As I stepped out from my mission house to enter the church to celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass on 5th March 2025, one of the notorious troublesome guys in the community followed me closely. He bypassed me and attempted to enter the church, but the usher did not allow him.
As usual, the usher thought the guy would cause disturbance and confusion. The scene caught my attention, and I asked the guy what had brought him to the church. He responded, “Fr. Kyei, I am coming to receive some Ashes.
Perhaps God will have mercy on me and give me the grace to stop ‘my nonsense,’ which I know disgraces me and my family in this community.”
His words pierced my heart and also rendered the usher dumbfounded. He sat calmly in the pew, and we began the Lenten season with him. This testimony is the motivation for writing this article, where I want to focus on the Church as a house that welcomes all people, especially during this season of Lent.
If you study the Creed carefully, you will see that after professing “I believe in one Church,” we add the adjective “holy”; we affirm the sanctity of the Church. This characteristic has been present from the beginning in the consciousness of early Christians, who were simply called “the holy people” (cf. Acts 9:13, Rom. 8:27) because they were certain that it is the action of God, the Holy Spirit, that sanctifies the Church.
Those who know the historical background of the Church may ask, in what sense is the Church holy? On her journey through the centuries, the historical Church has had so many difficulties, problems, and dark moments. In his book, The Church of Mercy, Pope Francis wrote, “How can a Church consisting of human beings, of sinners, be holy? Sinful men, sinful women, sinful priests, sinful sisters, sinful bishops, sinful cardinals, a sinful pope? Everyone? How can such a Church be holy”?
It is St. Paul who replies that “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the Church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish”. (Eph. 5:25-27) Christ loved the Church by giving himself on the cross. And this means that the Church is holy because she comes from God who is holy, he is faithful to her and does not abandon her to the power of death and of evil (cf. Matt 18:18). She is holy because of Jesus Christ, the holy one of God (cf Matt 28:20); she is holy because she is guided by the Holy Spirit who purifies, transforms and renews. She is not holy by her own merits, but because God makes her holy, it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and of his gifts. It is not we who make her holy. It is God, the Holy Spirit, who in his love makes the Church holy.
You could argue that the Church is made up of sinners; we see them every day. You may even have some evidence to substantiate your findings and justify your claims. This is true: we are a Church of sinners, and we sinners are called to let ourselves be transformed, renewed, and sanctified by God. In his notoriety, the troublesome guy believed that through Lent he could be reshaped and transformed. This is very important and should not be forgotten.
There has been in history the temptation for some to say the Church is only the Church of the pure, the sacrosanct, the perfectly consistent, and expels all the rest. This is not true! This is heresy!
The holy Church does not reject sinners; she does not reject us all, she does not reject because she calls everyone, welcomes them, is open even to those furthest from her; she calls everyone to allow themselves to be enfolded by the mercy, tenderness and the forgiveness of the Father, who offers everyone the possibility of meeting him, of journeying towards sanctity.
In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he did not call holy men. Sinful men plagued by many weaknesses were called and transformed. Jesus calls the sinner to change his life for the better. You may be a sinner and have multitudinous sins. To feel part of the Church may be demanding and challenging for you. Christ wants you to say, Lord, here I am, with my sins. We all carry our sins with us. But the Lord wants to hear us say to him: Forgive me, change my heart, help me to walk and return to you (cf. Joel 2:12).
The Lord wants us to belong to a Church that knows how to open her arms and welcome everyone, that is not a house for the few, but a house for everyone, where all can be renewed, transformed, sanctified by his love, the strongest and the weakest, sinners, the indifferent, those who feel discouraged or lost.
The Church offers all the possibility of following a path of holiness, which is the path of the Christian: she brings us to encounter Jesus Christ in the sacraments especially in confession and in the Eucharist; she communicates the Word of God to us, she let us live in charity, in the love of God for all. Let us ask ourselves then, will we let ourselves be sanctified? Are we a Church that calls and welcomes sinners with open arms, that gives courage and hope, or are we a Church closed in on ourselves?
Are we a Church where the love of God dwells, where one cares for the other, where one prays for others? Are we a Church where the mercy of God prevails, where sinners are given another chance
to make amends?
You may be a weak, fragile sinner, but God says to you: do not be afraid of Holiness, do not be afraid to aim high, to let yourself be loved and purified by God, do not be afraid to let yourself be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Do we want to live virtuously and be saints? The Lord awaits us with open arms: he waits to accompany us to the path of sanctity. Let us live in the joy of our faith. Let us allow ourselves to be loved by the Lord. Let us ask for this gift from God in prayer, for ourselves and others. Let it be your prayer that you want to be a saint.
Begin to be a saint today. Don’t wait for tomorrow for you may not live to see it. It needs to be reiterated that God can’t afford to lose you. God inspires the person who sins to cease sinning and to repent. Let this inspirational and motivational words of the Lord continually ring in your ears “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness.
I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will put my spirit within you and you shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezk. 36:25-28). Finally, God closely holds in love the victims of sinful action and inspires others to come to their aid as instruments of God’s healing and liberating love.
If you have seen the right path that leads to God’s house, show others. In this Lenten Season, let us enter the Church whose doors are opened for all. Think not of the shame, the ridicule, and possible abusive comments that some people may rain on you. Only enter the Church whose doors Lent has opened for your conversion and salvation.
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