Sign of the Cross

Posted on September 28, 2003 in Book of Days College OCD

Note: This is part of a series based on exercises from A Writer’s Book of Days. It’s something of a rebellion against the Friday Five and similar tupperware content memes.

Today’s topic: Write about a time you did something out of superstition.

I never managed to quite shake the Catholic out of myself. Not that it is such a bad thing. Even in my path towards a different consciousness about the nature of the world, I have looked back upon my Catholic upbringing and found things which have enriched me. I still search my conscience as a central feature of my life. I refuse to see myself as perfect, but I feel that perfection is a reasonable goal to strive towards even if I can never reach it. I do not call myself a “recovered Catholic”. “Pilgrim” probably describes me better.

There have been times when I have fallen back on some of the more superstitious elements of Catholicism as I have gone about my way in the world. For example, I pray to St. Anthony when a precious object seems unretrievably lost. I don’t see this as resulting in a miracle, but as a momentary settling of the mind in the midst of a blind panic.

One time, when I was out walking along a shoreline with a girlfriend, I found myself facing a steep drop that had to be passed along a trail. I am not a little afraid of even the most modest of heights when there is no floor such as in an airplane to carry me from one level to the next. Quite unconsciously, I made the sign of the cross before I leaped. The girlfriend noticed it and remarked. I shrugged. There were some things which you could never quite shake.

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Tomorrow’ topic/prompt: The night won’t save anyone.