Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

I show up for Mass, for prayer, for a time of meditation and reflection. But not entirely all of me. I remind myself to listen to the scriptures, to the Gospel, and to the homily. I exhort myself to intentionally pay attention, without daydreaming, worrying, or thinking of something else.  

Yet, the scriptures have been proclaimed, homily given, the Eucharist started. But, “where” was I? I was physically present, and to anyone else I was there, but God knows that I was just doing a drive-by. My mind and attention, and thus my heart, was who knows where or with whom.

Physical presence, “showing up,” is important in any relationship, especially at key moments in one’s life.  The Sacraments, especially the Liturgy of the Eucharist, is a key moment in my life in Christ. What does it express to God when I freely daydream and wander off into far off lands? Is that a sort of worshiping other gods, having other idols towards which I more often give my attention?  In some ways, these suggest that my hope and thus my heart are not with the Lord.

Well, no wonder Jesus warns us that even if we are eating and drinking and being taught by him, we still might be told, “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me.”  

—Fr. Glen Chun, SJ, a priest of the Midwest Province, is community minister of Bellarmine House of Studies in St. Louis.

Blessed are you, God of all creation,
who formed the universe out of chaos,
who called us into being,
who give us your own image and likeness,
who live and breath and have your being within our hearts,
who call us to truly know you with a desire and love seeking you alone
who sustain us in this desire and live through grace and light.

Good and gracious God, may our hearts seek your heart alone, may our ears listen to your Word alone, and may all our hope and attention be given to you alone.   

—Fr. Glen Chun, SJ