It's crazy Thursday and the beginning of the Lent season in the now notorious lives of exposed extreme catholics thanks to POTUS GOP candidates Santorum and Newt.
Man, are they doing the world a favor by shining a bright spot-light on why religion should stay out of politics and government. These crazies get a big BRAVO from me!
Anyhoo, I grew up catholic as many here on dkos did. And the Lent season was always dreaded by me and my siblings. The reason for that is cause giving up what little shit we had to give up was a hard decision and one we had to tell each other after Ash Wednesday mass at the supper table. Candy was usually the biggest sacrifice. LOL!
Well, because our sacrifices never made it longer than a few days, my full-time-working- mother of 8 kids got this bright idea one Lent, I was about 7 or 8, to say the rosary on our knees every night after supper.
Picture if you will, one tired mom, 8 wiggley soon to be tortured kids, each with our own set of Blessed rosary beads, kneeling down in a small living room..It always started out with lots of groans, some whining from the babies-what did they know about bended knees and sparkly beads? My mom would start off with the first 10 bead set and then by oldest go through the ranks. By the end of the rosary every corner in the room had a disruptive kid in it making faces etc.,, the rest were sprawled all over the floor and I could always tell that my mom wondered why SHE started this in the first place. Us older kids got so good and FAST at saying the Hail Mary that only a tongue understander would have known what was coming out of our mouths (diction did not matter by the 3rd set;)) The rosary soon became sling shots, twirly gadgets, necklaces, bracelets , tiaras and whipping weapons...My mom started the whipping weapon thing. (It also became a time for lots of laughter, mom screaming, crying, spankings etc., etc.:)
That kind of Lent ended after a few years and by the time I was in high school we didn't do Lent anymore:) Guess we were the healthy lax catholics by then (thank god!)
Fast forward to 2012, my parents and only one sister still does the church every Sunday.
So, anyone else with a Lent story they'd like to share before religion becomes a relic of the past or at the very least put back in the personal private place where it belongs!! and kept out of our FACES, POLITICS and Government?
OWS Freedom From Religion!