IHM Triduum 2010

To me, today’s homily served as a very good wake-up call.

Father spoke about liturgy of the word being the word of God, and how it is important for us to listen and pay attention to the word of God. Indeed, that is the least we can do. Anything less than that, qualifies as being rude to God. He then moved on to preach about how many people come for mass only as a Sunday obligation, and do not live the mass in our lives at all. He stressed the importance of knowing the true meaning of mass and living the mass in each and every small way that we can.

Unfortunately, I am, indeed, guilty of all the above wrongdoings. I find it hard to pay attention to the liturgy of the word (especially with so many changes made in our parish). I must admit that there are times I give in to the heaviness of my eyelids, and coupled with the air-conditioned atmosphere and lazy Sunday morning feeling, I fall asleep. I give myself excuses, telling myself that everyone around me is doing the same, but the truth is, I am being rude to God. It is an undeniable fact.

All this while, my family has not been very involved in church activities. One could even go as far as to say that my family members, including me, are all “Sunday Catholics”. Church is something we go for every Sunday, for one hour, because we MUST, because we’ve been taught from young that we MUST, because we’ve been taught in cathecism classes the 4^thcommandment, to keep the Sabbath. Before this year, things were not so bad, because I was “bounded” to church, by cathecism classes. Yet, after my confirmation, I found myself slowly drifting away from church. Church and Mass were just like any other Sunday activity, to get it done and out of the way. The moment I stepped out of church, I forget everything about it, until it comes again the week after.

Recently, many things begun happening in my life, be it academics, family issues or my own personal life, they all made me realise I needed God, that I wasn’t at all strong enough to deal with it myself. Coupled with today’s homily, I received a wake-up call from God.

Marlene Grayce Goh