Nathan Bloom - Class Reading #2

The Chapter in Turner and Turner's book about St. Patrick's Purgatory was in interesting for several reasons. First, as I have said before I find pilgrimage very interesting so reading the rituals and purpose of a Catholic pilgrimage is intriguing. Also, the ritual that takes place at the shrine takes three days which is symbolic of Christs death and his resurrection from death. Most pilgrimages seem to try to imitate a journey or hardship that the leader of that religion took part in during his life. However, it is truly impossible to even come close to experiencing what Christ did. Which is fortunate because you dont have to imitate everything Christ did to get to heaven. Another interesting aspect of this chapter is Purgatory. It is not really discussed much at all in the chapter but What is purgatory? People have near death experience and can tell us little excerpts of what it was like, but no one goes to purgatory momentarily. From descriptions I have heard it seams like a horrible place. waiting, and waiting, and waiting...