***Public prayer is just as “Pharisaical” as making public signs of the cross. ***
If one bows over a meal in public and makes the sign of the Cross without calling attention to one’s self, it is not really ‘public’.
***The Orthodox tend to cross a lot more than Catholics.***
True. It is not the quantity, overall, but it does indicate the role of religion in one’s life. I work with a number of individuals who belong to one of these new growing megachurches that will last until the pastor is caught with two male prostitutes, a Great Dane, and a freshwater eel. I find one just on the edge of Catholic beliefs; the rest are of the hand waving swaying fellowship types who find that attendance on Christmas to interfere with their holiday plans, and that Holy Week just really doesn’t apply to them.
***The Gospels teach humility and, consistent with that, that the expression of faith should not be boisterous and hypocritical. Jesus taught that we should pray in private, dark rooms, not public places. That’s why all Orthodox homes have a prayer corner in a remote part fo the house.***
Our basement has just such a room.
***Yet the Protesters want public prayers, at football games and schools. Our Congress has a chaplain who leads public prayer. In the military, chaplains lead public prayers at various non-religious ceremonies. Many public events are preceded by a public prayer.***
The blessing over the meal is public; one must differentiate that, yes?
***Clearly, the Catholic and Apostolic Church found it much harder to make the sign of a fish that so many Portesters sport on their cars, and found the sign of the cross a more appropriate and relevant symbol of the Christian faith.***
I find that the Darwin fish is an appropriate answer.
***It is what the early Church did and it is the unbroken tradition of the one true Church. Protestants in their own misery will invent any other kind of gestures so long as it is not what the Catholic Church does. Truly pathetic but consistent.***
Inventions of man versus the doctrines of the Church. Wheee.
I couldn't agree more.
the rest are of the hand waving swaying fellowship types who find that attendance on Christmas to interfere with their holiday plans, and that Holy Week just really doesn’t apply to them
Unless Christmas falls on a Sunday they don't go to "church." As if it's their birthday!
Our basement has just such a room
I think all devout Catholics find Orthodox practices either sensible or similar to what they practice, and vice versa. When I attended a Traditional Mass I saw an elderly gentleman pass by the Crucifix. He stopped, kissed his hand and touched Jesus' feet. I could perfectly relate to that. many people show their love for Christ by kinng the icons or kissing the hand and touching the icon with it.
The blessing over the meal is public; one must differentiate that, yes?
A church gathering is not 'public.' Leading a congregation on church grounds or at a religious gathering in prayer is not public prayer. Making prayers with Muslims and Jews and pagans gathered in the same room is unthinkable. Orthodox don't pray with non-Christians. Prayers inside the church are not 'public.' The Church is the Christian home. In fact the original churches were homes; the shape of a basilica is a typical Roman home. Nothing public about them.
Christian praying on church grounds with one heart and mind and love for Christ is not 'public' prayer either.
I find that the Darwin fish is an appropriate answer
Probably. :)
Inventions of man versus the doctrines of the Church. Wheee
It's almost an obsession to change tradition just to make it "mine," so to say. Excessive attention to one's self, egotism, pathological individualism, "being-full-of-one's selfism," narcissism, etc. In short: Pharisaical sin of pride and boasting.