We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from the assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25
This passage from today’s first mass reading stuck with me for some reason. I know that the decline in attendance at religious services (“staying away from the assembly”) is a broad trend with many causes. I’m especially mindful that in our divided society, many people feel uncomfortable showing up anywhere, let alone worship, with folks “from the other side.” It takes a strong sense of underlying unity to overcome that feeling – I know that even families struggle with the challenge of how they can be together amidst division.
But I also look at the passage that surrounds the “staying away” part. How much of our time together is spent encouraging “one another to love and good works”? Perhaps a community that focuses its life together on doing that could address and overcome the issues that threaten to keep its members away.
Reading Francis 
Leave a comment