THE RISEN CHRIST.........
I have been coming to the Cathedral for the last 20 years........... I have seen things change over time. I have learnt and see the Lord work in mysterious ways in my life and in the lives of a lot of people around me. I have seen faith move moountains and now it kills me to see us trying to manouvre faith. On Good Friday, the sermon got me thinking on a line of action and the Easter service has pushed me to take action. I know that I am going to get a lot of flak for this.......
Right throughout the midnight mass I was distracted..... not because I saw someone I that took my focus away from the liturgy....... but because the flow of the liturgy was such that it kept kind of pushing the focus away. I could almost feel the lil voice that speaks within me say to me.......... Is this mass? What was even funnier is that the voice that sat next to me....... said, "I told you to come to ISI for mass. You, decided on Cathedral."
I understand that we want to Indianise everything and we want to bring more people to the church, but the question that I keep asking myself is, is this what Jesus would do?
I do not know how many of you noticed, but, I did, the PASCAL candle, that over the years has braved every gust of wind and never gone off......... refused to stay lit. Look at that sign, what is Jesus trying to tell you, think of it.........."IS THIS WHAT I STAND FOR.....".
I remember, I was in class VII when I was introduced into the Cathedral Choir. There was a different energy and different committment. The Cathedral used to be soooooo full that the mass extended to the little garden in front of the church as well and that meant, that there were a LOT of people. Today, there is so much empty space, so many empty chairs and there is still the request, "be generous with your money".
There was a time that each person who served mass served with pride and understood the privellege of being CATHOLIC. Today you see faces that SCREAM, please release me. Has this become kinda political.
The mass more than anything else stood for confusion, it was like a drama staged for the community to come and watch, everything seemed so rehearsed, everyone so robotic.
This is my opinion and I do not know really what yours is......... but this came to me soooooo strongly that I had to share it with you. There are sooooo many reasons to keep quiet and yet sooooo many more reasons to speak up........ I am sure that each of you have asked yourselves this question atleast once......... WHERE IS THE COMMUNITY HEADED? ARE WE A RESURRECTION PEOPLE? WHAT ARE THE TRADITIONS THAT WE WILL PASS ON TO OUR GENERATIONS?
The question that continually comes to mind is............. WHAT WOULD JESUS DO IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS? Do you ever wonder... WHY are you proud of being a CHRISTian? What makes JESUS special? Is it HOW he preached........... What language he preached in............... or the VALUES that he stood for that make him the THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE? I know that when we teach or talk about Jesus, we never talk about the LITURGY that was followed during the time, nor do we speak of the way JESUS preached.......... The message that comes across sooooo strongly is the fact that the VALUES that Jesus stood for is what makes him special.
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