A/N: Mostly from instruction sheets on rituals for Catholic clergymen.
Refs to ch: 73.
I do not own or profit from any of what Kazue Kato has created.
Shirt and suit. As if the thought of this charade didn't make him uncomfortable enough.
They were paraded up the aisle, closed in by staring walls of wood and flesh. All the parish was there, expectant to see the new lambs take their first stumbling steps towards membership in their flock. Christ himself had his eyes on them, it seemed, where he gazed miserably down at them from the crucifix on the altar. The three candidates stepped aside once at the front, as they had rehearsed with Father Igarashi. The priest himself sent them a reassuring smile, to which they all smiled back gratefully. Greetings were made, presentations of the events at hand were voiced; and the ceremony began.
He listened to Yamada and Tsubura state their names. Answer Father Igarashi's questions. It was just words. Words received and words given in exchange. Like paying for goods. Paying for the opinions you wanted to hear.
You'd think it gets easier to lie with time. It does. Just not always.
"What is your name?"
Simple question, simple answer.
"Fujimoto Shiro."
"What do you ask of the Church of God?"
Nothing. Only that it would be the cloak to go with his dagger.
"Guidance, to become worthy of god's mercy."
"God gives light to everyone who comes into this world; though unseen, he reveals himself through the works of his hand, so that all people may learn to give thanks to their Creator. You have followed God's light and the way of the Gospel now lies open before you. Set your feet firmly on that path and acknowledge the living God, who truly speaks to everyone. Walk in the light of Christ and learn to trust in his wisdom. Commit your lives daily to his care, so that you may come to believe in him with all your heart. This is the way of faith along which Christ will lead you in love toward eternal life. Are you prepared to begin this journey today under the guidance of Christ?"
"I am."
Prepared to walk the path of salvation on a devil's orders: if he wasn't struck down by lightning now, there was no god.
Igarashi turned to the assembled parishioners next. No show without audience. Row upon row of faces in the pews, some he knew and some he didn't. He fixed his gaze far beyond them, far beyond the attentive eyes, off in another world. He wasn't here, wasn't lying his tongue black in front of all these people who were looking at him like...
"Don't look at me like that."
"Sponsors, you now present these candidates to us", Igarashi addressed them loudly, making sure that even the elderly in the back rows could hear. "Are you, and all who are gathered with us, ready to help these candidates find and follow Christ?"
"We are", the audience replied.
"Don't look at me like that." Hayashi's warm smile burnt his conscience.
Proud. The old abbot was proud of him.
Shiro heard the priest's droning chant in the distance behind the globes of his eyes. Words on lucid waves, rippling audio mirages. Words of mercy, praise, blessing. Words for those called by the lord.
Wolf in sheep's clothing.
"It's going well, Fujimoto-kun."
Shiro jerked back into the realms of consciousness. The old abbot was beside him, suddenly, as were Yamada's and Tsubura's sponsors with them.
"No need to be tense, hm? It's rather I who should be tense: I could forget in which order to bless your senses."
Shiro nodded. Like a good puppet. Nodded, smiled, and waited for lightning that might still come. Waited for all this to be over.
"Fujimoto, receive the cross on your forehead. It is Christ himself who now strengthens you with this sign of his love. Learn to know him and follow him."
Nothing happened when Igarashi's thick, fleshy thumb touched his forehead. Nothing happened when the sign of Christ's infinite love was traced on his skin.
Pff - what had he expected, really? Divine intervention? It was just words. Compressions of dead air.
"Receive the sign of the cross on your ears, that you may hear the voice of the Lord", Hayashi's thin, old voice accompanied the tracing of the cross.
"Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!" the spacious hall echoed back to the parishioners.
Strange, to imagine that this ceremony actually meant something to them.
"Receive the sign of the cross on your eyes, that you may see the glory of God."
"Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!"
Did they really feel a holy presence there…? Or were they just pretending? Proving they had a place among God's chosen?
"Receive the sign of the cross on your lips, that you may respond to the word of God."
"Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!"
Every time…?
"Receive the sign of the cross over your heart, that Christ may dwell there by faith."
Go ahead, invite the whole damn Christian pantheon – maybe Satan wouldn't get in if it was too crowded?
"Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!"
Couldn't they just shut up?
"Receive the sign of the cross on your shoulders, that you may bear the gentle yoke of Christ."
"Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!"
Go ahead and bless all of his body at once, that would be easier and could they really not just shut up?
"Receive the sign of the cross on your hands, that Christ may be known in the work which you do."
His lips twitched humourlessly. Wonder what they'd do if he laughed? If he shouted? If he tore the chalice from the altar and knocked the cross to the floor? 'That Christ may be known in the work which you do'.
"Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!"
He didn't even know if he was hearing them anymore, or if the echo kept ricochetting back and forth inside his skull.
"Receive the sign of the cross on your feet, that you may walk in the way of Christ."
His lips twitched again; some demented spasm from parts of him kept securely under lock and key-
The word can be forged into the key for any lock, or chains that no key can loosen.
-honest, better parts that flung themselves at padded iron walls.
"I sign you with the sign of eternal life in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
"Amen", he breathed alongside the other candidates, now catechumens.
Regular Mass followed, where the catechumens were asked to embrace the Word; embrace God, embrace Christ, embrace the way of Christian life. Embrace, embrace, like one big happy family, and then be sent away before the cannibal feast on the Almighty Father's flesh and blood.
He did. Threw himself into the arms of the Word, with all the unhinged enthusiasm of a man throwing himself off a building. He knew which "god" held mastery over the word. He knew which "god" he had committed himself to.
No lamb. No wolf. Just a collared dog.
A/N: So~ Facts to bore you with, 'cause hell knows they bored me when I outlined this.
Evangelisation and Pre-catechumenate
Sounds like Greek? It is. Evangelion means "good news", and katekhein means "to instruct orally" (katekhoumenos – "being instructed"). We see Shiro being accepted as a catechumen here, but before you're eligible for that you need to go through a period of introduction to the concept of God and Christian faith. That takes about 8-12 weeks, so count from early August to start of October here.
Outside the pure formalities, you need to show that you're serious about this. You need to show the first seeds of faith, repentance, understanding of the Church, and a profound desire to know and follow Christ: otherwise you won't be permitted as a catechumen. I fast-forwarded past most of that, because I lack the motivation/experience/sources to write 12 weeks of Gospel education. =u=' I'm sure it would've been boring as hell to read, too.
Still, I will try to drop some line here and there about Shiro's spiritual foxtrot, because he is in a position where he makes a fine battleground for belief and doubt.