The day of the Lord

The problem with Sunday Mass seems to be that people go to a celebration and find a funeral. The Church is rightly concerned about those who simply opt to stay away.

However, is it not surprising that Charismatics, Focolarini, and other movements within the Church are experiencing a new spring? Is it not surprising that the Neo-catechumenal Way is attracting so many people who were non-practising Catholics?

I am sure the answer to all our problems is Jesus Christ. The only problem is how to be relevant in a mad world as ours. But way back in the Seventies, Archbishop Michael Gonzi intuitively declared that the Neo-catechumenal Way is for those who are far away from the Church and that at that time there was nothing for these people. He even asked parish priests to welcome the catechists. The Immaculate Conception parish priest at Hamrun agreed, and now that small seed is bearing fruit.

Personally, I was very close the Church but somehow I was blind: I just couldn't see God's love for me. He opened my eyes so that now I can see clearly that He gave me life in the first place, He gave me work, He gave me a wife and children. He also gave me a loving and caring Church who sent catechists who gave so many precious hours of their own to help me appreciate what my baptism means.

Only after all this did the Mass become really meaningful. Now it all makes sense. Now it is a real celebration of the resurrection which Christ worked out in my flesh and soul.

May those who have ears listen to the word of Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. May we all realise that Sunday is a wonderful day given to us by God so that we can praise Him together with the whole creation. May we all experience the joy that Christ is risen and that we can participate in his joy.

We are invited to participate in the celebration which really changes a funeral (and at every funeral there is a corpse) into a victory of the risen Christ over death (a living person who cares for us) and makes us all partakers of his glory.