There is a story told about a man from Louisville, Kentucky, who had to travel to St. Louis on business. This was years ago when Christians kept Sunday as a very special day. For this man, “keeping the Sabbath,” also meant not riding the trains on Sunday.
Thus, after he finished up his business late Saturday night, he had to stay over in St. Louis until Monday morning. On Sunday morning, he left the hotel looking for a place to worship. The streets were quite deserted, but finally he saw a policeman and asked him for directions to the nearest Church.
The stranger thanked the policeman for the information and was about to walk off when he turned and asked the policeman: “Why have you recommended that particular Church? It looks like a Catholic Church. There must be several Churches nearby that you could have recommended.”
The policeman smiled and replied: “I’m not a Church man myself, but the people who come out of that Church are the happiest looking Church-people in St. Louis, and they claim that they have received Jesus and they are happily taking him to their homes. I thought that would be the kind of Church you would like to attend.”
The Scripture for today reminds us that every Sunday in every Christian church must be a Gaudete Sunday or “Rejoice Sunday.”
- Submitted by Fr. Joseph Dovari