Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Top seven reasons for attending Sunday Mass

7) God says so. The first commandment says, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not have any other gods before me.” The third commandment says, “Keep holy the Sabbath.” When that commandment was given, the Sabbath was Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. We observe Sunday because that’s when Jesus rose, and that’s what the Apostles taught us to do. But it remains a command of God.

6) Grandchildren. Do you care if your grandchildren are baptized? Because if you want to see them never be baptized, choosing to skip Sunday Mass with your children, while they are growing up, is a good way to ensure your grandchildren will be even more disconnected from the Faith. If your children see you place a low priority on practicing the Faith, don’t be surprised if they follow that example. When the time comes, they may not care much about marrying in the church, or having your grandchildren baptized.

5) You matter. You are part of the Body of Christ; your presence matters. If part of my body isn’t working right, even if I don’t know exactly what, I still know something is wrong. This parish is weaker when not all members are active and connected. We all suffer, even if we don’t realize it.

4) Habits are powerful. No one has the goal of developing a bad habit; so how does it happen? The guy who is never reliable didn’t plan to be that way. He was late once, twice, five times, ten…and eventually, he turned into that guy, and changing is hard. Good habits work similarly, but in our favor. If you make Sunday Mass a priority, it will become a powerful help for you. And if you skip Mass “only now and then,” you may wake up to a bad habit it’s hard to break.

3) You need to worship. Yes, you really, really do. We all need to recognize Someone created us and to whom we owe all things. This forces us to admit our limits; it makes us more likely to admit wrong. Neglecting to worship God means we are practical atheists. We give lip service to God, but in practice, we can’t be bothered. And if we aren’t worshipping God, we will make something else our “god,” you can bet on it.

2) Being fed in your Faith. While it’s true that we need to do more than Sunday Mass in order to grow as Catholics, we cannot grow if we don’t at least attend Mass each week.

1) Christ himself. How can we call ourselves Christians if we don’t want to be with Christ? Yes, there are lots of ways we can encounter Christ. But the Mass is the primary way. When Jesus rose from the dead, the Gospel says “they knew him in the breaking of the Bread.” This was his doing; this is why he instituted the Eucharist: “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Do you want to add anything? Any disagreement? Let me know in the comments.

Next I’ll have a list of bogus reasons for skipping Mass.

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