Theatrical Drama First
Last night I gave my neighbors a ride to church for the Wed night religious instruction leading up to First Communion. Last 2 years they went every Wed night to prepare for the boys' baptism, and now they have another year or two for Holy Communion and then Confirmation.
They normally meet for lessons in the cathedral downtown, but last night, they were obligated to go to the evening mass celebrating All Souls Day. It was held at the beautiful new building on Centennial Drive. The boys urged me to get out of my car to have a quick look inside the church.
I could hear music and singing and the inside was just magnificent with artfully lit arches, statues lining the walls, a palatial alter area and just so many breathtaking architectural flourishes. If you have ever been to the casinos in Atlantic City NJ you'll know what I mean when I say it reminded me of those buildings. They replicate grand architectural styles using less expensive materials.
But this building replicates grand cathedrals instead of palaces. There is a whole nuther mood to the opulence, or at least there was for me. I ran back out to the parking circle and moved my car to a space in the parking lot. I was drawn to the beautiful building and wanted to experience the mass there with my friends. The chorus had a lot to do with it. I was looking up front in the left nave for someone with a guitar or violin, but could see noone standing to sing or play instruments. I wondered if the music was a recording being played over the sound system. During communion, when people were leaving the pews to receive the consecrated bread and wine, I asked Nati where the music was coming from, was it recorded music? She pointed to the back and I could see The chorus and musicians in the large balcony at the rear of the church.
I had asked Nati, when the assitants were filing down from the raised alter area to help distribute to the Host to the congregants, if she needed to get past me to go receive communion. No, she is not allowed because she is not married. Ahh yes! I had forgotten about all those rules!
All through the service, especially the sermon, I thought about how we got from Zeus and Saturn in the sky to the Son of God walking around on earth. Several years ago when I volunteered to take a customer's mom to mass I had struggled with anger and jealousy toward the power of the Christian establishment. Last night I watched the children playing in the pews, the priest reading the gospel and wondered what they were thinking, if this communal spectacle satisfied them.
It never satisfied me. I loved it and still do. I remember kneeling next to my father one Sunday and asking my father if the man up on the alter was god. I was talking about Fr. Ernst the priest with a German accent. I used to count how many seconds it took him to finish a sentence. He projected his strong voice slowly, with great theatricality, almost as though he were chanting measured verse.
My father was irritated with the question. Years later when my older brother protested the priest's request for a fee to baptize his daughter, my father said matter of factly, "it's a club and to be a member you have to pay dues." He studied geological engineering in college. I think he assumed we understood the god stuff was to be taken with a grain of salt and felt disappointed that we needed that laid out. Maybe if I had asked the question after mass when we were in the booth at People's Drugs having scrambled eggs on toast with cokes, or in his case a glass of beer with foam at the top.
Last week Miguel asked who came first the cave men, god or the dinosaurs. We were only a block from home after picking them up from their lessons. Oh what a wonderful question! He and Alfredo were having a jolly time. It began with Jesus. Alfredo had been to Williamsburg for a class field trip and wondered if that was the time of Jesus. I said Jesus was long after the dinosaurs but before the American Colonists. They were very enthusiastic about collating historic events. But that god question right at the end was a doozy.
I told Miguel he should ask his teacher. I'm not sure if she will be much help. One of their religious education teachers showed them a video of the Host bleeding when someone dropped it on the floor. "It was REAL!! The blood of Jesus."
"Do you believe that?" I asked. One brother did, the other piped up with examples of fake videos. But the teacher said it was real.
Numeric Drama
Tuesday night I started thinking I should have taken a longer section of Libra and Aries to demostrate their different rising times. (Previous post) I figured Mars was above the average tree line by 5:30am and Venus by 6:50am. That's a time difference of 1hr 20m.
The AC (ascendent) for those times in Raleigh was:
12Libra13 for the 5:30 Mars rise
28Libra45 for the 6:50 Venus rise
Again, that's 1hr 20mins for 16degrees32mins of Libra to rise
Now the same section of Aries crossing above the AC later that same day and location:
12Aries09 rose at 5:00pm
28Aries52 rose at 5:44pm
So the equivalent section of Aries takes only 44mins to come up over the eastern horizon.
The 16degree spread in Libra takes 36 more minutes to rise than the same spread in Aries.
