Dear pilgrims of hope,
would we stand in line to visit God if we knew we would get nothing in return?
Recently I was travelling in the car with two religious sisters and we were chatting about this and that. As I pointed to one of the mountains we were going to, our discussion turned to how long the queue would be if people would know where God lives and could visit Him. Of course we would all go and wait for a really long time to see Him, right?
My first thought was that I would definitely want to go but then I also thought how many people would actually go if they knew they could not ask God for anything. What if they could only visit but get nothing in return? Over the rest of the day my thoughts kept examining my own heart. And I started to think whether I would actually want to go if I think that God would say no to me if I asked Him for something. Like to my face.
Is this why so many people choose not to go to Holy Mass? Because they don’t get anything “out of it”? Nothing in return?
But that is not what Holy Mass is for. We go to Holy Mass to worship God. Holy Mass is not about us. It’s about God. It’s about showing up no matter how I feel, because it is not about me. It is not about the priest that is there, it is not about meeting up with friends and having a social outing. Although there is nothing wrong about wanting to see our friends and talk to them after Mass outside the church. It is also not about whether the homily is good or boring, or whether the music is good. It is about wanting to worship God and meeting Him in receiving the Eucharist. I think back to Covid and how much I longed for the Eucharist when I could not receive it. Am I hungry for the Eucharist?
Sometimes God’s answer to our prayers will be no. But not because He wants to punish us or withhold things from us. He wants the best for us and sometimes I want things that are not good for me, but I cannot see it. Believing in God is easy. Even the devil believes in God. But faith, to trust Him with my life, that is the hard part.
Let us pray, dear pilgrims of hope, that we love God and trust Him because of who He is and not because of what we want from Him.
