A Reflection from Fr. Tom: Are you abiding in one serious unrepented sin?

Is this your message to Jesus Christ?

Below is a reflection I am having printed in next Sunday’s bulletin. I am ever fearful of accepting Satan’s standing offer to pastors – Satan will grant a pastor a flourishing and vibrant parish, provided each of his parishioners be allowed to abide in one serious unrepented sin.

In Christ,

Fr. Tom Collins
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One hundred years ago at Fatima, Our Blessed Mother warned of the seriousness of the sin of  Catholics, who refused or failed to participate with reverence, attention and devotion at Sunday Mass. The Third of the Ten Commandment directs us to keep holy the Lord’s Day. For those who are members of the Catholic Church, obedience to this requires, unless there is a serious reason preventing a person from joining in this worship, participation each week at Sunday Mass. Since God is the perfection of integrity, communion with Him and others through regular reverent worship of Him is essential for growing in integrity, both as individuals and as a community. Failure to worship Him gradually leads to spiritual malnutrition and the perversion of one’s soul, mind, body and relationships. Thus it is not surprising that the decline in regular Sunday worship in our nation has been paralleled by a concomitant disintegration of the moral fabric of our nation.

Sunday Meditation: How Do You Keep Sunday?

The Ghost of Sunday (and every other day)!

Do you remember the description of Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol? He was a man who "knew how to keep Christmas," something he learned from the three ghosts. Perhaps we need three ghosts today to help us "keep" Sunday: the Ghost of Sunday Past, the Ghost of Sunday Present, and the Ghost of Sunday Future. If those ghosts visited us today what would those visits look like?

America's Favorite Temple -- the Shopping Mall

How many Americans go to church every week? Hard to say. Gallup polls generally show 40-42% of responders who claim to have attended a religious service in the last week. But since pollsters depend on self-reporting, reliability is a big question mark. How many people tell the truth; how many choose to paint a rosier picture of their behavior than reality?

A more accurate count-based estimate was provided by researchers C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler. In 2005 they authored an article, "How Many Americans Attend Worship Each Week? An Alternative Approach to Measurement," published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, September 2005. Using local samplings for varying churches they estimated that the actual percentage of those attending services was 20%.

Compare that to those who shop on Sundays, 75% according to Gallup. Which raises the question: Who is really being worshiped on Sunday - God or Money? And how many Catholis and non-Catholic Christians try to do both getting their 45 minute Mass/service over with before heading to the Mall?

What does it mean to "Keep holy the Sabbath?" Do you think shopping on Sunday is okay or a violation of the third commandment?