Beatitudes
Listening to the homily at Mass today on the Beatitudes my imagination started to wander when it should have been engaged in wonder. As a kid I had been a big Beatles fan and when other kids brought 45s (showing my age) like the Archie's "Sugar, Sugar" for a school party, I brought the Beatle's Sergeant Pepper's album to class. I was rather disappointed when the teacher refused to play anything off of it. Now what does this have to do with a homily on the Beatitudes? Well the homily lead me to a train of thought where if I persevere and make it to Purgatory will probably cost me some extra time or whatever goes for time there. I wondered what if Paul McCartney had absorbed the piety of his Catholic Mother. What if John Lennon instead of shoplifting items from a Roman Catholic Bookshop had read books from there instead. Instead of the Lennon quipping "We're bigger than Jesus" we might have more of a John Lennon the Baptist and "He must increase, and I must increase." In this alternate reality we would never had had to suffer through the lyrics of Imagine and might have had something more meaningful. In this alternate reality what if the Fab Four had instead started a group called "The Beatitudes."
And of course Abbey Roads would be in front a a real abbey!
Hey Jude would be about the Apostle Jude and ticket to ride would be about Baptism.
And who knows maybe a Pope would have been named after The Beatitudes: Pope John Paul George Ringo I
And here is one of there hits, Mystery.
When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, mystery.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, mystery.
Mystery, Mystery, Mystery, Mystery.
The Holy Trinity, Mystery
Father, Son and Holy Spirit three persons the Trinity
How is this reality, mystery.
For though they can't be parted there is still a chance that we will see,
This undivided unity. mystery.
Mystery, Mystery, Mystery, Mystery.
The Holy Trinity, Mystery
And when the clouds had parted, there is still a light, that shines on He,
This is my beloved son, mystery
I see a vision of his mother, mother Mary to us pleas,
Listen to his words of wisdom, mystery.
Mystery, Mystery, Mystery, Mystery.
The Holy Trinity, Mystery
Known as 
Wow,
You always bring a smile to my face with your clever writing and this post is no exception :).
totally unrelated - I put my blog back up.
I am still thinking of songs to put on a "secretly devotional" mix: another one would be simon and garfunkel's Mrs Robinson (the texts don't have to bear reading piously in their entirety!). The problem is I hear a song, think "oh yes, wot a great addition" but can never remember later what the song was. :-(
Great post. Very funny. Pray for John and George and for the repose of their souls. George, also had Catholic roots. And I remember reading somewhere that John was moving in a Christian direction shortly before he died. In fact, I have heard what is supposed to be the last thing he recorded (on a tape recorder at home at the Dakota). It's a song that literally sings praise to God.
Pray also for Paul (baptized Catholic, if I'm not mistaken). Very talented. Very smart. Very rich. Very confused. And very lost. And Ringo? Who knows where his head is at? Pray for them!
Fab!
I never really was a Beatles fan, but it would have been impossible to live through my lifetime without knowing something about them. Is Paul McCartney so mixed up? He gets points in my book for having stayed with his wife until she died. The last I heard, he and his second wife were mostly involved with disabilities advocacy.
With reference to the Beatitudes, I was thankful to have attended the Mass celebrated by the priest from Spain, who is not altogether at home in English yet, and to have been spared hearing the inevitable trope about the Beatitudes' being the "be-attitudes".
Great post, but must correct you on the second photo. That's clearly a Beatlemania-type band, not the Beatles.
At the 2004 Worldcon, Stephen Dedman read a story involving a Pope George Ringo. He got a few things right, but the ecclesiology and moral theology were somewhat flawed. Don't recall the title, or whether it had already been published.
Brilliant brilliant brilliant!!! ;D
This is not unlike stuff I've thought before ... see my own post (http://cnytr.blogspot.com/2005/02/john-paul-george-of-england-and-ringo.html) *blatant blog plug*)
I've been doing some research on the Internet about "Pope George Ringo". The story you're thinking of might be Cleaning House by Barry Kalb. (Put "Cleaning House" "Barry Kalb" and "George Ringo" in a search engine and see what you find!)
Some of the Beatles music, of course, is already touching on the spiritual, either in form or content: "The Word", "Let It Be", "Within You, Without You", "The Inner Light". And I happen to like "Imagine", even though I know Christians are "supposed" to hate it.
I wrote and performed a comedy routine in a workshop, where I mentioned the Beatles and spirituality. Look for it here:
Sacred Cows, Sacred Clowns: Comedy and Spirituality
http://mnl_1221.tripod.com/comedy.html