On Being A Christian

I was driving to noon Mass when I spotted a car in the lane to the right of me. Actually what I spotted was a bumper sticker, it caught my attention, "I LOVE SIN", I must confess that took me by surprise. In one way it is a paradoxical truth. We all love sin, we must, because we all keep committing it. I haven't had the urge to advertise that fact. As I got closer I could read another beauty on the left side of the rear bumper, it read " If going into a church makes you a Christian does going into the garage make you a car"?
I looked over to see a young lady driving and she didn't notice me. I began to wonder about several things; first, is there a market for these bumper stickers? What event happened in this young lady's life that she is disenfranchised with Christianity? Is that what peoples' concept of a Christian is? In my mind going to Church is important for two reasons, first God commanded us to worship Him and it is there that we encounter Him and it is there that we as a communion of believers are united in faith and love. But as Paul Harvey used to say "and now the rest of the story," being a Christian is picking up your cross and following Christ to Calvary, being a Christian is living a devout and virtuous life with Christ as the center, it is a selfless life demonstrated by acts of charity. It is a life of repentance, to die to oneself and to avoiding sin. It involves a daily examination of your conscience to form it so as to make good moral choices. There is nothing "by chance" in Christianity and obeying the will of God takes more than what we have, it takes His Grace. If being a Christian means going into a church, then my dear you and I are cars every time we step into the garage. Oh by the way God has a similar bumper sticker as the first one, it is posted on the gates of hell, it reads "I HATE SIN."