I am a Catholic and I have several friends who are not Catholic but we get along quite well. No one critizes another's faith. We respect our individual religious beliefs. We simply see each other as pursuing different paths towards a common goal and that is, to someday be with God when our earthly life is over.
I have encountered several people who literally enumerated to me why I shouldn't be a Catholic, telling me everything they think is wrong with Catholic practices and beliefs. But you know what, I don't really waste my time questioning the intricacies of religion-related rituals and practices or whatever "politics" is going on in Rome. My practice of my Catholic faith is centered on Jesus Christ who is my Lord and Savior and I conduct my life based on His teachings of loving God with your whole heart, mind and soul and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. If ever I do go thru the sacraments or other Catholic practices, it is with the intention of pleasing God, having a relationship with my God, communing with Him, getting to know Him and being closer to Him. After all, God looks inside my heart and not on the external and I believe it doesn't matter to Him if I pray, ask Mary, St. Joseph and all the saints to pray for me, (or even dance if I want to) as long as my intention is to please Him and to commune with Him. My Catholic practices build my faith and is my way of communicating with God.
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And consider yourself really blessed because you have been baptized into such an awesome faith! Celebrating the mass is the highest form of worship for Catholics because the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life and we go to Calvary every time we go to mass and are we Jesus Christ as he died for us on the cross. We are actually partakers in the self-oblation that Jesus offered to us. We are participating in the divine act every time! That's what we believe and it's not just a "ritual" or a ceremony for us but maybe to other faiths, that's what it is to them.
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