Intensifying the Practice

This Sunday morning started out with clear blue skies and was a tad bit warmer than usual. I enjoyed this change as I accompanied my family into the sanctuary of this Catholic Church. 

Just like the previous weeks, this morning services started on time with an uproar of voices singing glorious church songs led by the powerful choir and band.  As we continued in praise, the clergy (the father and altar boys) march down the aisle to the front of the sanctuary to begin the service. As singing came to an end, the choir was excused.  The father led us in prayer, then began to preach the sermon.

What I have noticed since the start of my field study is that in the Catholic Church, there are collection of specific prayers that are recited. To name a few that I recall since the start of my field study are as follows: the Our Father Prayer and the Hail Mary Prayer.

The reason I am mentioning these prayers is because it strongly relates to the message that was delivered to us today. The sermon was about regret. He explained how many of us live our whole life carrying guilt in our hearts from our decisions we've made in the past. The father went on explaining to all of us how we as humans can learn to rid ourselves of these heavy burdens. This healing process is called regret. At the end of this I learned that we can all move on in life feeling better about ourselves.

Culture and religion can have a heavy influence on ones perception on life. It has dawned on me how greatly religions differ. Growing up in a Christian church, it was as simple as asking for forgiveness to rid one of their sins and regrets. Since attending this new new church, I have realized that these two different religions each have their own different practices in so many ways. Though they both are trying to achieve the same goal, which is being forgiven at the end of the day, the Catholic Church intensifies their practices.  The Catholic Church is much more strict more and by the book (as in bible and rules) versus the Christian church and its beliefs.