A girl posted this question on a website: “OK, what do people think, is religion as important to people now as in the past? Now that science knows why things like meteor showers happen, do people need religion as much?”  She got dozens of replies.  “Religion has never been necessary. It causes more problems and wars than anything else.” Another guy says, “Reality scares people.  So religion is like Valium.”

I’d bet most of us have heard similar comments about religion, especially since our church was devastated by revelations of sexual misconduct by priests who were entrusted with the care of children. Sadly, Jesus shows us today that there has always been the temptation to make an idol out of religion.  Religion can go down two roads:  towards selfishness, power, and greed.  Or like the widow today, religion led down the road of truth, sincerity, and selfless giving.  That is the real purpose of religion, obviously.

The lesson for us is that religion is a means to a holy end, but IN ITSELF, religion cannot make anyone good. This is the terrible lesson we had to learn when we saw the evil deeds of priests and bishops, who had been put up on religious pedestals by believers. 

If we go to church, we must be careful not to use the sins of the Pharisees and our own clergy as scapegoats to relieve ourselves from looking at certain areas of our own lives in which we might be blind. Yes, it’s a good thing to worship at church. But every one of us could have a sharper or more humble vision of how to live the Christ life more fully.