Ho hum

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100325.cfm

When I was visiting the Holy Land, one of my favorite sections of the trip was when we visited the towns along the northern side of the Sea of Galilee. As we visited Capernaum, which is where Peter lived, our guide shared with us a story that has really remained with me. It is the story of today's Gospel.

There are three towns, 2-3 miles apart, where Jesus spent a great amount of time. He became familiar with the people and they were familiar with Him. Jesus taught and performed miracles frequently there. Many people from these towns followed Jesus as He travelled among this little triangle of villages. The names of the three towns were Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida. In today's Gospel, Jesus is in Capernaum and expresses His concern that the other two towns, Chorazin and Behtsaida are beginning to take Him for granted, and asks if Capernaum will behave the same way.

Jesus words to them can seem harsh, but His words are intended to shake them out of their complacency and call them to see and understand what was happening in their midst. It is very easy for us to say 'If I were witness to healings and casting out of demons, I would not take those kind of things for granted.' but I have to wonder if that's true. Each Sunday, or even daily, the God of the Universe comes to us in the humble form of bread and wine, so that He can literally be united in one flesh with us. Do we treat it like this, or do we approach the altar like we are in line at the grocery store?

Like Jesus, I don't say this to condemn (thankfully that will never be my role), but to make us consider whether we have become complacent. I have done a series in the past that considers all of the Biblical ties that are included in the Mass and it's always a great eye opener for all of us. We will be doing this series again later this month. One of the things that we all agreed on was how easy it was to drift into complacency in the Mass, and we should be continually working to build our understanding of what is happening at the Mass so that there is always something within it that will catch our attention and break us out of our complacency.

Woe to us if we don't realize the gift given to us every day, every week.