From Worship to Mission

Every walk of life, whether it is driving on the road, playing football or cooking a meal has its own rules and guidelines. These rules and guidelines give us an acceptable but minimum standard of access. It is only through regular practice that we grow into perfection. As faith people we are taught the basic way of love of “God and neighbour” but it is only through the conversion of our own hearts that we can allow that love of God to dwell in us.

Christian worship has it framework of ritual through movement and word, but from the heart should proceed that worship which our whole self should offer to God. In worship, as in prayer I encounter self as I encounter God, but, if the self that I encounter is the external self, like washing the outside of the cup, my worship is also external and not from the heart. The heart is the fountain of love and life but it can also be a reservoir of anger and fear. Worship begins within self, with an acceptance of self and the openness to inner healing. It is then that the whole person is ready to experience God in worship. Our call to worship is not a call to observance but a call to discover and to respond to the presence of God within. True worship leads to mission as St. James states “coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it” and mission draws upon the gifts of the Spirit dwelling within the human heart. To-days Gospel gives us a litany of woes emerging from the human heart if we worship with “lip-service” only. Can I take time out to reflect upon what is emerging from my own heart, which will indicate my state of conversion and the depth of my worship.

Fr. Brian Moore, C.M.

3rd September 2006