Why do we tip our hats to a priest and why do we call him Father?
He is like Christ and how do I know, Holy Orders made him so….
The words to a childhood song spring to my memory as I vacuum the floors and wipe down benches. There was a series of such songs I learned as a child, all related to the sacraments. From birth to death.
Extremeunction [anointing of the sick] gives us sorrow and joy
Helping all of us to enter into heaven.
Yes, to fortify and help us get to heaven,
Extremeunction takes away all of our pain.
I’m hazy on the words here.
The easiest to remember:
For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,
In sickness and in health until death do us part.
We take this vow in marriage and God gives us grace
to meet all obligations, trials, and duties we must face.
What God hath joined together, let no man tear asunder.
This sacrament is permanent and cannot be undone.
God gives us the grace for what life has in store
And grace to love each other more and more.
There was a song for Communion, for confession, baptism, and the rest, all designed to teach little children the importance of these sacred rites.
I thought such words might lead me somewhere, instead they drag me into a cul de sac of memory that goes nowhere. Like the cul de sac of religion, it has a circular feel.
You go in at one point and come out on the other side of the road from where you began.
Thanks! I remembered part of the marriage song, but not the whole thing.