I got through it, but I'm donating my days to you. Dante may have maintained that Purgatory was a specific place on earth, but I don't think so, and it sounds as if you're in it right now. So have some time off.
I'm with Grandmere Mimi, by the way. A good therapist is invaluable.
Remember that I just went through withdrawal sickness, a special sort of hell, and I listened to part of this thing. I have a question: just how bad is purgatory anyway?
To answer your question, "Did it hurt?", I had to listen to it again this morning because I couldn't remember from last night and I have to say, Yes, it did hurt. Made me grit my teeth.
But it didn't hurt as much as when my bishop told me I had let him down because I hadn't passed the final Commission on Ministry questioning and he wouldn't be making me a candidate for ordination.
It didn't hurt as much as, while taking Michalmas term at Westcott House after that interview, everywhere I turned people were telling me or writing me how great a priest I was going to be because I'd been such a good priest to them during term.
It didn't hurt as much as returning to my seminary in the U.S. and watch all my classmates rejoice as, one after another, they got their ordination dates and jobs, and I had nothing, in that limbo where no one would hire me because I was neither fish nor fowl.
But in the end, I did get ordained, so it didn't do me any harm having my ears assaulted one more time on the off chance it might help someone else with pain that is still ongoing with no end in sight, MP.
Last night I finished reading a book by John Connolly. At the end the private eye asks the serial killer why he had mutilated and killed his own daughter. To which the bad guy answered, "Because I can."
I think a lot of episcopal decision making is based on a similar reasoning.
May I say that I am pleased that you have a therapist? If not, then delete. I won't be angry.
ReplyDeleteI got through it, but I'm donating my days to you. Dante may have maintained that Purgatory was a specific place on earth, but I don't think so, and it sounds as if you're in it right now. So have some time off.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Grandmere Mimi, by the way. A good therapist is invaluable.
Oh, you Americans and your therapists!
ReplyDeleteActually we do have sort of therapists in England, but we call them different titles so we don't feel all sissy.
ReplyDeleteI listened to it just for you, MP. Did it help?
ReplyDeleteDid it hurt?
ReplyDeleteRemember that I just went through withdrawal sickness, a special sort of hell, and I listened to part of this thing. I have a question: just how bad is purgatory anyway?
ReplyDeleteFWIW
jimB
Jim, my long suffering friend, you are going to find it a doddle.
ReplyDelete"we do have sort of therapists in England, but we call them..."
ReplyDeleteBreak into two words after the first syllable?
To answer your question, "Did it hurt?", I had to listen to it again this morning because I couldn't remember from last night and I have to say, Yes, it did hurt. Made me grit my teeth.
ReplyDeleteBut it didn't hurt as much as when my bishop told me I had let him down because I hadn't passed the final Commission on Ministry questioning and he wouldn't be making me a candidate for ordination.
It didn't hurt as much as, while taking Michalmas term at Westcott House after that interview, everywhere I turned people were telling me or writing me how great a priest I was going to be because I'd been such a good priest to them during term.
It didn't hurt as much as returning to my seminary in the U.S. and watch all my classmates rejoice as, one after another, they got their ordination dates and jobs, and I had nothing, in that limbo where no one would hire me because I was neither fish nor fowl.
But in the end, I did get ordained, so it didn't do me any harm having my ears assaulted one more time on the off chance it might help someone else with pain that is still ongoing with no end in sight, MP.
Last night I finished reading a book by John Connolly. At the end the private eye asks the serial killer why he had mutilated and killed his own daughter. To which the bad guy answered, "Because I can."
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of episcopal decision making is based on a similar reasoning.
MP, that was also Ted Bundy's reason for torturing and killing a large number of young women: "because I can and I enjoy it and I'm good at it."
ReplyDeleteTrue, Strangelove, except, of course, bishops aren't good at it (whatever it is).
ReplyDelete