Tuesday, June 21, 2005
finding Jesus
As your standard-issue former Catholic (well, actually a lot less religious than that), I thought it was very funny a few weeks ago when I was gardening and dug up a little plastic statue of the Holy Son in my flowerbed. The 3-year-old was helping, as usual, and asked to play with it. Since I thought this was funny, we told the spouse about it as he walked by. "Hey, look, you won't believe this...I found Jesus!"
Instead of laughing or at least snickering, he of the 16+ years of Catholic education calmly grabbed the little plastic guy away from the toddler and re-directed her. "You idiot," he told me later. "People plant those little icons in the garden when they buy a house to bless the home; you're not supposed to dig it up."
Naturally, I suggested that he replant the Redeemer. An atheist performing the gesture would seem a bit gauche. He has yet to do so. So our daughter gave Jesus a bath, has taken him to daycare, and regularly hides him in the sandbox. Here, in homage to the Willy Porter song, he takes a break on the Smoky Joe.
Instead of laughing or at least snickering, he of the 16+ years of Catholic education calmly grabbed the little plastic guy away from the toddler and re-directed her. "You idiot," he told me later. "People plant those little icons in the garden when they buy a house to bless the home; you're not supposed to dig it up."
Naturally, I suggested that he replant the Redeemer. An atheist performing the gesture would seem a bit gauche. He has yet to do so. So our daughter gave Jesus a bath, has taken him to daycare, and regularly hides him in the sandbox. Here, in homage to the Willy Porter song, he takes a break on the Smoky Joe.
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Hey, It's not Jesus, it's Saint Joseph... and he's planted (upside down, no less) to help sell the house... so if you aren't selling it... then there is no reason the toddler can't enjoy it. Not that I can see anyway. I mean, what could she do to St. Joseph that is more disrespectful than planting him upside down in the cold earth to satisfy an old superstition?
Someday, when you want to sell your house... you can always put it back.
Someday, when you want to sell your house... you can always put it back.
# posted by 
: 11:26 AM
: 11:26 AM
Thanks, M.A. I guess SOMEONE was paying attention in CCD...
I was always planning some sort of kids' revolt against hypocrisy, which I felt was wholly embodied by the leadership of my small town's Catholic church, where the junior priest actually KNOCKED UP a non-English-speaking 17-year-old Vietnamese refugee whose family was "adopted" by the church. I was in school with her younger brothers who confirmed the story via illustrations. They were wicked good artists.
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I was always planning some sort of kids' revolt against hypocrisy, which I felt was wholly embodied by the leadership of my small town's Catholic church, where the junior priest actually KNOCKED UP a non-English-speaking 17-year-old Vietnamese refugee whose family was "adopted" by the church. I was in school with her younger brothers who confirmed the story via illustrations. They were wicked good artists.
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