What's Andy Cooking?

Number 175!!

This entry marks the 175th time I have attempted to pour my infinite wisdom onto the web. In order to commemorate this event, I'm going to begin an event I call Andy's Amazing Interweb Extravaganza. This event will be marked by periods of inactivity on my site, broken up by random and yet thoughtful moments, where I'll discuss such relevant subjects as the new face of communism, flying cars, and Nicholas Cage as Superman.

As an opening thought, I'd like to discuss my own experience at mass on Easter Sunday.

Now, unlike Trent, I didn't manage to give up anything for Lent, unless you count giving up on giving things up. Rather, I opted to continue life as normal, returning to my trend of all years past. I did, however, manage to make it to Easter Mass at my Mom's parish, St. Theresa's.

Now, all things considered, this parish is most definately on the liberal end of the Roman Catholic spectrum. Father Kevin, a wily man from the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, manages to throw in references to Irish football more often than you'd think was possible in a homily, and at one point during the service, tricked the entire parish into responding "We are" rather than the appropriate "We do," and then joked about our inability to understand a simple question.

Another unusual aspect of the service was the rampant inclusion of music. A small youth choir, accompanied by guitars, interrupted what might be the normal flow of mass with song. Meanwhile, a twelve year old boy (from the looks of things) operated a full drum set, beating loudly and with the most awkward sense of rhythm imaginable. Aside from this distraction, however, the service flowed like a silk habit over the supple curves of Sister Wendy.

What caught my attention the most, during the whole fiasco, was Father Kevin's discussion of the symbolism of water in the Baptism. After taking four young children through the sacrement, he invited everyone to come to the font and renew their own baptisms by dipping their hands and giving the sign of the cross. In a very Eastern interpretation, Father explained that the water is used to affect the "drowning of the self, the sacrifice of one's own purpose to a greater cause in compassion toward all man."

Now, has anyone else (Catholic) heard of this interpretation before? For me, it was an unmistakeable echo of eastern thought: that one should give up their own body for the greater good. In Buddhism, compassion and self sacrifice are pillars of the spiritual ideal. One story, for instance, has a prince killing himself in order for a family of lions to survive. Of couse, the greater good in the sense that Father Kevin meant is the good of God, and not some family of soul-less lions.

But hey, as Jack said, Jesus was the greatest Buddhist that ever lived . .