Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
Hag 1: 1-8; Luke 9: 7-9
Dc. Larry Brockman
“Build my house”. That’s what Haggai told the Israelis to do. Darius had restored the Israelis to their land after a long exile. They were living in paneled houses, drinking and eating lavishly, and having a great time of prosperity there. But if we read between the lines accurately, they were just not happy. That begs the question, “why”?
Notice that they procrastinated in rebuilding the temple. They didn’t have time for the Lord. They didn’t have a decent place to worship, and that means it wasn’t a priority to them. Could it be that they were not happy because they didn’t really have God in their lives?
Now building the Church sounds like something we just can’t relate to with all the Churches we have today. I saw in the news the other day that Holy Trinity Church in downtown Syracuse had been sold to the Moslems who were going to convert it to a Mosque. Sad, but that sort of thing happens often now in the Northeast. Where did all the faithful go?
You know, I visit a local Hospital twice a week. The chaplain gives me a long list of Catholics to see each time. I’d say that while all of them identify themselves as Catholics, probably less than half are practicing Catholics of any description.
This is what I hear from them: “Years ago I went to see the priest about getting married to my live-in boyfriend, and he wouldn’t marry us, so I haven’t set foot inside a Church ever since.” Or: “Whenever I go to Church, all they ask for is money”; or: “I believe in Jesus, and it’s just me and Jesus, that’s what’s important, I don’t need the Church”; or a whole flock of other reasons, excuses, and sob stories.
What all that means is that it just isn’t true. It isn’t true that we don’t need to build the Church. The fact is that many of us are living comfortably and in complacency, yet we don’t see either the need or urgency of building the Church. But if we are honest about it, the erosion of the Church is clear because the flock is disappearing either out of disinterest, complacency, or disbelief. And deep down we cannot be happy about all the fallen away and lukewarm Catholics.
So, that’s where you and I come in. It isn’t enough for us to believe and come here to worship. We are called to be evangelizers in word and in deed. We are called upon to “build the Church,” not so much with brick and mortar, but by bringing others into the Body of Christ.
Nowadays, too many people are rudderless. They are like Herod in today’s Gospel, seeking something but they know not what. Whereas this country was built on Judeo Christian values, it is now fast becoming a pagan nation of people seeking self-gratification; people who don’t have God in their lives or who have a distorted idea of God. We are not here to coexist with them and let them do their own thing. We are here to convert them; to add them to the Body of Christ, the Church. So, this morning, it is as if Haggai were addressing each of us to get out there and “Build the Church.”
