Vocation Awareness
Someone asked me the other day, “Did your parents make you go to Church?” Make me? I didn’t know it was an option! And that’s my point! When something is made normative by parents, then it’s an expectation, and not an option. We are making a huge mistake when we choose not to establish good, healthy, and holy expectations in the family along with solid explanations.
Here, in the middle of Lent, it may be the perfect time to review and answer a similar question, “Why do I have to go to Church on Sundays?” while at the same time explain why the argument that “I can pray just as well at home” is not a justifiable Christian reason for not attending Mass on Sunday.
First, we may need to be reminded of what life would be like without God’s protection. It would certainly be a life of oppression, maybe even slavery, as God reminds the Hebrews, “For remember that you too were once slaves in Egypt, and the Lord, your God, brought you from there with his strong hand and outstretched arm. (What a great image of being rescued and saved!) This is why the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe the Sabbath.” (Dt 5:15). This is why “The seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord.” (Ex 31:15) At the same time do we not hear the great words of St. Augustine ringing out, “O Lord … you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”, which corresponds to Psalm 62, “My soul rests in God alone, from whom comes my salvation.” As if these explanations are not sufficient enough, God tells Moses, “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath day of the Lord, your God….In six days the Lord, your God, made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day, he rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” (Ex 20:8-11)
As Christians keeping holy the Sabbath takes on a significantly larger reason. Our “Sabbath” or “Saturday” is transferred permanently to the following day, Sunday, the first day of the week and the day Jesus resurrected from the dead as an everlasting sign of hope for eternal life after death. Let us stop for a minute and ponder what this means. Jesus wants us to receive this blessing of eternal life with him. Wow! Not a million years of heaven, but eternal life! After his resurrection, Jesus said to the apostles, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” and he breathed on them the Holy Spirit. (John 20:21) Similarly, just before his Ascension, Jesus said, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20) Yet, a few weeks ago we heard in our Sunday Gospel that not all who call out “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my father in heaven.” (Mt 7:21) So there it is! Is the Father’s will that we remain at home instead of going to Church on Sundays? Not according to Scripture, nor any time in Christian history. The letter to the Hebrews (10:25) reminds the faithful to attend regular (Sunday) gatherings as “We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another.” And St. John Chrysostom (c. 349-407) writes “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.”
Now we are getting to the heart of the matter. In communal prayer we gain everything; a union of minds with God instead of ever-growing and over-inflated opinions, the strength and courage from fellow Christians, instead of becoming grumpy and cold, the bond of giving, thinking about and praying for others, and sharing in community versus being selfish and self-centered, and most importantly as the source and summit of the Christian life, we get to see and receive Jesus in the Eucharist as he leads his flock to eternal life. (although a bad attitude or a closed heart to Jesus and our neighbor will not only eliminate God’s grace upon an attendee but also cause scandal and hypocrisy)
So, don’t just send your kids to church, go with them! The breakdown of the family starts here. Parents, you have the obligation to be parents and to lead your children by way of example to holiness and happiness in Jesus Christ who alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Mass is meant to be and should be the highlight of our week! Optional? If we are sick, disabled, or elderly, or care for infants, then there are dispensations and alternative forms of communal prayer, but our Church states unequivocally in its Catechism under 2181, “Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.” While many say they can pray just as well at home, what percent of those choosing not to attend church are choosing to pray for an hour at home on Sunday? Does it really make any sense to say we believe in Jesus who has called us to be “one body” but then choose not to worship together, pray together, receive his precious body and blood, receive the same message from Christ, where we are challenged in our hearts, while given individual tasks and a common mission? To choose not to attend regular Sunday services is to choose to dismember ourselves spiritually from Christ. The longer we stay away from worship of God in community, the further will be our severing, suffering, and pain which we will experience because, “O Lord...you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
Invite people to come back and experience the joy of Christ in community as we prepare for the joy of Easter.
