Yesterday I actually went to the first Catholic Mass of my lifetime. Being that it was Easter Sunday, and most people are gone for the weekend or vacation, activities are limited. My friend David is a pretty devout Catholic, and I accompanied him to Westminster Cathedral for the seven o’clock. The building really was ornate and nice to look at – there were a lot more mosaics than I would have expected. That’s more of a Byzantine/Greek Orthodox sort of thing, but I suppose there’s bound to be some overlap.

I didn’t follow along verbally or take communion. I did, however, reflect on the people I care about, and I enjoyed the Priest’s homily. He was a very soft-spoken person, and he talked a lot about how the resurrection is not some scientific, logical fact. He said that the story goes that the first people on the scene – Jesus’ close personal friends – were confused by what was happening, and didn’t quite understand things for a while. It had to sink in. Likewise, he says Christians should not pretend it’s something easy to understand, and that it’s difficult to believe, and it takes trust.

It isn’t a religious point for me, but I liked it as a literary and philosophical point.

I did go up and when I crossed my arms to deny the communion, one of the priests still put his thumb on my head and said something like, “The lord bless and protect you.” It was pretty clear I didn’t know what I was doing but people were still very welcoming.

I think I’ve lived far too long in my life without religion to want it at this point. My friend Dan describes me as “a secular humanist who has replaced God with his parents.” But, I was curious, and I think I can appreciate why it’s important to the people who are religious a little bit more.

It’s not for me, but it doesn’t terrify me as much as it used to.