Word of the day: abstemious

I took this one yesterday as I made an attempt to walk to work.  My journey was cut short by the weather and the fact that the lake shore trail was still buried so I took a few shots downtown while I waited for my ride.  I took pictures of this church window before but this one is new.  I had no idea at the time that the Catholic church had just chosen a new pope but I figured in his honor I would post a religious picture.  Many of you already know my thoughts on organized religion and I do not want to go into another rant right now especially about religion because it is a touchy subject and it can cause serious arguments and fights.  I grew up catholic, went to Catholic school for 8 years and here comes the shocker, up until my senior year in high school I had every intention of becoming a priest.  I regret a lot of things I never accomplished but one of my biggest was never going to seminary school.  I think I would have made a pretty good priest although with my mind and thoughts always so far out in right field I don’t think it would have been the right place for me.  I often imagine what my life would be like if I was Father Homer and although having to deal with the strict code of abstemious the church implies I know I would have been good at it.  I grew up next to the church and besides the 8 years of education I was an altar boy for ten years.  Living in such close proximity to a church and knowing the parish priests as neighbors and not priests made me see that they too are just regular men who devoted their lives to God and the church.  I commend anyone who has such faith and commitment and even though I may not believe in the doctrine or mood of the church anymore I do respect those who are strong enough to give up everything for what they believe in.  I have always wanted to help people and being a priest certainly would have given me that opportunity but for reasons known only to God, or whatever might be out there my destiny was in a different often opposite direction.  The weird thing is that in my dark, horrible days whenever I felt totally alone or particularly lost I would go sit in a church and it would make me feel good, I guess old habits die hard.  I still slip into the church unnoticed once in a while just to sit in a pew and enjoy the silence and warmth it brings to me.  Spending so much time in and around a church has made it kind of a comfort zone for me, when I am in the church I feel safe and protected.  In England from the 4^th to the 17^th century fugitives used to be able to seek safe haven in churches, this was called seeking sanctuary, in a way I still use the church as my own private sanctuary when life gets too stressful or I feel particularly lost.  The feeling I get when I sit in an empty church is the closest thing to real peace I can attain as an adult so I enjoy the reprise every once in a while.  I still think organized religion has become greedy, self-absorbed and is responsible for billions of deaths but the original idea is still floating around and it is good to know the true meaning of it all is still lingering in a few sacred places.  I wish the new pope luck and I hope he can turn the church and humanity around.  I thank God, or whomever is in charge for reminding me that there is way more to this world than what we can see………..PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!