A Work in Progress- Living Faith

October 28, 2013

Sts. Simon and Jude

A Work in Progress

Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:21-22

Have you ever been to a construction site? It's muddy and messy. The insides of things are showing. Wires and pipes stick out, and building materials are piled everywhere. There's banging and shouting and machines are rumbling. It looks and sounds like chaos, but that's how buildings get built. My son is 16 and questioning everything. He wants to know why he should go to Mass, why it's not enough just to pray on one's own. He notices that besides the Church's good works, sometimes there's pettiness and stumbling. I want him to see that it's important for us to gather together as a people, to hear the gospel and receive the Body of Christ, precisely because we're [i]not[/i] perfect. We need to keep coming together, even when it's messy. We are under construction: a work in progress, being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

- Anne Pushkal

Ephesians 2:19-22|Psalm 19:2-5|Luke 6:12-16

Mass Readings of the Day

Comments

Lance and Gisela Kokron Respond to comment

October 28, 2013 at 03:54 AM

This reading is very true, we are works in progress, and will make mistakes ... that's why we're human. God knows this and allows for our faults, he will catch us if we stumble.

jon

January 8, 2014 at 06:02 AM

So true! Such a tightrope act...trying to articulate repentance and forgiveness. Somehow God accepts us as we are, with all our sinful pasts and our certainly sinful futures, yet he calls us to perfection. Jesus says "be perfect, as your father in Heaven is perfect", yet he understands we cannot be perfect in this life. This reality draws us back to Christ's mission...to call each of us to repentance...daily or hourly!

I can be so distraught when I have failed the Lord in thought, word, or deed for the millionth time...and then I realize, though my sin is unacceptable to God and separates me from Him...if I just repent, He is faithful to forgive and draw me back into his arms (despite my unfaithfulness)!