Daily Retreat 01/29/09
2009 Jan 29 Thu: Ordinary Weekday
Heb 10: 19-25/ Ps 23(24): 1-2. 3-4ab. 5-6/ Mk 4: 21-25
From today’s readings: “We should not stay away from our assembly.... Lord, this is the people that longs to see Your face.... The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you....”
Missing Church
God loves each one of us individually, but He also loves us together as His family. While it’s altogether too easy to brand “other people” as the source of all our annoyances and problems, as Christians, we must recognize the presence of Christ in each other, and see how God also sends so many blessings to us through other people.
I strive to be very pro-active in reaching out to lapsed and inactive Catholics. After praying, I make a point of stopping by their homes for a short visit, and after mentioning that our parish truly misses them, I give them a chance to discuss the reasons they’ve stopped coming to church.
I don’t recall anyone ever saying that a direct loss of faith in God was his reason for shirking Sunday mass - people offer all kinds of reasons, but most of them boil down to disappointment or disagreement with either the pastor or the other people of the parish.
In my years of serving as a pastor, I’m certainly aware that I have alienated people from the Church. Often enough, the fault clearly lies with me, and so I need to apologize and strive to make amends (and I jump to do this whenever possible) . Other times, though, the alienation stems from reaction to a defensible pastoral decision that I can’t in good conscience retract, as much as I’d certainly like to smooth out the ruffled feathers!
But whether it’s annoyances with the people or the pastor, those who absent themselves from Church for such reasons (good or bad) might indeed insulate themselves from future annoyances, but they also isolate themselves both from future blessings and from their duty of bringing blessings to others. As the Word of God reminds us in the Letter to the Hebrews: “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Heb 10: 19-25/ Ps 23(24): 1-2. 3-4ab. 5-6/ Mk 4: 21-25
From today’s readings: “We should not stay away from our assembly.... Lord, this is the people that longs to see Your face.... The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you....”
Missing Church
God loves each one of us individually, but He also loves us together as His family. While it’s altogether too easy to brand “other people” as the source of all our annoyances and problems, as Christians, we must recognize the presence of Christ in each other, and see how God also sends so many blessings to us through other people.
I strive to be very pro-active in reaching out to lapsed and inactive Catholics. After praying, I make a point of stopping by their homes for a short visit, and after mentioning that our parish truly misses them, I give them a chance to discuss the reasons they’ve stopped coming to church.
I don’t recall anyone ever saying that a direct loss of faith in God was his reason for shirking Sunday mass - people offer all kinds of reasons, but most of them boil down to disappointment or disagreement with either the pastor or the other people of the parish.
In my years of serving as a pastor, I’m certainly aware that I have alienated people from the Church. Often enough, the fault clearly lies with me, and so I need to apologize and strive to make amends (and I jump to do this whenever possible) . Other times, though, the alienation stems from reaction to a defensible pastoral decision that I can’t in good conscience retract, as much as I’d certainly like to smooth out the ruffled feathers!
But whether it’s annoyances with the people or the pastor, those who absent themselves from Church for such reasons (good or bad) might indeed insulate themselves from future annoyances, but they also isolate themselves both from future blessings and from their duty of bringing blessings to others. As the Word of God reminds us in the Letter to the Hebrews: “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
posted by FrPitstick | 1/26/2009
<< Home