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| Just feel bad about your shortcomings. |
Hey, yeah, it ain't all comics of founding fathers around here. No. There are some serious ass things that go on in this brainpan. And you know what? Oh yeah, you guys gotta hear about them because if I don't go to you to relieve the tension then it's all, "bang bang bang; oh God what have I done; I'd best just kill myself" or "time to drink every damn day of the week, instead of just the prolonged weekend schedule that's going on right now" type things. You all know. I'm sure you do.
So, let me fill you in on the backstory here. I've got this atheistic brother and, while he's a troll to be sure, he's generally a likable guy, given that you can stop being so up your own ass all the time and thinking that you're right and let him feel that, regardless of what you think or believe or hold dear or vote or any of that shit that serves to distance ourselves from one another. He's a good guy. Strong willed? Yes. Outspoken? Yes. The kind of guy you hate to have over for the holidays because you know he is going to corner that one conservative brother-in-law of yours and systematically demolish said brother-in-law's position on organized labor, or immigration, or wage inequality and leave everyone at the Thanksgiving gathering looking at their shoes and commenting on the weather? Yes.
Okay, so, recently, Jude got himself un-friended on facebook by two (if not more) of my Catholic relatives because, as is his fashion in the election season, he put the troll drive into maximum overload and went after these relatives' political convictions. The relatives responded in kind with 1) trying to convince him of his perceived thought errors with their dogmatically derived thought system, 2) complaining that he was attacking them solely for their belief structure and 3) defriending him because he was using naughty words in their facebook stream.
Perhaps some authorial intrusion is needed here to let you all know the point of this post and perhaps to distill the clarity of this post for you all without this turning into a full on apologia of Holy Mother Church and all Her teachings.
I'mma tell you like I tell Felicia: I don't cop to understanding anything [like many of the faithful (and I only say this with the acceptance that these things happen)], but will say this: If you go to Church and stand in the absolute majesty of God and consume His flesh and ask for His forgiveness for your pitiable sins and go away from the Liturgy feeling like anything else than the absolute filth that you are, then you are doing it wrong. To me, it's about feeling awful and not the demarcation of who is right and who is wrong. It's about feeling flawed. It's about feeling that you can always do better. Give more. Care more. Act more. Incorporate outsiders more. Forgive others more. Be forebearing more. Be patient more. Be meek more. Be peaceful more. Petition more. Love more.
The entirety of the Liturgy leaves a body feeling...inadequate.
That might be the convoluted point of my reasoning here. I think.
