Where did our faith go?
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A question that comes up in my mind when I see what is happening to people in terms of their faith right now. I’m an active catholic, church goer and plays organist in some churches here in Pampanga, Philippines and I want to share what I did observe among Catholics nowadays.
Population is gradually increasing as well as the numbers who are baptized to become Christians. This is contrary to the number of people who go to church and attends the mass nowadays. The numbers keep on decreasing. I will share in this blog some of the reasons and problems that I discovered.
Many of us are too much busy in our work, sometimes 5 to 6 days a week. The 7th day will be our rest day and the day we can spent time to our family and friends. But before doing this, let’s not forget to go to church and attend the mass as this will not take whole day of your time. Others keep on saying that they can pray even not going to church. How will they do this if they can’t even leave their smart phones and computers browsing the internet, chatting and watching videos? Church is the place where we sons of God can worship Him as one. With the fast growing technology and changing environment, we need to go to a place where we can silently pray and worship Him. Attending to mass is one of our own ways to worship, thank and ask for forgiveness to our sins.
Another thing that I’d notice is that other Catholics go to church only 4 times in their life. First is during their baptism. Others took advantage of this as the parents of the child can get as many witnesses as they want. Becoming a witness makes you as the secondary parent of the child to be baptized but this is not the scenario right now. Getting many witnesses means many gifts that the baby can receive especially during birthdays and Christmas season. It became a business for others who are greedy for gifts. (Sorry for the word). Second is when they accept other sacraments like confirmation and first communion. But most of the time, these sacraments are ignored. Another is that they go only to church during their weddings as they promise their vows of love in front of the altar. After their wedding, they will visit the church only when their death comes. These people are called occasional church goers. There are some who goes only during their birthdays and the novena of Christmas day. They attend the mass for the beliefs of completing the 9 days midnight mass would give them the answers to their prayers. And after the Christmas season, they will not show again. It is really frustrating that we are always praying and asking to our God to give all we want when we ourselves don’t do our part.
When in terms of giving donations to the church, we always give little. But when there is a sale in the shopping mall, we even pay using credit cards and exceeding our limit. It is always not enough when it comes to God. We have lots of time to different things but when it comes to God, we have many excuses. My choir keeps on decreasing in number and it’s really hard to recruit someone to serve and sing for the Lord. They will rather watch a movie or play online games.
Another thing that I’d notice is that others go to church only to follow the priest because it makes good homily. When the priest is transferred to other parish, they will not attend the mass again otherwise they will follow their idolized priest even to a farther parish. They forgot that the one we must worship is God alone. Another problem is during the communion. Others want to receive the Holy Communion only from the priest and not from other servers. Let us not forget that it is not the one who gives the communion is important but the one that we receive, our Lord Jesus Christ. Where did our faith go? Did we grow on serving and worshipping the Lord? Did we become good fishermen of God?
This blog is just an eye opener. We are the one who needs the Lord. Don’t just go to him when we only need something. Regularly attending the mass even just once a week gives energy to our soul and spirit. It is not only the body that we must feed but also our spirit. We should have the communion to receive God. Don’t just watch masses aired on television because this is aired for others who are sick and wasn’t able to go to church. I hope my message is clear. May the Lord God bless us all!!
