Blogger Priest

One of the potentially deceptive phrases we use with each other is, “Did you go to church today?” or a variation of that question. As Americans, we like terseness and speed in our talk and in religious matters. I understand why people do not ask you, “Did you hear Christ speaking to you in the Gospel this Sunday?” “Did you enter into the death-resurrection of Christ internally and externally by participation in the Mass?” “Are you open to Christ coming to you in Communion?” Both the asking and the answering of these questions is longer and more complicated than the mere, “Did you go to church?” If we really believe in what we profess to believe— namely, that the living Christ, body and blood, comes to us in Communion— that the death and resurrection is re-presented to us in the Mass— that the living Christ speaks to us now in the Scriptures— would we behave as some of us do? Are we late for the Son of God coming into our midst? Do we dress properly for the occasion? Do we sing because our faith is strong, or at least follow the lyrics? Do we stay for a few extra minutes to thank God for coming to us in Holy Communion, including everything else that he gives us? St. Paul asks us, “What have you that you have not received, and if you receive it, why do you act as if you didn’t receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Do we have a priority in our lives that regulates everything else that we do in order to come to Mass on the Lord’s Day? In evaluating our privileges in this free society, I am reminded of St. Maximilian Kolbe and of the bishops and priests who clandestinely offered Mass in Chinese, Soviet and Vietnamese prisons; at great personal risk; prisoners surrendered their meager rations and bribed guards for a bit of bread and wine so that they “could go to church.” Their courage and fidelity stands in stark contradiction to our own casual attitude towards the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of all we do and are about in the Church. I am reminded, too, of the Protestant minister who said, “If I believed what you believe about the Eucharist, I would come down the aisle on my hands and knees to receive Christ.” How does our attitude compare? Do we simply, “go to church?”

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