nine – Do not commit perjury (usually translated as “false witness”). When we’re called to testify in court we are asked to swear on a Bible that we will be honest. Gossip and slander may fall under this heading as well….okay, let’s just say I have gotten out of jury duty several times, and gossip? slander? oops, oops, and my bad, oops….
10. and FINALLY, we come to Commandment #10. Do not covet anything that is your neighbors’. This is greed and envy, focusing on what others have and what we don’t have. This is the one commandment that is hardest to obey. We see things every day that we want. It’s the basis of our commercial society……uhhhhh, crap, I give up – I AM THE WORSE CATHOLIC EVER!!!!!
More on how I plan on turning things around soon……remember, today is the Sabbath, so I am going to take the rest of it off - let the turning things around part of my life commence!
Peace out, and God Bless.
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