Sunday Mass, more than an obligation

Jun 13, 2014

By Rhina Guid
I recently heard someone ask the question: Why do we have to go for Mass? I don't think I’d heard that question since I was a child, when someone was whining, begging to stay home. Not going to Mass on Sunday back then was unheard of and it was drilled into us that the only excuse for not going was death — our own, not someone else’s.

These days, studies show, however, that fewer Catholics attend Mass on Sundays and some don’t understand why it’s important to attend. Isn’t the point just to be a good Christian?

While that’s true, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in No. 2177, is clear about the Sunday obligation.

“The Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Day and his Eucharist is at the heart of the church’s life,” it says.

I always thought the word “obligation” made heading to Mass on Sunday sound as if it was something we were forced to do, akin to eating a despised vegetable.

My favourite take on it, however, came a couple of years ago from Jesuit Fr William Byron, who recalled the old phrase “much obliged” as an expression of gratitude, and, therefore, the Sunday obligation was our way of thanks-doing, thanks-saying, thanksgiving.

On Sundays, Fr Byron wrote: “We give thanks for the gift of our salvation through the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Not to meet this obligation — not to offer praise and thanks — is to be an ingrate.”

While there are many ways to give thanks to God on a Sunday, there is something special, however, about those of us who gather, with our imperfections, but together nevertheless, in church.

Just as a biological family is forced to get together for special occasions and try to mend fences for the good of the group, we, as a Christian family, are called by God to do the same. We celebrate a special occasion and we do it together while putting our differences and discord aside, and try to come together in love and unity.

The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that “we should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another”.

The Eucharist, the catechism says in No. 2179, “teaches Christ’s saving doctrine; it practices the charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love.”

While there are exceptions — for example, for illness or caring for infants — we’re encouraged to meet and express our communion with the church and one another. Praying alone, in front of the TV, unless there’s a good reason for it, misses the intention.

The catechism reminds us in No. 2179 that “you cannot pray at home as at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests.”