We are moving kinda slow through the above quote, and this make sense because in the reading we are responding to "the reader's humble desire for God". This is a reality we must keep before us all the time. All the time we are in one way or another searching for The Unknown, ,and The Unknowable Divine reality.That is an innate desire we as human being are endowed with. The part, wanting to be reunited with the Whole, the creature with its Creator. Human beings, of their essence are religious.From the study of the human journey there always has been a relationship between the created and The Creator.That relationship, we are now discovering, goes back further than we ever imagined. Thank to the patient research of the scientists we are being bombarded with ever new research. There is a great book written by Diarmuid O"Murachu,"Ancestral Grace".In it you journey through the evolution of the human being's response to The Ineffable Divine Being.
We are by nature religious. I read the following which has always been at the back of my mind through all the years of ministry and even as I write this effort: "You do not put religion into a person,you make it possible for that person to encounter and reveal what is hidden in it's depths. In other words religion must be, RELEASED fro within."That is why the whole atmosphere in which the "religious event" happens is so very important.There must be an invitation, no matter how couched, to facilitate the expression of that which is for the most part cannot be fully expressed. Each religious celebration is an encounter with The Great Mystery, and as a result change happens.The change can be subtle and not very apparent until time passes and we notice something different.We will not know how, or when ,it appeared in our life ,but it is there.
That is why Pope Francis is demanding that homilies be 10 minutes long. (Confession is good for the soul,I am sad to say I have failed miserable with that ten minute rule for most of my priesthood.It was at the end I had a timer.In one parish the kept count of the length of my homily and posted it on the wall behind me.The community could keep track as the minutes,hopefull,slipped away.)The homilymust connect the worshipper's lived experience with the worshipping event. The Sunday, and daily Liturgical celebration must connect The Liturgy with the lived moment to moment experience of those making up the community of faith that is present for the celebrations. Are we doing a good job ? For me, here at the end of my days, it hurts to write, We Are Not. We must be honest. Honesty about where we are at, is the first step on the journey of conversion. The conversion journey is essential for a vibrant, and relevant church.Liturgy is always about reality, and hospitality. (All Eucharistic celebrations presupposes hospitality) So then then, let's GET REAL. Let us get real, or loose whatever relevancy still remains. Our goal must be to focus on getting all involved in the Liturgical connected with each other first, and then all are brought into to celebrate. We then must be connectors. Connectors of the the liturgy and with the individuals everyday individual and communal living.That is the one choice we have left. We must all be part of the solution ,or, the insidious problem remains to choke the life, the vibrancy, out of that which is to be our source of life and vitality.
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