J
junior3kv
Guest
I live in Los Angeles and the Catholic community is not the best here so i wrote the following essay to hopefully bring us, and others like us, together:
Our Church is impersonal and I no longer want it to be this way. Many people that attend Church see the same people week after week and don’t even know their names. Many people sit alone in church, not by choice but because they have no one to go with. It shouldn’t be this way because we should be doing this together. Jesus wants us to be on this journey together, but we’re not.
Now, I have an idea to make our Church less impersonal: The idea is, why not make it a point to introduce yourself and talk to, someone you don’t know, before or after every mass you go to, instead of always greeting the people you do know. Or if you don’t talk to people then make it a point to start talking to people if you’re willing to. This is one simple way of how fellowship can be formed. It’ll be something random and awkward at first because who knows what you’ll say or talk about but that’s not the point. The point is to interact with our fellow brothers and sisters. This idea is an extension of how in some churches we are told at the beginning of mass to greet those around us. Why not further this greeting? Let’s extend more than our hands to one another, let’s extend our hearts.
Some things you can say are to simply compliment people on dressing in their Sunday best. Most people don’t dress up for Him anymore so if you do see someone in their Sunday best then compliment them, because by complimenting them, you encourage them to keep dressing up for Him. Compliment a parent’s child for looking “so cute in that outfit,” or whatever you can think of to say about a parent’s child. Ask people to join you for coffee or whatever snack is being served at your church, introduce people to one another, ask people what high school or college they’re attending, ask how long they’ve been attending your church. I’ve done this before Mass where look around for someone sitting alone and go up to them, introduce myself, and ask them if I could join them for Mass. People always respond with warmth and say, “Sure!” and then we get to talking and then we get to talking after Mass. If you see a cute boy or girl, man or woman why not do the same thing and mozy on over to them. Ya never know… You can even pawn off this idea as your own just like I came up to you and told you… As in, I have this idea to help the Church…. As long as the word is spread, that’s all that matters to me. And yes, I know you’re making yourself vulnerable by doing this, but we’re being vulnerable for Him. That’s not too much to ask is it?
If you’re too shy to go up to someone then do it with a friend or do it with a group of friends. Just so those that may be hesitant to do this know, I’ve probably talked to over 500 people in the last year and only a handful of people have been mean to me. People for the most part are so nice and more than willing to talk to you. It seems like people want you to talk to them because they to want that fellowship.
Now here’s how the youth tie in to all this: We all know that the youth in our Church are not too keen on Jesus so something needs to be done to steer them towards Jesus. The building of relationships/love is how to do it. Kids must actually SEE the love we have for one another because if they don’t see this love and feel this love then many of them are not going to want to stick around. We’re dealing with the youth who don’t understand Jesus and don’t want to so you we have to use love to get the message across. Love is the best motivator there is, therefore love is the answer. For example, if there’s no love in the home then they’re going to be out of there as soon as they have a chance. And if there’s no love in their second home (The Church), then their going to be out of there as soon as they have the choice.
If we show the youth that we love each other because of Jesus and they see that we have these incredible relationships because of Him, then maybe, just maybe, they’ll think there’s something to this Jesus fella who creates all the joy and happiness they see. You never know, they could be inspired by what they see and be “converted.” Let’s set an example and show them how to love one another. Let’s be a true family. Jesus wants us to help each other on this journey becuase doing it alone is just too hard. We need the support/friendship of each other to get to heaven.
Isn’t our relationship with one another supposed to be an extension of our relationship with Jesus?
I’m not asking you to be friends with people outside of Mass, I’m asking you to be friends with people inside of Mass so we can rejoice in the Lord as a true family.
Because some people are shy, we have to be courageous and take the initiative in bringing our family together. We must to go up to our fellow brothers and sisters because they just will not come up to us. They won’t come up to us because it’s just something we don’t really do as Catholics. So, I’ve issued you a challenge and I know and believe you can do it. It takes courage and I know it will be hard for some but—at least—forward this message to people you know that will have the courage to do it.
Of all the people I’ve talked to, I’ve heard many stories of people looking for a faith, or a church, and coming to a Catholic church and not feeling love, and then they go a church that shows them love and they want to continue going to that church because of the love they feel from the people.
Thanks for reading.
May God Bless You
P.S. All I’m preaching is love for one another.
Our Church is impersonal and I no longer want it to be this way. Many people that attend Church see the same people week after week and don’t even know their names. Many people sit alone in church, not by choice but because they have no one to go with. It shouldn’t be this way because we should be doing this together. Jesus wants us to be on this journey together, but we’re not.
Now, I have an idea to make our Church less impersonal: The idea is, why not make it a point to introduce yourself and talk to, someone you don’t know, before or after every mass you go to, instead of always greeting the people you do know. Or if you don’t talk to people then make it a point to start talking to people if you’re willing to. This is one simple way of how fellowship can be formed. It’ll be something random and awkward at first because who knows what you’ll say or talk about but that’s not the point. The point is to interact with our fellow brothers and sisters. This idea is an extension of how in some churches we are told at the beginning of mass to greet those around us. Why not further this greeting? Let’s extend more than our hands to one another, let’s extend our hearts.
Some things you can say are to simply compliment people on dressing in their Sunday best. Most people don’t dress up for Him anymore so if you do see someone in their Sunday best then compliment them, because by complimenting them, you encourage them to keep dressing up for Him. Compliment a parent’s child for looking “so cute in that outfit,” or whatever you can think of to say about a parent’s child. Ask people to join you for coffee or whatever snack is being served at your church, introduce people to one another, ask people what high school or college they’re attending, ask how long they’ve been attending your church. I’ve done this before Mass where look around for someone sitting alone and go up to them, introduce myself, and ask them if I could join them for Mass. People always respond with warmth and say, “Sure!” and then we get to talking and then we get to talking after Mass. If you see a cute boy or girl, man or woman why not do the same thing and mozy on over to them. Ya never know… You can even pawn off this idea as your own just like I came up to you and told you… As in, I have this idea to help the Church…. As long as the word is spread, that’s all that matters to me. And yes, I know you’re making yourself vulnerable by doing this, but we’re being vulnerable for Him. That’s not too much to ask is it?
If you’re too shy to go up to someone then do it with a friend or do it with a group of friends. Just so those that may be hesitant to do this know, I’ve probably talked to over 500 people in the last year and only a handful of people have been mean to me. People for the most part are so nice and more than willing to talk to you. It seems like people want you to talk to them because they to want that fellowship.
Now here’s how the youth tie in to all this: We all know that the youth in our Church are not too keen on Jesus so something needs to be done to steer them towards Jesus. The building of relationships/love is how to do it. Kids must actually SEE the love we have for one another because if they don’t see this love and feel this love then many of them are not going to want to stick around. We’re dealing with the youth who don’t understand Jesus and don’t want to so you we have to use love to get the message across. Love is the best motivator there is, therefore love is the answer. For example, if there’s no love in the home then they’re going to be out of there as soon as they have a chance. And if there’s no love in their second home (The Church), then their going to be out of there as soon as they have the choice.
If we show the youth that we love each other because of Jesus and they see that we have these incredible relationships because of Him, then maybe, just maybe, they’ll think there’s something to this Jesus fella who creates all the joy and happiness they see. You never know, they could be inspired by what they see and be “converted.” Let’s set an example and show them how to love one another. Let’s be a true family. Jesus wants us to help each other on this journey becuase doing it alone is just too hard. We need the support/friendship of each other to get to heaven.
Isn’t our relationship with one another supposed to be an extension of our relationship with Jesus?
I’m not asking you to be friends with people outside of Mass, I’m asking you to be friends with people inside of Mass so we can rejoice in the Lord as a true family.
Because some people are shy, we have to be courageous and take the initiative in bringing our family together. We must to go up to our fellow brothers and sisters because they just will not come up to us. They won’t come up to us because it’s just something we don’t really do as Catholics. So, I’ve issued you a challenge and I know and believe you can do it. It takes courage and I know it will be hard for some but—at least—forward this message to people you know that will have the courage to do it.
Of all the people I’ve talked to, I’ve heard many stories of people looking for a faith, or a church, and coming to a Catholic church and not feeling love, and then they go a church that shows them love and they want to continue going to that church because of the love they feel from the people.
Thanks for reading.
May God Bless You
P.S. All I’m preaching is love for one another.
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