La messe catholique

Le 21 septembre
I have always been interested in other religions. Growing up LDS I have been told the same things my entire life, but never been really able to experience anything else. Sometimes I feel that I believe what I believe because I have been told that I should since before birth. So, thanks to Doc H I got to experience mass at an incredibly beautiful cathedral in Le Puy en Valey. Since then I have also gone to mass at Sacré Coeur which is just one of the several incredibly beautiful cathedrals in Paris. This one is probably the luckiest of all because it gets the best view. You can see nearly the entire city from the steps of the church.

When we went to mass in Le Puy en Valey, it seemed semi-ly normal because at least it was "morning"? I don't know if 6 am is considered morning in my book. That seems more pre-morning. But we went to Sacré Coeur at about 10:30pm. I guess in both instances it was dark so maybe neither felt semi-ly normal. : ) It definitely didn't feel normal to go to church at nearly 11 pm. Growing up LDS the latest I've ever been to church was one in the afternoon. I absolutely loved that mass. I still have absolutely no idea what was said at either service and I could only vaguely figure out what was going on, but it was still amazing. Some of our church buildings are very beautiful, but can you imagine going to church in a place like Notre Dame? Where the ceiling is over a hundred feet tall and nearly just as wide? Spectacular. If nothing else, you'd never get bored looking around. I think the most interesting part for me was how many people were there, even being so late at night. I also love the fact that they have mass several times throughout the day and nearly every, if not every day. Sometimes I wish our church was a "come when it's best for you or when you need it most" kind of church. When I'm feeling particularly down and out, I think it would be really cool to pop into church just for a little refresher. I just thought it was really cool to see so many devoted people there, worshipping. Even though we believe many different things, I felt somewhat of a connection with those people. I felt like we were standing on a bit of common ground and that was particularly important to me, being so far from home and everything that is natural and normal to me. It was almost like having a little piece of comfort with me.