This hit home today as I decided, for the sake of our schedules today, to attend Mass at a different church than our home parish. It had a very 70's feel to it. Shag carpet, unpainted cinderblock wall behind the alter, nondescript stained glass, lack of holy imagery (except for the impressive lifesize corpus behind the alter). The music was of that era and awful (which is not unusual for many Catholic churches) and though it was just my impression, everything just had a very tired, status-quo, lackluster blahness to it. The homily was vague and forgetable. Nobody really sang (probably because the music sucked so much). I noticed a number of minor liturgical abuses(though they were probably just seen as accepted practices to the uninformed) and an overall lack of reverence with regards to the Eucharist. It was as if the exterior was influencing the interior, as if zeal and reverence would be out of place here, like it was not made to hold it.
In John's gospel, we see Jesus' friend Mary pour out a pint of nard perfume worth a years wages onto Jesus's feet, which she dries with her hair. Judas Iscariot (who would betray him) saw it and said, "why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?", but Jesus replies, "Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me" (Jn 12:5-6).
The Lord wants us to be good stewards, responsible yes, but not lauding pragmatism as a virtue to be extolled. He wants us to love intensely, serve selflessly, worship reverently, and give lavishly. For the Lord does not meet out mercy, but lavishes it upon those who come to him with contrite heart and broken spirit to overflowing. (1 John 3:1; Ps 51:17)
Earlier generations (many immigrant communities) of earnest masons, glass workers, carpenters, artists, and laborers made great sacrifices of time, money, and labor to build beautiful churches, something great for the Lord that reached high to heaven. A beautiful church, even if it is simple, reflects a matter of priorities, right things in their right place, and sets the foundation for right worship. Right worship is reflected in not only the inner orientation of heart to God, but the exterior posture (kneeling, bowing, etc) also reflects a proper interior disposition. When faith and worship is lukewarm--a mixture of hot and cold--it is not only unattractive, but offensive to the Creator, so much so that he vomits it from his mouth (Rev 3:16).
Vibrant churches and communities become that way by drilling a deep well to the source of living water--that is, Christ himself in the Eucharist, deserving of the utmost reverence because he is truly present. Churches grow, become attractive, when they are earnest and reflect an unapologetic and committed belief in the truth of the message being preached, backed by priests who do not serve up bland homilies or token gestures of halfhearted commitment to evangelization, but are committed to making disciples who are formed in spirit and truth. It has to be intentional, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say the externals have something to lend to that.
No one who truly admits and believes in the awesome power of a God who transcends time and space to be with us in every facet of our mortal lives, who sacrificed his own son to ransom us from death and damnation, who time and time again poured out graces on his people who spurned them and traded them in for idols, wants to squander such a faith in an status-quo lukewarmness. It is offensive, like salt that has lost its saltiness, good for nothing, not even the dunghill (Mt 5:13).
The time before the Lord returns is short. Make it count!
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