My dear brothers and sisters, last Sunday, something happened that apparently is
not important, and indeed is not important but it has given me much to think
about in the days after. Being distracted at the end of the Mass I forgot to
give time to our commentator to say the regular announcements. At the end of
Mass I just recited the closing prayer, I gave the blessing and I dismissed the
assembly. So far so good. Or apparently. When I stood for a moment at the door
to shake hands and say goodbye to my parishioners, more than five people called
my attention to my error. I thanked him. Some of our people were to get coffee
and breakfast at the parish center and in a very nice way they commented my small
mistake. So far so good. No big deal. On Monday morning, there were two
messages in the mailbox of my office asking why I had forgotten the
announcements on Sunday morning. So far so good. No big deal. Last Tuesday
after the evening Mass, a person (nice person indeed; she is a sweet lady)
asked me if I was going to remove the announcements forever. This succession of
these small details has led me to wonder if in our community we are focusing on
what is important, or whether we are only staying "in the shell of
things", I mean, if we descend into the depths of the Eucharistic
celebration or we were only on the surface. In short: I wonder if we are not
living in a superficial way. I wished that at least two people asked me about
the new saints of the Catholic Church, or about the study sessions we have organized
on Sunday evening once a month to better understand the documents of Second
Vatican Council, or even had a word of thanks and appreciation for the
seminarians and our altar servers… My brother, my sister, forgetting the announcements at the
end of the Mass is not a tragedy, it's not the end of the world or the collapse
of the parish, especially because the essence of the Mass (the transubstantiation, which is the
conversion of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord through the
Holy Spirit's action) was made! I've often wondered over the last days if the
culture of complaint will not have been getting slowly into the mysteries of
our faith. Evaluating the performance of a car is a good thing. Evaluating the
performance of a company is a wonderful thing. When we attend the celebration
of the mysteries of our faith with a critical attitude, or giving too much
attention to the outside and not paying attention to the fundamentals may
weaken our spirit. Our prayer today is that these
words of Jesus will never come true in our community: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me[1].
■ Fr. Agustin, Pastor.jueves, 25 de octubre de 2012
Culture of complaining?
My dear brothers and sisters, last Sunday, something happened that apparently is
not important, and indeed is not important but it has given me much to think
about in the days after. Being distracted at the end of the Mass I forgot to
give time to our commentator to say the regular announcements. At the end of
Mass I just recited the closing prayer, I gave the blessing and I dismissed the
assembly. So far so good. Or apparently. When I stood for a moment at the door
to shake hands and say goodbye to my parishioners, more than five people called
my attention to my error. I thanked him. Some of our people were to get coffee
and breakfast at the parish center and in a very nice way they commented my small
mistake. So far so good. No big deal. On Monday morning, there were two
messages in the mailbox of my office asking why I had forgotten the
announcements on Sunday morning. So far so good. No big deal. Last Tuesday
after the evening Mass, a person (nice person indeed; she is a sweet lady)
asked me if I was going to remove the announcements forever. This succession of
these small details has led me to wonder if in our community we are focusing on
what is important, or whether we are only staying "in the shell of
things", I mean, if we descend into the depths of the Eucharistic
celebration or we were only on the surface. In short: I wonder if we are not
living in a superficial way. I wished that at least two people asked me about
the new saints of the Catholic Church, or about the study sessions we have organized
on Sunday evening once a month to better understand the documents of Second
Vatican Council, or even had a word of thanks and appreciation for the
seminarians and our altar servers… My brother, my sister, forgetting the announcements at the
end of the Mass is not a tragedy, it's not the end of the world or the collapse
of the parish, especially because the essence of the Mass (the transubstantiation, which is the
conversion of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord through the
Holy Spirit's action) was made! I've often wondered over the last days if the
culture of complaint will not have been getting slowly into the mysteries of
our faith. Evaluating the performance of a car is a good thing. Evaluating the
performance of a company is a wonderful thing. When we attend the celebration
of the mysteries of our faith with a critical attitude, or giving too much
attention to the outside and not paying attention to the fundamentals may
weaken our spirit. Our prayer today is that these
words of Jesus will never come true in our community: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me[1].
■ Fr. Agustin, Pastor.
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