starting small
I have been assigned to a parish before I was told to go back to the seminary. One of the challenging things I have to do in that parish was to convince people that they are getting old. Imagine that! Some people just can’t realize by themselves that they are getting old. And I tell you it was difficult. So one time in a meeting of one of the religious organizations which I attended I told them quite frankly that almost all of the members are in their 70’s and 80’s, that some of them could no longer participate in the many processions that they were organizing and directing because they could no longer walk, that in five years time the organization will dwindle to half its present membership, and in ten years time their religious organization will go the way of the dinosaurs - extinction. So quite sternly I warned them that in their next monthly meeting, if they could not bring in new recruits and young blood in their organization, our opening prayer for the meeting will be the prayer for the dead and I am going to sprinkle all of them with holy water. Some laugh, some looked shocked but it was effective for in our next meeting we had at least more than five new recruits.
Membership in the religious organizations are dwindling and most of its present membership are old. And besides, the members of our religious organizations are the same persons dressed differently depending whether it is the first Sunday or the second, the third or the fourth. Why? Because they are actually the same people jumping from one organization to the other - in different uniforms, some of whom may have a cabinet full of different uniforms. Our parishes are becoming a rigodon of people merely changing partners at every step. We no longer attract new people, we are no longer bring in new faces.
I am not in anyway discouraging people from joining our religious organizations. In most parishes they are the most active and the most helpful and also the most generous members of the parish, somebody the parish priest can really rely on. In the past it was something of a requirement that to become not just a good catholic but a better one, one had to enter what they called mandated organizations. Today however the traditional organizations are on the wane and are replaced by movements many of which are charismatic and family oriented. In many parts of the Philippines there is an even better movement referred to as the small Christian communities - neighbours grouped together praying together, acting and living out their faith in their particular context, in their particular neighbourhood. And this is the kind of direction which our diocese has chosen as our path to renewal, the building up of small Christian communities.
I have two points.
First it is important to note that a Christian can only be a Christian when he or she becomes a leaven in the world, the yeast that affects the dough, the yeast that makes it rise. His presence in the group, his suggestions in a meeting, her actions in the neighbourhood - whatever he or she shall touch or come in contact with is transformed. A small amount of yeast can make a dough rise. Christian presence can transform, a meeting, an office, a community.
Second to do so and to be more effective at that, it is important that we have a community of fellow believers who can support each other in the faith, believers who can act together, who can make changes in the world around them, be it a neighbourhood or a business enterprise or in the practice of one’s profession. It can be a gathering of Christian businessmen, or a a group of families, it can be a religious organization or a small Christian community, or a simple gathering of friends who pray together in an office during lunch break. These are the yeast of religion in our society today, the yeast that makes the dough rise, the seed transformed into a tree attracting the birds to rest on it.
Remember Christianity started small. But they are an influential group - influential not because they were powerful or were attached to people with power. No. They were influential because as one ancient writer wrote, referring to Christians, see how they love one another.
Be the leaven, be the seed that grows into a tree. This is the challenge for us today.
Membership in the religious organizations are dwindling and most of its present membership are old. And besides, the members of our religious organizations are the same persons dressed differently depending whether it is the first Sunday or the second, the third or the fourth. Why? Because they are actually the same people jumping from one organization to the other - in different uniforms, some of whom may have a cabinet full of different uniforms. Our parishes are becoming a rigodon of people merely changing partners at every step. We no longer attract new people, we are no longer bring in new faces.
I am not in anyway discouraging people from joining our religious organizations. In most parishes they are the most active and the most helpful and also the most generous members of the parish, somebody the parish priest can really rely on. In the past it was something of a requirement that to become not just a good catholic but a better one, one had to enter what they called mandated organizations. Today however the traditional organizations are on the wane and are replaced by movements many of which are charismatic and family oriented. In many parts of the Philippines there is an even better movement referred to as the small Christian communities - neighbours grouped together praying together, acting and living out their faith in their particular context, in their particular neighbourhood. And this is the kind of direction which our diocese has chosen as our path to renewal, the building up of small Christian communities.
I have two points.
First it is important to note that a Christian can only be a Christian when he or she becomes a leaven in the world, the yeast that affects the dough, the yeast that makes it rise. His presence in the group, his suggestions in a meeting, her actions in the neighbourhood - whatever he or she shall touch or come in contact with is transformed. A small amount of yeast can make a dough rise. Christian presence can transform, a meeting, an office, a community.
Second to do so and to be more effective at that, it is important that we have a community of fellow believers who can support each other in the faith, believers who can act together, who can make changes in the world around them, be it a neighbourhood or a business enterprise or in the practice of one’s profession. It can be a gathering of Christian businessmen, or a a group of families, it can be a religious organization or a small Christian community, or a simple gathering of friends who pray together in an office during lunch break. These are the yeast of religion in our society today, the yeast that makes the dough rise, the seed transformed into a tree attracting the birds to rest on it.
Remember Christianity started small. But they are an influential group - influential not because they were powerful or were attached to people with power. No. They were influential because as one ancient writer wrote, referring to Christians, see how they love one another.
Be the leaven, be the seed that grows into a tree. This is the challenge for us today.
Comments