Why go to church anyway?
Father Mack sees Peter, his teenage altar server and says, “Peter, I missed you at church last Sunday ?” Peter shyly responds, “I decided not to go.” Father, startled adds, “Were you sick?” “Not really Father,” pausing “I just had enough of hypocrites.” “How so? asked Fr. Mack. Peter feeling empowered continued, “People come to church, and nobody changes. They leave church, put people down and gossip.” Peter stopped and looked at Father saying, “Some are mean, others unkind, and they mock Jesus.” With a teary eye Peter continued, “Church doesn’t change anybody or make a difference. It’s all a show!”
Father said, “Peter, church isn’t for perfect people. It’s for imperfect people who are trying to be perfect.” Father Mack then said, “Perfection, that’s what heaven’s for.” Father continued. “We go to Church to admit weakness, ask God for His grace, and Jesus for his mercy to shrink sinfulness and make us ready to get into heaven.”
Father then reminded Peter that even Pope Francis told everyone he was a sinner. “Pope Francis recognizes that all humanity is tarnished by Adam’s defiance. Since everyone wears Adam’s flesh, we too can easily fall.”
Father gives Peter an important reminder. Coming to church as God’s people, we admit our mistakes, blunders and sins, we repent, and God gives his people forgiveness and newness. We don’t become perfect, but we become better than we were. Church keeps one good thing before us: God is with us and we are not alone!
God walks with us on our journey giving us what we need. God knows it’s a journey, so he doesn’t measure our whole life by one past mistake. Why? Because God sees the whole person and knows what’s possible. God keeps sending grace because he wants us grasp what we can do and eagerly do it.
A wise spiritual director once told me: “We should not get rid of our sin until we first learn what it is teaching us.” Astonishing as these words may sound they make sense. We might ask: What is lacking that this sin fulfills because God cannot? When we think this through, we realize God can.
Like Peter and Father Mack’s discussion, we can all lose heart when observing the deeds of our fellow pilgrims. But Jesus never gives up on us. He waits until we grasp the gift of greatness His father has freely bestowed. Our task is to keep our human heart from closing down and our soul open for that special something more.
