When Going to Church Becomes a Struggle

Jessa Antonette Lumangtad
Sr. San Vicente Ferrer GKK
Our Lady of the Assumption Parish

Tagum City

Suddenly, an answer was given to me: “Just as the hospital is made for the sick, the Church is made for the sinners.”

Dear KNOT,

Over the years, the world has experienced a decline in the population of Church-goers.

There are hundreds of reasons given as to why people have neglected their Sunday obligations, but everything boils down to irrelevance and the lack of knowledge.

I, myself, had been guilty of these two.  Born to a religious family, I have had a tight upbringing as a child so I grew up already familiar with the basic Catholic catechisms and practices. With a family consisting of nuns and priests, and people all involved in the business of the Church, it is only quite natural for others to assume that I am rather devout. And that is when I disappoint them.

Since childhood, I never had a passion for attending the Holy Mass. In fact, going to Church was a struggle. Growing up, I was quick to notice the discrepancies of the Church and the people behind it, where church treasurers scam, where priests take on illicit affairs and such other things that boils down to hypocrisy. Of course I had to endure sermons from family members, but I stood by my ground.       What I lack for in my Sunday obligations, I make up with my constant prayers and scripture-reading habit.For years, I thought that was enough. But then I realized, why would the Sunday obligations be specifically mentioned in the Ten Commandments if it is not that relevant? I have avoided the Church for the reason that it has become a hiding ground for two-faced people to sing Halleluiah now, and curse the next. Suddenly, an answer was given to me: “Just as the hospital is made for the sick, the Church is made for the sinners.” He uses the church to restore in us what we’ve lost through the sins of others and through our own struggles with sin. It is within the family of God, the church, that we can experience this restoration of our hearts. Church, then, becomes a safe place to struggle and to grow, not a place of condemnation and judgment (Romans 8:1; Luke 6:37). -Jessa

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