Sunday Mass

A priest at the Shrine this morning gave a wonderful homily on the importance of Sunday worship in the life of the Catholic Christian.  This is a topic that is sometimes not delivered with the seriousness it deserves, so I thought I would take this opportunity to discuss it here.

Let’s cut right to the chase.  Missing Mass on Sundays without a serious reason is a grave sin, and must be repented of in the Sacrament of Confession before receiving Communion again, and if not repented of before death, it can put one’s salvation in jeopardy.    (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2182).    I know this might sound a little too harsh.  After all, missing one Sunday Mass in the big scheme of things, not a big deal, right?  Well, actually it is.  Let’s see why Sunday Mass is so important.  Here are some key points.

1)      The Sabbath, a day critically important and meaningful to God, a day different from the other days of the week.   Recall the creation account in the first Chapter of Genesis.  God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh.  On that seventh day, he rested, and we read in Genesis 2:2-3, “Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.  So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.”  We see here there is something special about the day of the Sabbath, compared to the other days of the week.

2)      God made man in His image and likeness, and therefore, we are meant to reflect the work and rest rhythm of God.    We read in Genesis 1:27, “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. “   If man is made in the image of God, then it would make sense that we would naturally be built to follow the rhythm of God of work, followed by rest.   He would want us to be like him in keeping the Sabbath day holy.   And therefore, he expresses just that as one of the Ten Commandments.

3)      The third commandment is “Keep holy the Sabbath Day”.    The Ten Commandments can found in Exodus 20:2-17, and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, and in the catechetical tradition of the Church, including the current Catechism of the Catholic Church, where they can be found at the beginning of Section Two of Part Three.)  We read in Exodus 20: 8-10 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.”    Notice, he does not make this optional!   The Lord does indeed commands us to observe the Sabbath, but always keep in mind His commands are always for our good, and Jesus even alludes to this reality when he says in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

4)      Sunday is the fulfillment of the Sabbath.   You may be saying at this point we are talking about Sunday, not the Sabbath.  There is a distinct difference, yes, but one is the fulfillment of the other.   If the Sabbath is critically important for God, and therefore, important for man, then Sunday, which is the fulfillment of the Sabbath, must be incredibly important!  Christ’s paschal Mystery (His death and resurrection) ushered in a new Creation.   Christians, therefore, made the “first day of the week”, the day after the Sabbath, the day on which Our Lord rose from the dead, in a sense a “new” Sabbath.  This “new” Sabbath, Sunday, is at once the “first day of the week”, in which the original creation of the world is recalled, and also “the eighth day following the Sabbath”, symbolizing the aforementioned new creation of man and nature in Christ (see paragraph 2174 in the Catechism.)

5)      Sunday as both the “first day” and the “eighth day” points to the reality of eternal life, the day without end.    Sunday as the first and last day, the old creation, and the new creation, the beginning and the end of time, is an image of eternal life.  The eighth day, unlike the other days, is a day without night to follow, a day without end.  The Catechism states that Sunday “announces man’s eternal rest in God.” (p.2175)  This is heaven.

6)      The Mass is” heaven on earth”, a taste of eternal life.  It is therefore, appropriate and fitting, that it be celebrated by everyone on Sundays.     In the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, which is a vision of heaven, we see all of the following that we also see at Mass; priests, altars, vestments, lamp stands, incense, book, the Eucharistic Host, chalices, the Sign of the Cross the Gloria, the Alleluia, the “Holy Holy Holy”, the Amen, the “Lamb of God”, and readings from Scripture. (Scott Hahn’s book “The Lamb’s Supper, The Mass as Heaven on Earth”, which speaks in more detail on each of these, and where specifically each is found in the Book of Revelation.)  This is what we will be doing for all eternity, giving praise and thanks to God in the presence of His Son Jesus Christ.  When we go to Mass, we truly do go to heaven!  It is the heavenly banquet that we participate in. 

So, to recap, God created the world in six days, and rested on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath is holy to God.  God made man in his image. Therefore, we must keep holy the Sabbath.   Sunday is the fulfillment of the Sabbath.   Sunday is both the first day of the natural week, and the first day of the eternal week, an image of eternal rest, of heaven.  The Mass is heaven on earth.

Now, we can hopefully see why we are commanded to go to Mass on Sunday, and are only excused so for the gravest of reasons. 

We need to be properly disposed to enter eternal life.  If we are deliberately missing Mass on Sunday, we are really saying we do not want heaven.   We do not want what we are made for.  We do not want what Our Lord won for us in the Paschal mystery.  We have no desire for the things of heaven.  We basically, in other words, don’t want God, and have no desire for the things of God.   By missing Mass, we say just this, and saying just that is a very serious thing, that we do not desire, you, God.  This is why it is such a serious matter to miss Mass on Sundays.   This is why the fact that less than 20% of Catholics go to Mass every Sunday is a serious issue.    We must return to regular attendance and participation at Mass on Sundays if we have not been fulfilling that serious obligation as we should.  Eternal salvation is at stake!

For more on all the material covered here in a little bit greater detail, I highly recommend John Paul II’s 1998 apostolic letter Dies Domini (“The Day of the Lord”).   And I of course also recommend the aforementioned Scott Hahn’s book on the Mass.  Both are short, and could be read in one day each.

Saint Joseph, devoted to Our Lord like no other man while on Earth, and who is now the Protector of Holy Church from heaven, help us to rediscover the Lord’s day and the beauty of Sunday Mass.