From childhood on I have had the dream of life lived as a sacrament... the dream implied taking life ritually as something holy.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Every moment of life is like a sacrament in which we can receive God. It is a channel through which God speaks to us, forms us, and directs us.
A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality.
An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer.
And there is a difference between the essence of a Sacrament and its use.
Besides the physical ordinance of baptism and the laying on of hands, one must be spiritually born again to gain exaltation and eternal life.
I dream of a church that is a mother and shepherdess.
Every 'Oprah Winfrey Show' has about it the aura of Oprah's own life, just as the rituals and sacraments of a religion are suffused with the life of the religion's founder. Above the testimony of Oprah's guests hovers what viewers know about Oprah's experience.
Yes, God does expect us to live holy, consecrated lives. But not even the best of our intentions can make it happen. Thankfully, He doesn't expect us to make ourselves holy. He just wants us to learn to depend on Him to make us holy.
The Roman Catholic Church and its rituals were so much part of life that, although my parents would often question a small matter of dogma and none of us seemed more religious than anyone else, no one ever questioned the rituals or the basic tenets of belief.
I was brought up as a Catholic and went to church every week and took the sacraments. It never really touched the core of my being.