Why are we Here?

A positive question that should confront all of us if we give the words a moment of our time. Think for just a short interval about the very gifts you have been handed and how their impact has affected others. Most people never give a thought as to what purpose their giftedness has had on some people who become recipients of our efforts.

Keeping in the premise of what our faith teaches us is the crux of this article. It isn’t how prominent our activity in what we are sent to accomplish that matters, it is more how much we become God’s commissioners when reaching those to whom he sends us. Perfection is not how good we are at our chosen talent but how obedient we become in following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Of course using any special gift that we have must use every facet of learning and understanding the precepts of its capacity to inspire or at least invoke a response from those we reach. One of the drawbacks of giftedness is pride where we believe that without us no one else will be able to deliver a positive outcome of the gift. Keeping that in mind humility must become the number one criteria that should always be first before we accept praise from others. If we remind ourselves of this dichotomy that can trip our senses to smart or stupid choices we will always become aware of snobbish or sensitive results that make us wanted or avoided by others.

Within the exposure of why we are here there is another concern that affects the people in the pews or an audience listening to the gifted artists. Their perspective also demands a requirement to take with them a reason for listening or a desire to take what they’ve received and put it into a positive action towards others. This is the prime reason to send a message from an artist to people who are listening positively and not just entertained.

When a pastor and/or preacher delivers a sermon (homily) it hopefully is received as a mandate to go forth and do the same for the non-believers that they alone might encounter. We know that usually the messages delivered in Church are not for those in attendance as much as for the many who are not there. That leaves the objective and mission to spread the kingdom of God upon those in the pews or audience as evangelists in many ways and on multiple occasions.

What is the mandate that requires the people in the pew to go and evangelize? “And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full status of Christ.” (Eph 4: 11 - 13).

There is one negative aspect that may create an unwillingness for some in the pews to reject the idea of evangelizing; it is the complaint that some Masses are too long, don’t like the homilies, or save the incense for other things, not Christmas Mass. The question for them is; “Just what are you here for?”

Ralph B. Hathaway