The Lost Sheep

It has been reported that His Grace Pope Francis was 'deeply pained' by Turkey's decision to reopen Hagia Sophia museum as a mosque. In his own words "I am thinking of St. Sophia and I am deeply pained.".

There was outrage from others as well. The World Council of Churches has called on the Turkish president to reverse the decision. The Russian Orthodox Church expressed dismay at Turkey's decision, accusing it of ignoring voices of millions of Christians.

The European Union's foreign policy chief called the decision "regrettable". Cypress strongly condemned Turkey's actions and called on Turkey to respect its international obligations.

The US State Department spokesperson expressed disappointment at the decision by the government of Turkey. Greece branded Turkey's move an "open provocation to the civilized world".

But why outrage at this monument alone? There is no doubt it held importance and significance as it was one of the oldest churches, built in the year 537 AD by Constantinople. It remained as a church under various Christian denominations until the year 1453 AD when it was converted into a mosque by the Ottoman Empire.

But the truth is, this is not the first time when a church has been closed, abandoned, sold or converted.

I had the good fortune of visiting the magnificent church of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. As our tour guide was guiding through the various marvels of the Basilica, she mentioned that close to 800 churches in Italy were closed. The reason being, with no one visiting the churches anymore, it was not feasible to maintain them. Without any offerings from the faithful it was not possible to keep the churches open. It was absolutely shocking news for me, especially something like that happening in Italy with the Vatican right next door!

While in Venice, I saw a chapel being used as a warehouse for storing marble stones.

When we visited Germany, we came across a big church with tall spires and Gothic architecture. Admiring the architecture of the huge imposing building, we went around looking for the entrance of the Church to spend some time in prayer.

As we approached the entrance we saw a tall beautiful lady in a green dress standing with some leaflets in her hands. On a wooden stand next to her there was a stack of leaflets. My thought was “perhaps some program was in progress, perhaps a marriage”. I asked her if the church was open and could we enter the church. She stretched the leaflet in her hand towards me and answered with a sweet smile and a musical voice "yes it is open, we are devil worshipers and you are welcome to join us". 

I stood there open mouthed, staring at her long fair face wondering if she was joking or perhaps I might have heard her wrong. At the speed of lightning, everyone who was with me disappeared from the scene. I asked her "Are you really devil worshipers? You are not joking?". She answered in her soft voice "No, I am not joking". Still confused and not believing what I heard, I just mumbled a "thank you" and left the place completely rattled by what transpired in the last few minutes.

I have read about devil worshipers, and even seen them in movies. But this was the first time I encountered one in person, face to face. The experience was quite overwhelming. I went looking for my group and as I joined them, the topic of discussion was “why are people leaving the Church!”.

Sadly, many Christian churches are being listed on the real estate market even today by real estate firms all across the world for sale, many of the countries predominantly following Christian faith.

The churches may be closed or abandoned because money is very important for maintaining the structures and its facilities. When no faithful are visiting them, and with no prospect of offerings collection, it becomes a difficult proposition to continue the church functioning. 

But the important question is, where are all those Christians? Why are they leaving the Christian faith? Have they lost their faith in Christianity? Have they found and adopted some other faith? Where exactly are those lost sheep? 

Hundreds of Evangelists, pastors, and missionaries from the US and other western countries go to India, Africa and other countries, all through the year, some very famous, some less known. They go around preaching the Gospel, trying to find new converts to Christianity.

Why don't they go after the "lost sheep" in their own respective countries? Why don't they take inspiration from Jesus Christ? In the parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:3-7), when a sheep was missing, the shepherd did not say "it is alright, I still have 99 and I can get another new one". He went looking for the one lost sheep, leaving behind the ninety nine.

However big or small a church, a cathedral or a chapel may be, it is a place of worship and praising God. And without a congregation, there cannot be worship and praising. So, the most urgent need of the hour for the churches, the evangelists, the pastors, and the missionaries is to get that missing congregation back into the churches, get the Lost Sheep back into the flock of Christ.

Source of References:

• World reacts: https://tinyurl.com/y8sxq5wt
• Hagia Sophia History: https://tinyurl.com/y24e7pk8
• 11 Australian churches sale: https://tinyurl.com/yylha2k9
• 21 Australian churches sale: https://tinyurl.com/yx8ws29y
• Top 10 Australian churches sale: https://tinyurl.com/yxjvqt52
• US abandoned churches: https://tinyurl.com/y478lnyg
• UK Church Auction List: https://tinyurl.com/y5xqrtn2
• Church of Scotland Sale: https://tinyurl.com/yxf8jokq
• Scottish Churches Sale: http://www.property.org.uk/unique/ch.shtml
• Italian Churches Sale: https://tinyurl.com/y5ugok4d
• Canada Church Sale: https://realestate.mitula.ca/former-church-ontario

The man with the lantern!

Quite often in our lives, we are subjected to situations that seem to test our faith in God. There are many stories of "test of faith", stories that reflect upon how people react when their faith is put to the test. I came upon one such interesting story that was narrated by one of the members of Legion of Mary.

Once a month, the members of Legion of Mary celebrate “Marian Devotion”. It is a ninety minutes of devotion, praying, singing of praises, and reflections on the life of Mother Mary. 

There is an overpowering atmosphere of fellowship and brotherhood with everyone greeting each other as “brother” or “sister”, with smiles on their faces, feeling quite at peace. Sometimes, the priest also joins along sitting with the congregation. All in all, it is quite a peaceful, comforting and a solemn affair!

In between praying and singing hymns, someone reads out a passage reflecting on events in the life Mother Mary or narrates a story of faith.

During one such event, the following story was shared by one of the members. I do not remember the story exactly word to word but I have tried to repeat it in my own words trying my best not to lose its central message.

This is the story of a man who prevailed when his faith was tested several times, on the same day. The man lived in a small town. He was an average person, just like you and me. He believed in his faith, not fanatically religious but reasonably righteous.

One Sunday morning the man started walking towards the Church to attend the Sunday Holy Mass. As he stepped out of his house, he felt the chill of the cold winter morning. He shivered a bit, hugged himself  and started walking towards the Church. 

The Church was not very far from his house, but this morning, the walk seemed a bit difficult. It had rained heavily the previous night and the road was wet and slushy and it was still quite dark.

As he came to a bend in the road, it was a bit difficult to cross the path, as there was a large puddle in the middle of the road. As he started crossing the bend, he slipped and fell to the ground. His dress got considerably soiled. "Surely I cannot go to the Church with my soiled clothes", he told himself. He turned back towards his house angry with himself for being so clumsy.

He could not understand how he could have slipped. He has been walking these roads all his life, but never once had he experienced this kind of an embarrassing situation.  

As he walked back home, he heard a voice whispering in his ears, telling him that there was no use trying to go back to the Church as he would not be able to make it on time. But as he neared his house, he told himself that it was still not too late. He would still be able to make it if he hurried up. He quickly cleaned himself, changed his dress and started walking again towards the Church.

It was still quite dark, too early for the winter sun to rise. As he came near the bend, he was very careful, not to slip again. He was very happy as he almost crossed the bend. But as he was finishing the last few steps, he slipped again and fell to the ground. The man was furious with himself. He could not understand how he could be so careless and clumsy yet again! He looked at his dress, cursing himself under his breath, he started returning home dejected.

As he started walking back, again he heard the voice whispering in his ears, for sure he would not be able to make it to the Church.  He should forget the idea of Church for today! It is too late! But as he neared his house, his resolve grew stronger. He told himself that it was still not too late. At the most, he would miss the recitation of  the Holy Rosary and the Litany of The Virgin Mary, but he would still be on time for the Holy Mass.

He quickly cleaned himself, changed his dress and started walking again towards the Church. As he was nearing the bend, he saw a man standing by the side of the road, holding a lantern. As he came closer, he saw that it was a wizened old man. He did not look familiar to him, perhaps a traveler from the next town.

The wizened old man started walking along the man, with his eyes on the ground, not saying a word. The light from the lantern helped the man to see the road more clearly this time. Both walked in silence and as they neared the Church, the man thanked the wizened old man profusely for his help and consideration. The wizened old man did not say anything. As he turned to leave, the man asked the wizened old man to join him in the celebration of the Holy Mass.

The wizened old man answered, “I cannot enter the Church”. The man was quite surprised and curious, he asked “why not?”.  In a sad and defeated voice the wizened old man said, “I cannot enter the Church because, you see, I am the Devil!”. 

That is when the man looked more closely at the wizened old man and noticed the deep, hollow, sad, sunken and deathly eyes. He felt a shiver run up his spine!

The wizened old man continued, “I knew that you were a man of faith but I was not sure just how strong your faith was. I made you fall, both the times, trying to shake your faith. But when you returned to the Church the first time, God was very pleased with you and He blessed you". 

The wizened old man stopped for a moment and continued, "The second time when I tried, again your faith prevailed. God was pleased more and He blessed your entire family. Then I realized, that you are a man of strong faith and testing you further would only increase the number of people being blessed and I did not want that to happen. So I wanted to make sure that you reached the Church safely without any further incidence”. 

With that, the wizened old man turned and disappeared into the chilly winter darkness.

It seems that when your faith in God is strong unconditionally and unshaken, even the Devil will be forced to bend its knees at your feet!

One might say, "what was the big deal, he could have prayed at home!". Sure, he could have prayed at home. But the celebration of the sacrament and sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist is central for Christian faith. It is an important grace given to the Christians. How could not a Christian yearn for that grace, the "Bread of Life"!

Community praying also has its own importance. "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." - Mathew 18:20