POPE FRANCIS ANSWERS…. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO GO TO CHURCH?
Q. You priests tell us to go to Church, but as soon as we leave we make mistakes and commit sins. So why did I go to Church? If I consider that God is in my soul, why is it important to go to Church?
Your “whys?” have an answer: it is sin, human selfishness: for this — as you say — “we argue often”, “we hurt each other”, “we mislead each other”. You yourself recognized it: that even if we go to Church, we still make mistakes; we remain forever sinners. And so you rightly wonder: what is the use of going to Church? It serves to place us before God as we are, without “putting on makeup”, just as we are before God, without makeup. To say: “Here I am, Lord; I am a sinner and I ask your forgiveness. Have mercy on me”. If I go to Church to pretend to be a good person, this does not help. If I go to Church because I like listening to the music or because I feel good, this is no use. It is helpful if at the beginning, when I enter the church, I can say: “Here I am, Lord. You love me and I am a sinner. Have mercy on us”. Jesus tells us that if we do so, we return home forgiven; caressed by him, more loved by him in feeling this caress, this love. Thus, step by step, God transforms our heart with his mercy, and also transforms our life. We do not always stay the same, but are “formed”. God shapes our heart; it is he, and we are molded like clay in the potter’s hands; and Go d’s love takes the place of our ego. This is why I think it is important to go to Church: not only to look at God, but to let ourselves be looked at by him. This is what I think.
(Source: L’osservatore Romano 2nd March 2018)