Thanks be to god

sephir0th

Did you choose to interpret "Thanks be to God" at the end of the mass as "Thanks be to jaysus this is finally over"?

I haven't been to mass since I was fairly young (11 or 12), but when I did go I always thought that "thanks be to god" was actually "thanks, bit of god." This always confused me: What's a bit of god? It didn't make any sense — but, in the context of the entire mass, which made very, very little sense as it was, this extra little bit of perceived nonsense wasn't exactly obtrusive.

magicbastarder

gvn wrote: »

This always confused me: What's a bit of god?

god is too big to thank in his entirety. so you just thank bits of him at a time; you get 5 hit points if you thank a bit you've thanked before, or 20 hit points if you thank a bit you haven't thanked before.

you need 140,000 points, or to have thanked all of god, to get to the next level.

it's kinda like meeting an end of level boss, but this game takes ages.

Zombrex

sephir0th wrote: »

Did you choose to interpret "Thanks be to God" at the end of the mass as "Thanks be to jaysus this is finally over"?

No I don't go to mass unless I want to be there, so I tend not to view it as something to endure.

But I agree they can be rather long and a bit boring. But then Christians like their suffering, if you aren't enjoying it it must be good for you.

iguana

I always took it as 'thanks be to god this crap is over for another week.' Unless it was a week with a holy day of obligation in it, when it was 'well thanks be to god that this is over but I can't believe I'll be back here in 3 days, I'd almost prefer to be in school!'

loveisdivine

I dont go to mass so I didnt answer the poll. However just hearing people say "tanks be te god" at every opportunity is like nails down a blackboard to me. Couldnt stand listening to Katie Taylor when she won that medal.

sephir0th

Zombrex wrote: »

No I don't go to mass unless I want to be there, so I tend not to view it as something to endure.

My parents forced me to go as a kid. I guess they thought it was in my best interests; that and oh what would the neighbours think?!

Penn

I knew it wasn't meant to be "Thank f*ck this is over", but that's always what my thoughts were. I remember my mother giving me a tap on the side of the head one Sunday I said it like that a bit too loudly.

condra

In my family it was always a sort of in joke that we would look at each other at the end, rolling our eyes as we said "Thanks be to God", because we tended to go to mass to appease my mother.
Nobody else could be arsed, including my father.

Sometimes as kids, my brother and I would get into fits of giggles as we secretly pointed out different freaks in the crowd at mass, and whispered what might be going through their heads.

Mass is such a boring, droney, patronising, hypocritical ordeal.

I don't miss it, and I'm glad I never respected it.

Penn

condra wrote: »

Sometimes as kids, my brother and I would get into fits of giggles as we secretly pointed out different freaks in the crowd at mass, and whispered what might be going through their heads.

Mass is such a boring, droney, patronising, hypocritical ordeal.

I don't miss it, and I'm glad I never respected it.

In my later years of being a mass-goer, my cousins and I who'd be standing at the back (so we could leave at communion) would play "Count the Combovers" and "Spot the crying child".

It really was a boring affair. How they expect children to grow up wanting to go to mass is beyond me.

Also, I cannot understand people being really late for mass. Occasionally, I bring my mother to Saturday evening mass as she doesn't drive. I sit in the car listening to podcasts or reading a book or something (like wondering if it would be possible for me to climb the church without a ladder). Yet, for a 6'o clock mass which only goes on for about 30 minutes at the most, there's people still arriving 15-20 minutes late. Some of whom I know only live a few minutes walk from the church (as in, even if they left their house at 6, they should still be there before 6.10).

If you're that late, just turn around and go home. If I was God, I'd be angrier at people being really late and only making half an effort than those who make no effort at all.

iguana

Penn wrote: »

Also, I cannot understand people being really late for mass. Occasionally, I bring my mother to Saturday evening mass as she doesn't drive. I sit in the car listening to podcasts or reading a book or something (like wondering if it would be possible for me to climb the church without a ladder). Yet, for a 6'o clock mass which only goes on for about 30 minutes at the most, there's people still arriving 15-20 minutes late. Some of whom I know only live a few minutes walk from the church (as in, even if they left their house at 6, they should still be there before 6.10).

If you're that late, just turn around and go home. If I was God, I'd be angrier at people being really late and only making half an effort than those who make no effort at all.

My mother used to make us go to mass, even though she is pretty much an unbeliever, as my grandmother would be there and she didn't want to upset her. We were always dead late. For years I barely knew that there were 2 readings and a gospel passage at the start as we usually arrived somewhere around the priests personal homily and the 'I believe in one God, Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,' part. I recently mentioned to my mother how late we always were for mass and she admitted that it was by design on her part. 15-20 minutes a week was more than enough for her.

Sierra 117

sephir0th wrote: »

Did you choose to interpret "Thanks be to God" at the end of the mass as "Thanks be to jaysus this is finally over"?

Yep. That was the best part of mass.

I was forced to go as a kid and I absolutely hated it. I stopped going to mass about ten years ago and I'll never go again.

Bannasidhe

Sierra 117 wrote: »

Yep. That was the best part of mass.

I was forced to go as a kid and I absolutely hated it. I stopped going to mass about ten years ago and I'll never go again.

With the exception of funerals I haven't been to Mass in..oh...37 years (feel old now) but I do remember that 'thanksbetogod' seemed to be like the starters pistol for firing oneself out of the pew as quickly as possible. My joy was always tempered by the knowledge that my Mother would buy a copy of every single blasted Sunday newspaper once we got outside and I would have to schlep them home.

Sierra 117

Bannasidhe wrote: »

With the exception of funerals I haven't been to Mass in..oh...37 years (feel old now) but I do remember that 'thanksbetogod' seemed to be like the starters pistol for firing oneself out of the pew

My parents eventually allowed me to go to mass on my own, which meant communion became my new starter pistol.

The worst part of mass for me were the sermons. The length of everything else in the mass could be gauged thanks to the pamphlet. But the sermon had no set time-limit and some priests just went on and on pontificating. It did my head in.

robindch

Sierra 117 wrote: »

[...] some priests just went on and on pontificating.

Technically, I'd say Ratzinger's the only man able to pontificate in the truest sense of the word. Not, of course, that I'd like to hear his high, piping(*) and immensely camp voice pontificate about anything.

In my experience, high-church anglican clerics deliver much better sermons than catholic ones -- the former commenting upon some pressing issue of the day in an engagingly liberal and honest fashion, with god or Jesus getting an occasional look-in; while the latter spending much time and air developing some tendentious piece of Vatican prose into a full blown godological headache.



(*) full marks for anybody who gets that reference

Sarky

You're not referencing the blind idiot god Azathoth, who bubbles and blasphemes at the centre of creation, dancing to the piping of his servants?

Canis Lupus

Sierra 117 wrote: »

My parents eventually allowed me to go to mass on my own, which meant communion became my new starter pistol.

The worst part of mass for me were the sermons. The length of everything else in the mass could be gauged thanks to the pamphlet. But the sermon had no set time-limit and some priests just went on and on pontificating. It did my head in.

Easter mass and having to stand through a couple of locals playing out the final hours of jesus etc used to be my yearly heartbreak.

pauldla

It's the involuntary sigh at the start that gives it away, 'oh thanks be to god!"

SeanW

My favourite part was always "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord" or something, I always took it as "Yes, let's GO!"

Morgase

My brother and I definitely meant it as a "thank goodness that's over and we're free of that for another week". I suspect that even the priest did too. He was a gas fella, and would sometimes skip doing a sermon "so that we can all get out of here quicker tonight".