Daily Reflections - January 24,2013

HYPOCRITES ARE WELCOME

 

In today’s First Reading, we continue to read from the Letter to the Hebrews’ treatise on the priesthood. We are reminded that we have such a High Priest in Jesus who is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and higher than the heavens”(v.25).

A story is told of a priest who bumped into a parishioner who had not been attending Mass for quite some time. When asked why she had not been going to church, she snapped back, “Because our parish church is full of hypocrites!” The priest smiled and proposed, “Why don’t you come next Sunday? We still have room for one more.”

Why do we go to church and listen to God’s Word? We go to Mass not because we are holy. On the contrary, we go to church because we need to be forgiven, to be reminded of His Word, to be strengthened by His Body and Blood. Let us not forget, the Church is not a museum of saints. The Church is a hospital for sinners.

May I propose a remedy for this tendency towards skepticism and discouragement? Let us not judge the effectivity of a medicine through those who do not take it. In the same vein, let us not judge the holiness of the Church through those who have fallen short of the standard. As the wise saying goes, “Do not leave Jesus because of Judas.”

Surely this is not a justification and we should continue to be indignant when priests and Christians give Christianity a bad witness. The duty to live up to the dignity of our calling remains. But we maintain that the Church is holy not because of the priests and its members. The Church is and continues to be holy in spite of erring priests and members because our High Priest is Jesus, “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and higher than the heavens.”

This is surely good news and a guard from discouragement. Fr. Joel Jason

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Have you alienated yourself from the Church because of erring Church members? Know that, in the end, you are the one who stands to lose.

 

Come, Holy Spirit, and continue to bathe the Church as You did on the first Pentecost. Amen.