"Our parish is dead"

 

I came to know the story below many years' ago.
I can't remember if I read it or if I heard it.
It came back to my mind when someone shared with me: "our parish is dead".

* * * * *

Once upon a time, on Sunday, the church was packed. It did not happen often. On the contrary, people would be in church on special occasions: the Holy Week, the visit of the Bishop, the day when the priest would be praying for the sick... 

This was, in fact, a very special occasion.

What happened on that particular Sunday is that the priest - who had been able to set up a whatsapp group of the members of that parish - sent a brief message to all of them saying: 

I have very sad news, please, let us all be in church this coming Sunday

It seems that, out of curiosity, everyone was there.

As they arrived in church they were surprised to find a coffin by the altar. They all wondered: "who has died?" "why is it that no one told us about it?" "when was the coffin brought into the church".  

There were flowers by the coffin but no photo of the deceased.

Just before Mass, the priest came out of the sacristy, greeted the people and then said:

As you see, we are having a funeral today. I would like to invite all of you to come close for a final look at the one who has left us

One by one - probably out of curiosity - stood up and walked to the coffin. As they looked inside, they opened their eyes with surprise and walked with tears in their eyes back to their places.

The reason? There was no deceased inside the coffin ... but a mirror. As they looked inside, they saw their own faces in the coffin.

 Once everyone was back in their place, the priest said:  

Our parish has died. Let us now start Mass and pray for the one who has left us

* * *

This is the story. The question, though, is: "when is it we can say that our parish has died?"

(more about this, in the coming days)