DIDACHE – Alexandria,
Egypt ~125AD - On the Lord’s day, when
you have been gathered together, break bread and celebrate the Eucharist. But
first confess your sins so that your offering may be pure. If anyone has a
quarrel with his neighbor, that person should not join you until he has been reconciled.
Your sacrifice must not be defiled. In this regard, the Lord has said: In every
place and time offer me a pure sacrifice. I am a great king, says the Lord, and
my name is great among the nations.
Celebrate the
Eucharist as follows: Say over the cup: “we give you thanks, Father, for the
holy vine of David, your servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your
servant. To you be glory for ever”. Over
the broken bread say: “we give you thanks, Father, for the life and the
knowledge which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant. To you be
glory for ever. As this broken bread scattered on the mountains was gathered
and became one, so too, may your Church be gathered together from the ends of
the earth into your kingdom. For glory and power are yours through Jesus Christ
for ever.”
ARE
YOU BEING FED? One of the main reasons people drift away
from the church and/or their faith is that they are spiritually malnourished:
they aren’t “being fed.” If you have family or friends who have wandered from
the Church, an important part of their distance is that they didn’t have strong
ties keeping them alive and healthy in their faith.
Certainly
questions, problems, negative experiences, and other specific things can be
watershed moments, but they aren’t the whole story. Look at a similar situation:
relationships between people. How do relationships weaken? How do relationships
get severed? These questions are related, but not the same. Like with others,
our faith weakens when we aren’t investing in it and letting it “feed” us, so
to speak. If that relationship is not being a benefit to us, helping us grow,
filling us with joy and peace, supporting us when we are down, making our joyful
times even greater, etc., then we are perhaps going to be tempted to wander
away from that relationship.
Andy
Dufresne, a Christ-like figure in the famous movie Shawshank Redemption,
summarized it well: I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get
busy living or get busy dying. So, Are you being fed?
To
be spiritually fed by God can come in so many ways. Mass if of course so
important, and it is tragic, even if necessary, that so many aren’t attending often
for the past year. Certainly every encounter with God in prayer of any form
(and there are so many!), reading Scripture, participating in the Sacraments
are the most important ways, but I wrote about some others in the bulletin for
this week: reading, film, lectures/testimonies. Also retreats, good conversations
with spiritual mentors or companions. You need to find ways that work for you.
It may take time, but as T of A says: God withholds Himself from no one who
perseveres. The crowd today is an example of that. They chased Jesus down, who
was in a sense running away from them, but looked on them with pity for their
pursuit of Him.
It
is important for you to find ways for God to feed your soul – not only for
yourself, but for others.
As
someone in struggling in their faith, they will be asking the question in their
hearts, “why should I stay?” And they may or may not actually say it to you,
but they are probably looking at Catholics and asking, “why do they stay? What
is keeping them going?”
Your
life
has to be the answer to that question. But you have to be ready to give an
answer as well, to verbalize it. You need to be ready to say why going to Mass
is helpful for you. What is it? Do you love the community – worshipping God
together and knowing that you are part of something larger than yourself that
is ultimately doing good in our world? Or is it the beauty of the liturgy –
praying in a way that unites us to the Church over the centuries, collapsing
time and space so that we are there with Jesus on Calvary where He offered His
life to save us? Or would you say that it is the readings at Mass (or even the homily)
that helps you to remember who you are and where you are headed, inspiring and
challenging you to something greater? Or is it, above all, the gift of the Lord
Jesus in the Eucharist, where you are united to Him in a way that cannot
compare with anything else on this earth or in this life?
I
guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy
dying. If you aren’t pursuing spiritual growth, you are
going to be drifting slowly but surely away from God. Let God feed you. Chase
him down like the crowd did. He will not let you down if you persevere.
