{"id":802,"date":"2014-05-07T16:04:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T21:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=802"},"modified":"2015-08-11T18:21:47","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T23:21:47","slug":"religion-is-about-reality-and-so-is-the-black-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/05\/religion-is-about-reality-and-so-is-the-black-mass\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion is about Reality – and so is the Black Mass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"File:Master<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the striking features of Harvard\u2019s planned Black Mass, being hosted by Satanists who don\u2019t believe in Satan, is that the exhibitors don\u2019t actually believe their own religion<\/a>. \u00a0If Catholics are concerned about the event, it is because we do believe ours.<\/p>\n

The Catholic faith is not a set of feelings or preferences. \u00a0It is a series of statements about reality. \u00a0About things that are true. Things that are real. \u00a0The occult is gravely dangerous not because it is pretend, but because it is not pretend. \u00a0The faith is worth explaining and defending and practicing not because we especially like it, or have found it helpful, but because, like all real things, it has consequences.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

When I first returned to the Catholic faith, it was because I felt empty without God. \u00a0I longed for His presence in my life again. \u00a0My husband and I began visiting churches, and we settled on a wonderful non-denominational evangelical congregation for the two of us, and then I\u2019d slip over to Mass most Sundays. \u00a0I felt at home, happy, and mostly-converted. \u00a0If you had asked me in those first months, I would have affirmed I was a Christian.<\/p>\n

But I still had one question: Is this true?<\/p>\n

Jesus, are you real?<\/p>\n

I had, after all, considered any number of other possible religions. \u00a0True atheism was beyond my natural inclination, but I was open to just about anything that involved some kind of spiritual life. \u00a0Christianity was more a religion of convenience than a religion of conviction.<\/p>\n

So I prayed. \u00a0Jesus if you are real, let me know that.<\/em><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t pray that for a day, or a week, or even a month. \u00a0I started attending my new evangelical congregation in August, and my prayer wasn\u2019t answered until February. \u00a0I\u2019ve known people to wait years, even decades, to have such a prayer answered.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I was hoping my prayer would be answered in some quiet, reverent moment all by myself. \u00a0Someplace seemly. \u00a0Instead, four things happened:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. My conversion came at the hands of a Baptist deacon. \u00a0Roman road, sinners\u2019 prayer, all that.<\/li>\n
  2. I was immediately filled with an overwhelming desire to attend Mass.<\/li>\n
  3. When I went to Mass, it was as if I was hearing the Gospel for the first time. \u00a0My ears had been opened.<\/li>\n
  4. My husband and I proceeded to argue about religion for a decade.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    #4 was the clincher. \u00a01-3 were powerful spiritual experiences that to this day remind me that God is a Person who takes an active part in our lives. \u00a0#4 is why I\u2019m still Catholic.<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n

    ***<\/p>\n

    From the moment I was born-again Catholic, I had to defend my faith. \u00a0I had to find proof that this wasn\u2019t merely something I felt, or liked, or that was a personal calling, but that it was true. That it was real. \u00a0Experiences are one way of knowing things, but I can\u2019t give everyone else my experience. \u00a0Reason, evidence, facts . . . these don\u2019t depend on my subjective assessment.<\/p>\n

    ***<\/p>\n

    My mother died about seven years after my conversion. \u00a0Shortly after I came home from the funeral, I had a meeting with my pastor (about religious education, as it happened). He offered his condolences, and asked me how I was doing. \u00a0\u201cWell,\u201d I told him, \u201cdeath will make you decide whether you really believe all this stuff or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n
    It\u2019s all just music and pretty colors until the corpse shows up.<\/div>\n

    ***<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n

    I named this blog after an essay I wrote<\/a>, and I wrote the essay at a time when I was staring death straight in the face. \u00a0 A time when, by the grace of God, I received a happy reminder that I\u2019d done scary things before. \u00a0That the best way through a crazy corner was to do it like you mean it.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    But here\u2019s the weird thing: The header photo on this blog scares me. \u00a0Why? Because I don\u2019t like blind corners. \u00a0This blog, and the Catholic faith, aren\u2019t about, \u201cWe\u2019ll just hope for the best! Who knows!\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s about knowing, being certain, that you really can stick the corner. \u00a0You really will survive that turn. \u00a0It takes faith to ride a bike fast around a corner, but it also takes gravity and technique and decent road conditions. \u00a0 \u00a0It takes faith to face death, but it also takes an afterlife. \u00a0There has to be something there you can stick to, or you\u2019re just dust flying in the air.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    ***<\/p>\n

    Serious Catholics aren\u2019t upset about Harvard\u2019s Black Mass because it hurts our widdle feelwings. \u00a0Deviancy? Oh please. Give me a middle-manager with a spouse and kids and mortgage who risks being fired in refusing to carry out the bosses\u2019 immoral orders, that\u2019s bravery, that\u2019s standing up for yourself. \u00a0On a much grander scale still: I\u2019m no theological bedfellow with\u00a0Ayaan Hirsi Ali<\/a>, but if you want to see a model of someone standing up courageously to immoral practices done in the name of religion, you\u2019ll find few who\u2019ve risked more.<\/p>\n

    No. \u00a0We\u2019re concerned \u2014 gravely concerned \u2014 because unlike tatoos and piercings and pouty garage-band lyrics, inviting Satan into your life is no stage-play. \u00a0It\u2019s not the thing you do to show how sophisticated you are. \u00a0It\u2019s the thing you do if you mean to end up enslaved to a \u00a0personal force more powerful than yourself, and who will only let you go at unspeakable cost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Artwork: Master of Saint Verdiana [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One of the striking features of Harvard\u2019s planned Black Mass, being hosted by Satanists who don\u2019t believe in Satan, is that the exhibitors don\u2019t actually believe their own religion. \u00a0If Catholics are concerned about the event, it is because we do believe ours. The Catholic faith is not a set of feelings or preferences. \u00a0It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,7,51,6,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-qa","category-evangelization","category-forgiveness","category-stick-that-corner","category-suffering"],"yoast_head":"\nReligion is about Reality - and so is the Black Mass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the striking features of Harvard's planned Black Mass, being hosted by Satanists who don't believe in Satan, is that the exhibitors don't actually\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/05\/religion-is-about-reality-and-so-is-the-black-mass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Religion is about Reality - 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