What is Religiosity?

• …praying fervently and and asking for deliverance from evil?
• …hearing Mass every Sunday and on holidays of obligation?
• …donating generously to the Church?
• …forgiving sinners?

By following the above examples are we assured of a place in heaven? Can we now live based on the following principles?

• I may lie as long as I pray.
• I may cheat as long as I attend Mass.
• I may steal as long as I share the loot.
• I may escape accountability as long as I forgive sinners like me.

Is religiosity today reduced to simply practicing the rituals of the Church? I always thought that religion should be a way of life…following the selfless example of the Lord. My religion teachers must have been wrong about that!

I don’t mean to sound disrespectful or self-righteous but I just can’t understand how the Church particularly majority of the Filipino Bishops can just shrug off what is happening to the government today. I agree that each one of us shares in the blame for the situation the country is facing right now but how do we effect change when we just sit back and only focus on changing and saving ourselves…to each his own. Does the Church expect us to just keep our mouths shut and our eyes closed when we see someone being wronged, robbed, raped or killed? Should we not meddle in things that don’t concern our personal salvation? I thought the sin of omission was a grave sin?

Well, maybe I was just a very inattentive student since I seem to have misunderstood all the catechism lessons I received from elementary to college.