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Jun 23, 2006

A Boring Religion

I strongly believe that I'm not a Catholic by coincidence. I first came to know Christ not because I wanted to, it was because He first revealed Himself to me. In the same way, He revealed Himself to each and every Catholic christian out there. Therefore, the fact that we are Catholics this very moment is for a reason.

I heard many Catholics, younger and older ones as well, complaining that being a true Catholic makes life boring. Or let me put it another way. Mass is boring; the homily is boring; the Eucharist... well, it makes no sense; the Bible... what proof is there that it is really the Word of God; the teachings of the Church are boring and un-cool; following the teachings takes away our freedom to do anything we want etc. (Anything else to be added to the list?). And so, in a nut shell, Catholicism is a really boring religion.

Is that really true? How sure are you that it is true? Have you ever been seriously and faithfully observing the Church teachings? Have you ever reflected on a homily after Mass? If not, then please don't complain or say that the Catholic faith is boring, because you've missed all the goodies many faithful Catholics have found in the close relationship with Christ.

Living a life faithful to the Church and her teachings is not an easy job. It's very challenging. Much more challenging that you could ever imagine. It's not easy when everyone says "it's ok" but you say "it's not"; it's not easy to swim against the current when everybody else swim with it.

I think that the only reason behind this excuse is that people RUN AWAY from the challenges they are facing, because these challenges will cause them to be different and eventually, they will be excluded from their group of friends or society.

Long time ago when I first started to know God, yes it was boring for me too. But today, after going through so many ups and downs with Him by my side, I truly realized that our God is not a boring God, and in fact He's a very humorous and enjoyable Friend to be with.

Like Fr. Marcial's message to the youths, let us "be proud to be a Christian and to behave like one." It's time to take up the challenge.


Inspired by Life on The Rock.

2 comments:

Matthew said...

AMEN! God is beautiful and not only shows us Himself at Mass but also in prayer. We can all seek to know God, but we must realize His voice is calm and quiet. If we do not quiet ourselves, then we surely will not hear Him.

Audrey Yu said...

YES that's true!! I remember part of one song where it says "...Oh how great are the deeds you have worked upon the land, but the foolish man will never see them, he can't understand."

Isn't it true? God is so beautiful, and He made all things beautiful! Yet there are a lot of people who do not realize His beauty.