Today, we reflect on the image of the Church being a “field hospital.” To help with this reflection I will be sharing quotes from an article: The Church Should Be A Hospital For Sinners By Peter Daly - September 24, 2013.
(Quotes will be in bold, and my commentary will be in normal font.)
The church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital for sinners."
There is a major difference between going to the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois and the hospital. It is therefore safe to say that there is also a major difference in working for each. People in the museum have to goal of preserving history and teaching others about that history. People in the hospital are focused on helping the people in need that come through their doors.
"The confessional," Pope Francis says, "is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord's mercy motivates us to do better."
One of the great blessings in life is to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation with people but it is also sometimes very frustrating because people do not understand the extend and largeness of God’s love. I believe that most people should seriously pray over the Prodigal Son story before going to confession. The Father shows His Son so much love (new robe, slippers, ring, and killed the fatted calf) while the son in confessing his sins. We should not rejoice in our sinfulness or take our sins lightly, but we should be grateful for God’s love. There is no need try to explain to God why He should forgive you.
The Christian life is not so much about rules as it is about relationships. It's about a relationship with Christ and with each other. If you don't have a relationship with someone, they won't care if you quote the rule book to them. If you do have a relationship with someone, you probably won't need to quote the rules. That's what St. Paul means by the law of love.
When I was growing up my parish did not have a Boy Scout troop and so my friend Steve and I went to two different Boy Scout Groups at other parishes before we decided which troop to join. The first group began by explaining the rules to us and the second group began by pairing us up with another scout to help us build friendships with the other boys. As I think about it now, I do believe that the second group that we ended up joining had more rules than the first group. The difference was not in the rules but the second group’s focus on relationships.
Pope Francis thinks mercy comes before catechesis.
One time in college, we were required to attend a lecture by an archeologist on cuneiform tablets. I don’t remember one thing about the lecture or about cuneiform tablets. There were some other seminarians who were interested in archelogy as it related to Scripture who loved the lecture. We have to help people understand why faith is important and build within them a desire to want to learn about it.
To me the most disarming thing about the pope's interview was his answer to the first question, "Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?" He said simply, "I am a sinner."
St. Peter made his greatest connection with Jesus when after catching the boatload of fish, Peter declared that he was a “sinner in a world of sinful people.” St. Philip Neri would often say “Except for the grace of God there go I.”
I would like to end today’s reflection with one more insight that comes from John O’Leary’s book: On Fire: The Seven Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life. In his book John O’Leary writes about the number of days that he spent in the hospital recovering from severe burns that he received in a house fire. Many times, the doctor taking care of him would bring in the med students that he was teaching and asked them “who was most responsible for John’s recovery.” John explained that the students made many guesses with most of them focused on the medical personnel (nurses and doctors) who took care of John. John would explain that the doctor taking care of him would finally inform the class that the person most responsible for John’s health was the man responsible for cleaning John’s room. We must remember that there are no small jobs in the Church.
Each one of us is important.
[Fr. Peter Daly is a priest in the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and has been pastor of St. John Vianney parish in Prince Frederick, Md., since 1994.]