Where are the people?

By Rita Murdock

       Where are the people? St. Gerard Majella asks “Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?” Remember the youthful game of folding your hands with fingers tucked in and opening them up in order while reciting the rhyme…This is the church, this is the steeple, (pointer fingers go up to form a peak), open the doors (thumbs side by side flip open), and see all the people (wiggle your clasped fingers). So on any given day, even on Sundays, where are we-the people?

    Church attendance is down significantly, as is the practice of religion. And look at what we have-recession, depression, fornication, adultery, abortion, euthanasia, stealing, cheating...Sodom and Gomorra, how long will God put up with us? It is not enough to be “good” in the secular, material world. Why? Because God is God and he expects us to be obedient to his commandments which opens the door to real freedom to be loved and to love God totally with our hearts, minds, and souls.

    The easiest way to get started is to begin attending Sunday Mass regularly. At Mass we come to praise God and confess our wrongdoings, to learn through the readings and Homily, to be fed in the Eucharist, to be sanctified in community with our neighbor.

    If you do come regularly, continue to do so. If you don’t, invite someone, a family member or friend to come with you. The Holy Spirit will help us evangelize and to be persistent in our spiritual growth. Where are we headed? Remember heaven is our home. Jesus gave us the Church to strengthen us. Let’s be in church with our children, our spouses, our neighbor every Sunday. Go to Confession as needed to receive Communion worthily if you’ve been away.

    Pray for our priests and more vocations. They need strength to save us, time is short and we have only one life. Let each parish priest enter the sanctuary and be able to say “See all the people”!