Posted on 02/05/2015 2:50:39 PM PST by NYer
Most Catholics know we are supposed to attend Sunday Mass every week and observe various holy days of obligation throughout the year. It’s an obligation, however, that many do not observe. As my parish priest joked years ago when the pews of our sleepy rural parish were unexpectedly full, “There must be nothing going on in Tweed [Onterio] today.”
I suspect part of the reason so many Catholics ignore the Sunday obligation is, counter intuitively, the very word “obligation.” Our culture is not one that deals well with concepts like duty and obedience. The words “I was just following orders” is synonymous with mindless compliance, while the character of the “dutiful wife” or “obedient child” tends to be the subject of ridicule or pity.
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As a result, we end up with a divide within the Church. On the one hand, there are those who attend Mass only when there is an important event, when it happens to be convenient or when they are especially in need of divine help. On the other, you have Catholics who dutifully obey the precepts of the Church — but who too often look down on those who don’t.
For a long time, I was a member of the latter camp. When I was first received into the Church, I was an enthusiastic, often daily recipient of the sacrament. I went to Mass because I loved the liturgy and found great consolation in receiving Christ in the Eucharist.
Over time, however, I become scrupulous about ever missing Mass even for the best of reasons, and my perfect attendance record increasingly became an opportunity for self-congratulation. Worse, it became an opportunity to judge others who attended only on occasion.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church acknowledges that there are conditions that validly excuse a person from their Sunday obligation. Illness, isolation, lack of access to transportation, the obligation to care for ailing relatives, and the care of infants are among the reasons why a person might be unable to attend (cf. No. 2181).
If we think of Mass attendance as a kind of spiritual badge of honor, these excuses can seem to be just that: excuses. Loopholes for the lax. After all, any really dutiful and faithful Catholic would find a way to get to church unless they were taken hostage on a Saturday night or found themselves unconscious in the back of an ambulance Sunday morning.
Only when I found myself in a situation where attendance at Mass every Sunday become a practical impossibility did I realize how absurdly presumptuous my judgment had been. In a subtle way, I had come to see my reception of Christ’s gift as a personal accomplishment, almost as a favor I was doing God.
The Sunday obligation is not a chore the Church exacts from her faithful children but a manifestation of her maternal concern. We are called to Mass every Sunday in much the same way children are called to the dinner table every evening.
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| * The shift in attendance between 1995 and 2000 reflects a change in the method used to collect the data. |
When the Church tells us that we are obliged to attend, she is telling us how often we need to receive sacramental nourishment in order to remain spiritually healthy. Choosing to skip Mass for trivial reasons is a mortal sin because it is a kind of willful self-neglect. It’s like a businessman who chooses to deprive his body of adequate food because meals cut into the time he has to maximize his profits. Being unable to attend for good reasons is not sinful, but it is a privation, like a mother who skips meals because she only has enough to feed her children.
Christ’s body is true bread, and the sustenance which we receive in the Eucharist is even more important to our well-being than physical food. Indeed, physical hunger is ultimately a sign that helps to illustrate our spiritual needs.
After Christ feeds the multitudes in John 6, the people he has fed go looking for him the next day. When they finally track him down, Christ reveals their motives: “You are not looking for me because you have seen the signs, but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat” (Jn 6:26).
The experience of being satisfied with food after a long day clearly made a deep impression. No doubt some of these people were poor and rarely had enough to eat. Others were dreaming of a world in which the Jewish people would once more be fed directly by the hand of God, as they were in the wilderness under Moses (cf., Jn 6:31). For them, the multiplication of the loaves did not merely point toward the relief of physical hunger but also toward political liberation from the power of Rome. The manna of Exodus had freed the Jewish people to escape the flesh-pots of Egypt. Thus, bread represented both nourishment and freedom.
When Christ answers them, he tries to guide their thinking away from short-term physical and political hopes. “Do not work for food that perishes,” he tells them, “but for the food that endures for eternal life” (Jn 6:27). Later, he clarifies: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).
Everyone knows it is necessary to eat in order to stay alive, and if we don’t have enough food, it causes health problems. It is the same with the Mass. This is where we come in order to receive the life-blood that nourishes our souls and prepares them to be born to eternal life.
When a person misses Mass for serious reasons, Catholic Tradition offers ways of observing the Sabbath until it is possible to return to the sacraments — emergency rations for the soul, if you will. Individuals and families are encouraged to participate in the Liturgy of the Word and to set aside time for Sunday prayer. An act of spiritual communion can also be made anywhere and at any time by turning one’s heart toward the tabernacle and inviting Jesus’ real presence in the sacrament to spiritually nourish and sustain the soul.
Parish communities should also help absent parishioners return to the Mass. One of the risks of seeing attendance as a personal accomplishment is that it can blind us to the fact that access to the Eucharist is achieved through community.
Consider, for example, the story of the Wedding at Cana — a Gospel passage redolent with Eucharistic symbolism. Here we find that there isn’t enough wine to go around. Some of the guests are going to be excluded from full participation in the joy of the wedding celebration.
Mary’s solicitude at Cana shows us that we can enable others to participate by being aware of their needs and offering assistance. The hosts of the wedding know they are running out of wine, but they don’t know who to ask for help. They have no idea Christ is on hand, able to work a miracle.
People within a parish community might want to attend Mass regularly, but they might be unsure how to ask for the support they need. An older person who has lost their driver’s license might feel uncomfortable asking for a ride. A single mother caring for a chronically ill child might be embarrassed to admit she can’t afford a babysitter Sunday mornings.
Parishioners can imitate Mary by taking a friendly interest and getting an idea of what obstacles are preventing folks from attending more regularly. People who are afraid of asking for help are often grateful for a simple, gracious offer of assistance.
If we see the sacrament as a gift, and ourselves as conduits through which others are enabled to receive it, we can both avoid the silliness of spiritual pride and also help to build vibrant Eucharistic communities where everyone is able to enjoy the bounteous generosity of God.
These are not our words, but these uses are our uses. If these words are a great gift, then we should take care to avoid misusing them. The wording of "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15) suggests that there is such a thing as doing so wrongly.
I am reminded of 2 Peter 3:15b-16: "...even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."
I am also reminded of John 5:39. Jesus said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." He was speaking to people who possessed and had some understanding of the scriptures that were written at the time (cf. vv. 45-47), but they "[had] not [the Father's] word abiding in [them]" (vv. 37-38), had not "life" (v. 40), and had not "the love of God" in them (v. 41). Their uses of the scriptures would probably be deformed.
I actually first thought of Matthew 4:6, which contains what I could call the canonical example of the devil quoting Scripture.
If our "spiritual state" is corrupt, then even our uses of holy things will go awry.
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)
Let us use the scriptures in a true and holy manner.
"Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
"Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." (John 6:67-68)
Then fine, I'll "look silly!" : )
My Faith means more to me than others' opinions: especially those of faceless names on a screen. In the real world, however, you are people, human beings made in the Image and Likeness of God. Why would I exclude you all from my prayer intentions, simply because it's considered "silly"?
It's a small sacrifice to make, in return for all that God has done for me in my life through the prayers of others in the Communion of Saints!
Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy.
Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her Glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.
May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.
Amen!
God bless you all!
In God's love,
the Silly, Happy Catholic! <|:o)
Yup; CB just pointed that out above, in #399
See you at Mass Sunday!!
Even Famous Catholic Others??
Like the guys QUOTED in #309?
Now, if I'm silly, imagine the fellow who wrote this:
Here's a little something from a person who gave all he had for the sake of his Catholic Faith: including his life, after a year and a half in prison!
St. Thomas More, (1477-1535)
From A Catholic Prayer Book
5 - Peter therefore was kept in prison. But prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him.
6 - And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
7 - And behold an angel of the Lord stood by him: and a light shined in the room: and he striking Peter on the side, raised him up, saying: Arise quickly. And the chains fell off from his hands.
Acts, 12
We fast for at least an hour in preparation prior to receiving Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass, so no food until afterward!
PS: We have Mass all but one day a year! Now that's something to smile about!
<|:o)
You feel PERSECUTED??
Oh, my!!!
In a conversation regarding intercessory prayer, this Scripture was posted by yours truly:
43 - You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy.
44 - But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you:
45 - That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.
46 - For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this?
47 - And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this?
- Matthew, 5
Silly Catholics like to keep things in context! We pray for everyone- not just fellow Catholics- everyone! Pray one for another! Those who read the entire post, get the entire point!
Some of your FR fellows don't.
Some of your FR fellows don’t.
see...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3255771/posts?page=39#39
I just wanted you to see that your Catholic buddies are NOT as nice as you are.
And; I was hoping that you might call THEM out for the same things that you so readily call me out on.
If you don’t want to; that’s ok; for I can reply to them quite easily.
I’ll just have to assume that their behavior is tolerable to you; where my isn’t.
Please don't, as that may be construed as mind reading.
Each of us is responsible for what we post and for the manner in which we choose to make that post.
I was responding to your post(s) to me.
Thank you for saying I'm nice, but I'm not nicer than any other FReepers out there: we're strangers online, and there are many on both sides of our forum arguments who serve God much better than I do in the real world, and post better than I do here.
God bless you!
Not to a mod.
I did NOT place any conjectures in YOUR mind; but mine (sic) own.
Among Catholics, 300pm is designated as a holy hour, for it was at 3pm that Jesus commend His Spirit to Our Father and gave His Life for us all. Today my prayers at 3 will be offered to Our Eternal Father for your intentions. May God shower upon you His peace and all the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, and all His 7 gifts!
God bless you!
Thank you.
Although we fuss back and forth, I consider you to be Christian.
I also consider that you are carrying a lot more baggage around needlessly.
I need no special hour to pray for anything.
Thank you, Elsie, that was a very kind thing to say, and I appreciate it! God bless you!
We set aside certain times of the day for prayer, depending on our state in life! I pray for all my brothers and sisters in creation; sometimes people ask for prayers, and a lot of times I ask others to pray for me! Lord knows we can all use God's help! Today, I wanted in my heart to remember you especially to God! When that call comes, I obey with joy!
I also beg for prayers from you, if it's ok (if not, please understand, I mean no offense) and all our readers who believe as I do about praying for one another, because you're right, Elsie: right now is a terribly difficult time in my life, and I believe that God hears all heartfelt prayers, and I know I could sure use them, to help me do His Will!
God bless you and all us FReepers, and keep us close to Him always!
I KNOW that HE does!
(And HE needs no Mary or Saint to pass the really goods ones thru first ;^)
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