So there I was, being the proverbial fly-on-the-wall when a 40ish man who appeared to be from the easternmost quarter of the Mediterranean basin came into the church.
He saw the priest in his vestments and bee-lined toward him.
"Father, I have a question and I need an answer" the man said.
The priest responded, "Let me hear your question, I will give it my best shot".
The man replied "I was told by another priest that if I get a tattoo then it is a sin and I won't be able to receive Communion".
The priest was clearly caught flat-footed by the question.
"Paul tells us that our body is a temple and we are not to defile it, but I am not sure that is what applies here" the priest responded, perhaps to buy time.
"Jesus tells us, in Mark Chapter 7. that we are not made unclean by what goes into us but by what comes out of us" he continued.
"So you can see, the nature of your tattoo is very important. What vibe will people get when they see your tattoo? Will they be inspired to good things or to evil? Your tatt is a message that you broadcast to the world" the priest said.
"Finally, the matter of free-will comes into play. If you were in prison and were threatened with rape and getting beaten if you didn't wear some gang's tatts, then it really isn't a choice that you can make freely, right? You were coerced into the act and the majority of the guilt does not rest on your shoulders."
The priest ended with "If you decide to get the tatt, let me see what you got."
One point that he left out, perhaps because of time constraints, was that if he got a tatt that made him unemployable then he would not be able to provide for his family. Making decisions that make it impossible to provide for yourself or your family is, generally, a sin. It is similar to burning down the family business.
ERJ, I am of a previous generation that did not do tattoos and have never really been tempted to get one. I have seen some remarkable ones and ones that were discrete, but never once that I can think of has someone's tattoo led me closer to God. I understand that they are often important to the person with the tattoo and not so much to the wider world, but that meaning is quite often not clear to observers.
ReplyDeleteI will also say that the tattoos I might have gotten 30 years ago I likely would have regretted today. My "advice", if it were asked, would be to wait ten years and then see how you felt about it.