The importance of singing to the choir
I have just finished a three day Parish Mission at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Westwood. There were about 70-90 people there each night and they were very receptive. A few people came up to me afterwards and were apologetic that so few showed up. I reminded them that most of the people who attend these are already focused on living their faith in a deeper way. That means that I am singing to the choir, but not to the ones who may need it, but do not have the time to come.
Nevertheless, it is very important to sing to the choir, because since they are in the trneches in the parish every Sunday, and for some every day, they need some encouragement in their faith as well as some guidance on how to spread the faith to the ones who do not come, but who are living very chaotic lives and are desiring to seek peace, but do not look to the Church.
I also bring with me CD’s of the mission talks and give them away free of charge so that they may have something to give to someone that so they can listen to on their own time. My goal is to entice people to come to Church as the place where they can find peace in their busy lives and directions on how to make sense of this crazy world. I want to explain to people what they are missing by not coming.
The Gospel at Mass today reminded us that The Queen of Sheba came to seek counsel of King Solomon becuase his his Wisdom and the Ninevites repented immediately on the first day of Jonah’s three day trip through Nineveh, but now in Jesus Christ there is someone greater than Jonah and Solomon in our midst. When we come to Christ in the Eucharist and pray in thanskgiving and petition, we come to discover that in Jesus Christ and his Church, we truly have all that we need. We can jump off the chaotic roller coaster of this toxic culture and find rest at the feet of the Lord. The choir can use all the encouragement that they can get to keep singing, even when it appears no one is listening. The Catholic faith is definitely something worth singing about. We never know when someone along the way might be drawn to stop and listen, so the choir needs all the practice they can get.
