One of the phrases said each week at Mass, after the Our Father is, "Look not on our sins but the faith of Your Church." As these words leave the priest's mouth, I feel like I can hear a pin drop...even over the coughs and crys from the wee ones at Mass. I am caught off guard. I think to myself, "Wait. What did he just say? Petitioning our God not to look on OUR sins but on the faith of HIS Church!"
Living in such an individualized time and place, this goes aginst my gut. "But MY sins aren't the 'little' ones Lord!" Lust, greed, pride, the misuse of my Irish temper(for there is even a proper place for that..somewhere, hence my soapbox!). I could go on but that is not where the focus is right now. The focus (thank God) is on the faith of His Church. I find balance here. As I said before, the problem with the church is that it is full of people. Broken people. There is an acknowledgement of OUR sins as individuals and as a community. But the gaze of God is on the faith of His church. Oh, this is why I am called to participate at Mass. Because, I can't go it alone. Otherwise, I am back to the whole "our sins" part of the equasion. Left to my own devices, there's no tellin' where I'll end up. Of course going to church every Sunday won't do it alone either but that's no excuse not to go. Not to mention the fact that not going is a motal sin. Ahhh, mortal sin and venial sin. That's another blog post for another day!
The faith of His Church. Infant baptism makes sense here. Why would we not want our babies to be brought into this faith? Sure, there is a time when they must acknowledge it for their own but why would we deny the little ones such a gift? Our faith, our salvation isn't a one-time thing but an on going process that started at Calvary and continues on in our sanctification. "God ain't done with me yet!"
Not much more to say here but I am sure glad to be in HIS church. And as the old saying goes, "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." Our Lord is the beholder.
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