A WORD FROM THE PASTOR

Going to the Church

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”

This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: “I’ve been married for 30 years now… In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this… They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”

One day some Reverend Sisters in a convent asked their chaplain priest to give them a short Mass as they were taking their school children for a day out to a park. They wanted everything to be over within 20 minutes. When you want to have a short Mass, it is suggested and expected that the homily be cut. The priest normally gave a homily at every Mass; he started giving the homily and when 20 minutes was finished, he told the sisters that the Mass was over and they could leave for their picnic.

The first story makes us understand how important it is to go to the church and to listen to the preaching. You may not remember everything that is preached there, but it nourishes you. Do you have any doubt about it? In the second story, the priest may not have acted correctly, but to him the breaking of the word of God was as important as the breaking of the Bread. How important is the word of God to us?

A question to ponder: Do I attentively listen to the sermon preached in the Mass? If yes, then you are spiritually nourished.