I've never been one to think things through. I like to act on impulse and pretend that whatever happens was part of some master plan I had all along. It's how I end up finding myself in situations that aren't typical. It's how I ended up in a an upper level World Religions course.

A few months ago, an old friend of mine wrote a paper on religion and peace. I scanned through it and misinterpreted his argument entirely. For some reason, I felt that he was arguing that religions are exclusive and therefor cannot be used as vehicles for peace. I was so distraught that in order to form a solid rebuttle I decided to sign up for a course on world religions.

It turns out, this course is easily amongst my all time favorites. If I had to recommend a single course to you, I would recommend World Religions. It gives you the opportunity to appreciate both the similarities and differences between various religions. We spent the last 14 weeks studying various religions, dispelling popular misconceptions, myths, lies while establishing truths based on archeological evidence I had no idea existed.

Outside exams, the largest portion of our grade comes from a report we're to write based on a religious ceremony outside our own religion. As a Hindu fascinated by Christianity, I decided to base my report off an interview I conduct with a Catholic priest. The ceremony being researched was Mass, and the following is the interview Sushant Mahajan and myself conducted with Father Joy of the church of St. Thomas the Apostle in Smyrna, Georgia.

Thank you so much for meeting me, Father Joy. I believe Father Jim had mentioned to you that I had attended Mass on Thursday.

He did. He also told me about your course. I'll try to do my best to answer your questions.

Thank you. For the time being, I'd like to focus my questions on the ceremonial aspect of the service. What is Mass? Mass is the central activity of worship in the Catholic Church. It is a moment in time where practitioners of the faith reflect on three very important things; those being, a) the life of our lord Jesus Christ, b) his suffering and c) his death. The mass itself reaffirms our faith but more importantly it reaffirms our knowledge that a covenant was made all those years ago and we, as humans, are bound to the covenant that saw the Lord sacrificed his only son.

How Often Are Services Held? If I'm not mistaken, you attended yesterday's service, is that correct? Thursday services like most weekday services see an average attendance of less than 100 people. This is probably because most people work and lead busy lives. Church to the average Christian is an activity reserved for the weekend. This is unfortunate, but a reality of the times we live in. Because of this, weekday Mass is limited to one service a day outside special holidays. Weekend mass however is a completely different scenario.

The Church, as you've noticed, can comfortably seat 800 people. During typical Sunday mass, the Church sees at least 1200 people walk through its doors. That is not a sum total of 1200 people all day. I mean, 1200 people per service for each service on Saturday or Sunday. If that number doesn't astound you, consider this - we have 3 services held on Saturdays while 7 (four in English, three in Spanish) held on Sundays.

In my limited research, I came across an interesting tidbit. Jesus was Jewish, was he not?

That's right. Jesus was born into a Jewish home in present day Israel.

Yet, if Jesus was born Jewish, why is the most important Mass reserved for Sunday and not Saturday? It is my understanding that in Judaism, Saturday represents the Sabbath.

This is true; Saturday according to the Old Testament represents the Sabbath. We celebrate Mass on Sunday for two very different reasons. Sunday represents Easter, the day the Lord sacrificed his Son to wash the sins of humanity and begin a new covenant. The most important services or in most cases, the largest services are saved for this day for this reason. It allows us to reflect on the sacrifice the Lord made for us, and the covenant we entered with him because of this sacrifice. Sunday is also used because it has been thought of as the Holy day long before the concept of Sabbath. In the beginning, God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. In our calendar, Sunday represents the seventh day, the day God rested.

I noticed that during the service, several people participated in saying a small prayer of their own when the Priest opened the floor.

(laughs) You will rarely see this happen during weekend services. On a Thursday service when few people attend, we can do this. The members of the congregation that attend on Thursday are not only deeply religious and committed to God; they also know each other very well and are comfortable in praying in the company of their friends. For example, if you and your girlfriend had a problem, you wouldn't go tell random people on the street would you? You would probably speak to someone you knew. Similarly, on Sunday in front of 1200 other people, it is very unlikely that you would want to personalize the service by voicing your problems to an entire community. Personal prayers are usually seen, at least at this Church, during weekday services.

At the end of the service, several people got up and drank from a cup. Could you explain what they were doing and the significance behind it?

What you witnessed was Communion. The word itself is significant because it emphasizes this idea of union of community. This is what Jesus stressed at his last meal on earth, the idea of a global community bound together by love for the Lord and love for ones neighbor. The communion itself symbolizes a commitment made to Christ and therefore the Lord, of the covenant we made with him. The "bread" as Jesus said represented his body, while the wine, his blood. The consumption of these two things is more then just consumption of the body and the blood of our Lord. It is a symbolic gesture of our commitment to God and our love for him. It is our commitment to continue living the covenant in the way Jesus himself asked us to at the last supper.

I notice you've mentioned this new covenant several times. Is this new covenant different from the one God made with Abraham?

Yes it is. It is very different. In the Old Testament, the relationship between the Israelites and God was not the full all encompassing relationship Jesus brought. The covenant made with the Israelites was more a promise and as such could be broken. The descendants of Abraham did not grasp the full nature of the divine in that; they saw God as vengeful, angry and even jealous. These may be true, but these characteristics are not the embodiment of the divine. Jesus showed us that the Lord is more than a supreme being, who would punish you when you crossed him. Jesus understood that above all things; the Lord was a being of infinite love. Jesus spent his life trying to share this - the true nature of the divine with the rest of us.

Does that mean the rules and regulations set forth in the Old Testament no longer apply?

In a sense, yes. But that does not mean, Jesus said it is now permissible to commit adultery, kill, steal and such. As a Jew, he said the exact opposite. He taught that you should still practice the rules set forth in the Torah but the law of love was above all others. The 10 commandments is a good example. Rather than just saying, follow the 10 commandments, Jesus summarized them by stating, you should love God with every fiber of your being, and equally as important you should love your neighbor. If we can accomplish that, we will be living by the laws set forth in the Old Testament.

I'm fairly certain I can write the majority of my report based on this information. The following questions are to satisfy my own curiosity. Is there anything you would like to mention before I move on?

I'm sure you've noticed that during the service yesterday Father Jim read from the New Testament. On weekends during Mass, we have 3 readings; one from the Old or New Testament, and the other 2 from the Gospels. I just thought that if you were interested, you could attend this weekend. You may find more information for your paper.

Thank you for the invitation, I'll definitely try to make it. Throughout the interview, you used the terms, Son of God, God and our Lord interchangeably. I had always been under the impression that Christianity was monotheistic, yet the existence of a trinity in my mind seems to dispute this. Is Christianity monotheistic, and if so can you explain the concept of a Triune God.

When Father Jim mentioned you were going to ask some questions, I assumed this would be one of your first. Rather than attempting to explain this, I made a copy of a paper that was written on the subject for you. I