Last week during my homily about the Mass I talked about the human desire for sacred space. Sacred space is a space that we mark out for special, emotional and symbolic desires. Religiously we have permanent Sacred Spaces like this church. This church is a space that we have dedicated specifically for our communication with God. It is a space to which we come to encounter God, to feel his presence in good times and in bad. It is not just the space itself nor the physical walls of the building, it is what is within, primarily the community of believers gathered around and united in the body of Christ.

The purpose of this space is not just for our own individual needs and desires, its primary purpose is to gather God’s people in a common cause, first and foremost to celebrate the Mass together. In this space gathers our parish. We come to this space to pray, worship and to experience God together. Granted, we can be a parish community anywhere, but when we gather here and celebrate the Mass together, we are doing exactly what Jesus asked us to do.

It is good and necessary to be reminded of why we designated this space to be our Church. Above all, we have designated and set aside this space to gather God’s people and to celebrate Christ coming to us in the Eucharist that comes to us through the Mass. In essence, the holiest thing in this space is the person(s) who have received the presence of Christ and vow to be the presence of Christ, not only here in this space, but even as we exit out of this space into the profane space. (Profane does not mean evil, it is the ordinary that has not been designated as Sacred.)

As I have said before, some of the most important words of the Mass are, “go in peace to love and serve the Lord”. After all, isn’t this the reason we are here in the first place, to experience Christ, receive Christ and then to be Christ.

Today, I will explain Sacred Time – time designated to encounter God.

Run 2win4Him

Reverend James Kirby