In his best-selling book The Holy Longing, Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I. offers nine reasons why one should go to church. They are: because it is not good to be alone; to take my place within the family of humanity; because God calls me to be there; to dispel my fantasies about myself; because the saints have told me so; to help others with their pathologies and to let them help me with mine; to dream with others; to practice for heaven; and for the pure joy of it.

Here is the message: Believe in God. Believe that he rewards those who diligently seek him. Stick to your prayers. Do not lose heart. Some prayers take a long time to answer, because we are asking things that rightly take time. Sometimes God says No, or Not now, and there is grace in receiving his refusal. Do not be afraid to wrestle with God. He has given us ground to stand on and promises to appeal to; namely, confidence of access through the cross of Christ.

The church in our country needs help. It needs single and married Catholics, and it needs divorced and remarried Catholics. It needs conservatives and liberals, men and women, gays and straights. No matter what your theological bent, you may feel angered, confused, saddened or disgusted. But please know that the church needs you!

As Saint Paul wrote, the body of Christ "does not consist of one member, but of many." In order to be healthy the church needs all of its members, especially those who feel marginalized. "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'. On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable" (1 Cor 12:14, 21-23).

Listen to Jesus speaking of the way his priesthood works. "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He meant the lifting up of his body on the altar of the cross as our atonement. Terrible as the cross is as a judgment on human sin, it is also life and health, the medicine of the world. It draws everyone who seeks inner healing, peace with God, and reconciliation with fellow human beings.

We go to church because God has more vision, more love, more of himself to give than we expect. His self-giving is limitless. It has overwhelmed death. God's love has overwhelmed Egypt, Babylon and Rome. Surely it can overwhelm these uncertain times and our anxieties about them.

Again, Saint Paul says it best. "I am convinced that neither death, nor life, or angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Why go to church? The Gospel on which the Church stands is the Good News that Christ has died, Christ is risen from the grave, and Christ, reigning now in glory will come again. We are headed for Christ, each one of us. Every day of our short and uncertain lives takes us a little more deeply into the mystery of Jesus and brings us that much closer to completion and fulfillment.

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