As per our Church liturgical calendar, today, September 14 is the day of the Feast of the Cross [Sleeba Perunaal] of which we commemorate the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus. It is also called as ‘The Exaltation of the Holy Cross’.

After the resurrection of Christ, the Jewish leaders buried the cross somewhere, so that the believers of Jesus would not make it an idol of worship. According to legends that spread widely, the True Cross was discovered in 326 by Queen Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, during a pilgrimage she made to Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was then built at the site of the discovery, by order of Helena and Constantine. Thereafter, every year September 14th is honored as the day of the feast of the Cross.

However, the gospel reading today is from Luke 21:5-28, where Jesus Christ talked to His disciples about the sign of the end of the world, and the destruction of the City of Jerusalem including the Temple of God.

Now I invite your attention to a question, ‘Why should we go to Church or what are the reasons for us to go to the Church?’

We all habitually go to Church on Sundays with the family. We were taught by our parents to do so. As per the commandment given to Moses, the forth commandment is to observe the Sabbath day.

The reasons for us to go to the Church:

1. God invite us to His house:
   Firstly, God desire us to come to His house. Church is the house of God. Jesus said it on the Palm Sunday that, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.’ [St. Mark 11:17] We go to Church for prayer and worship. It is God’s commandment to do it.

2. Promises of blessings:
   Psalmist had written, ‘Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They shall praise you unto the ages of ages.’ [Psalm 84:4-5] The blessings are the help and strength to go through the valley of tears.

3. Our Lord Jesus Christ is an example for regularly going to the Church:
   We ought to attend on the public worship of God, regularly. Gospel witness that, ‘He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath Day and stood up to read.’ [St. Luke 4:16] The scripture given to Him to read was from the book of Isaiah and actually it was the scripture predicting the ministry of Christ on the earth. He went to the Church frequently and preached there. He honored the festival – Passover.

4. The Apostles had been very good example:
   Disciples of Jesus regularly attended the Synagogue worship and hourly prayers. After the ascension of Christ, ‘They worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.’ [St. Luke 24:52-53] Also we read in Act 3:1, ‘Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the Ninth hour of prayer’; then Peter healed the lame man sitting and begging at the gate of the temple named ‘Beautiful’. It was during this occasion that Peter said to the lame man, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you, In the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk.’ And the lame stood up and walked with them and entered into the temple and praised the Lord God. Our Church also had prescribed us to pray seven Hourly Prayers.

Therefore, in short, it is important and unavoidable for us to go to the Church, the house of God, because it is the Commandment, there is promise of abundant blessings, Jesus Christ showed us example through practice and also the Apostles became model. For the believers in God, this practice of going regularly to Church had been there from Old Testament period through today.