Have you ever pondered what a miracle the Church is? I mean, that there should continue in this world the community of the baptized who gather regularly around the read and preached Scriptures and feast ever and again on the Holy Eucharist? And it's been this way since Pentecost. Some marvel that the Church can go on, doing the same old thing over and over again. We know the secret of the Church's going on is exactly BECAUSE she does the same thing over and over again. She literally LIVES from the Words that are read and preached, from the Words that give her a washing of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit, from the Words that cause the bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist to be the very body and blood of the Eternal Son of God, once sacrificed upon the cross, and now eternally alive and glorified. She lives from the Words. Truly "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have come to know and to believe that You are the Holy One of God!"
17 February 2007
Lord, to whom shall we go
Have you ever pondered what a miracle the Church is? I mean, that there should continue in this world the community of the baptized who gather regularly around the read and preached Scriptures and feast ever and again on the Holy Eucharist? And it's been this way since Pentecost. Some marvel that the Church can go on, doing the same old thing over and over again. We know the secret of the Church's going on is exactly BECAUSE she does the same thing over and over again. She literally LIVES from the Words that are read and preached, from the Words that give her a washing of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit, from the Words that cause the bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist to be the very body and blood of the Eternal Son of God, once sacrificed upon the cross, and now eternally alive and glorified. She lives from the Words. Truly "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have come to know and to believe that You are the Holy One of God!"
Actually, I think of that often and marvel. Especially in this "post-Christian era". I see it as a testimony of the truthfulness of Christianity that people would take one day a week to gather together in worship when there is so much to take the attention away.
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