Right at the beginning of Mass we acknowledge our sinfulness, often reciting these words together: "I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God." This is the great equalizer. No matter who we are, what we've done, we are reminded that we are broken and beloved.
Sometimes church can feel like a country club of insiders who belong because they behave in a certain way that seems holy and good, like they have it all together. Of course Jesus didn't say that he came to minister to the insiders and elite. Instead he quoted the Prophet Isaiah, saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord," and later, "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."
Church is for everyone... I take that back. If your life is perfect, if you never have any doubts, if you find it always easy to follow God's call, if you always do the right thing, if you have no broken relationships, if you have no vices or idols or addictions, and you've figured it all out, congratulations, but church is definitely not for you!
If however, you are broken, if you feel guilty, or anxious, or overwhelmed with life, if you have regrets over what you have done or failed to do this past week, if you have doubts and questions about your faith, you are in the right place. Guess what, all of us share in these things, our priests, deacons, the staff, all the leaders here, the folks who go to Mass every day and pray the rosary every night. We are all struggling, we all hurt, and we have definitely not figured it all out. For many of us, we have come to recognize the love that God has for us in different ways, sometimes in personal moments, other times in friendship with others, and this encounter with God helps us through the ups and downs.
Church people are good at faking it, pretending that we have no downs, and we have it all put together. The downside of this, besides being exhausting, is that guests and newcomers to our community get the false impression that this is a place where you have to have it all figured out before belonging, instead of it be a place where one can work out stuff with Jesus among friends.
Church is a place where we come as we are, Jesus is the one we approach as we are. As David Crowder sings:
So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You're not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are