WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CHURCH There are lots of people who no longer go to church and you may be having one in your family – a young person, husband, wife or friend. Sometimes we go to church when we feel like and stay at home or prefer work when we do not feel like it. There are some of us who go to church as a routine and as part of our social commitment and before we go, we make sure we put on the best and are on top form. There are some of us who go there to really pray and connect ourselves with God to praise, thank and glorify Him, or make a request from Him. There are some of us who go to church only on Christmas Day, a wedding or a funeral. I find it so plausible meeting none regular church goers say they believe in God, they are Christians and that they pray at home. The encounter between Jesus and the Jews in the Temple today highlights this aspect of defining what Church is! (Jn 2:13-22) Today as we celebrate the Feast of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, it would be a good opportunity for us to try and understand what Church means. Is church the building, the structure we find ourselves in? Is the beauty of the church the architecture or arts found in it? Is the beauty of the music, the way it is sung or played and how it soothing it makes us feel that makes church attractive? Church comes from the Greek word Ek – kaleo, from which the Latin word ecclesia originates, which simple means “to call out of”. So church primarily means those who have been called or specially chosen by someone, and in our case, chosen by God. In God 15:16, Christ tells his disciples: “you did not choose me; no I chose you that you may go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last”. 1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light’. It is from this verse from Peter that we get the famous hymn: “Priestly people, holy people, God’s chosen people, sing praise to the Lord.” Hence, church is more than a building. It simply means the people of God from the Hebrew word Israel. It is a people founded on a foundation laid by Christ, the corner stone and his apostles. In the words of St. Peter again: He is the living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too… may be living stones making a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4ff). Anybody called to join the community is called to form part of the building which God wants to construct for his chosen ones. So being a member of the church and not worshipping with that community is almost like distorting both the shape and strength the building. It is like building a house and then coming and taking off some of the blocks, or stones without replacing them. It not only distorts the structure of the building but makes it dangerous, with the possibility of it collapsing. So a lively and good church is the one in which all the members take their rightful place and perform their rightful duties. No wonder St. Paul, in the second reading of today (1Cor 3:9-11, 16-17) calls Christians as ‘God’s building’. (Chapter 12). What makes the building church is the people and God who harbour or use it. What makes this church lively is the “water that flows from under the right side of the Temple, south of the altar”. This is an image of the water and blood that flood from the side of Jesus when he was pierced with a lance after his death. This is the waters of Baptism. From this waters of baptism, we are nourished with the Eucharist, signified too by the blood from the side of Jesus. Hence, all those who share in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, the mystery we proclaim after the consecration when invited to do so by the priest, come out of Church like a flowing river. The river does not only get broader and deeper as we move further, since there are so many believer communities around, the river refreshes the sea to make it wholesome so that all living creatures teems with life. In other words, the river brings health in such a way that all types of fruit trees along its bank bears fruit in all season (Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12). When we believe without sharing in the life of Jesus from the altar, we cannot change or refresh the world as we ought too. From the altar of God, we are supposed to bring new life, new air, new vision and health to the respective families and neighbourhood we live, work, play or study in. Pope Francis has summarised this new life in the words – the Joy of the Gospel. A sad Christians is a contradiction in terms. Anyone who comes in contact with a Christian needs to be contaminated with the joy that flows from him or her? Is that what we are? Is that our focus as we go to church? The joy of the Gospel is not found just in a beautiful liturgy, in the beauty of the church structure. If after all of these, the Christian does not leave the church converted from sadness to joy, from sorrow to happiness, from tears to laughter, from complaining to thanksgiving, from withdrawal to engagement, then worship never really took place. So when we say the words this morning: ‘Lord I am not worthy that you should enter only my roof; but say only a word and my soul will be healed’, may you leave Church really healed in order to announce the joy of the Gospel to others. HAVE A GRACE-FILLED SUNDAY
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 16:21:52 +0000
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