A MESSAGE FOR THE 16TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
This
precept commands that on Sundays and holydays of obligation Mass be heard and
servile works be omitted. It is a Church
law based on the Third Commandment of the Decalogue, which prescribes that man
set aside some time for the external worship of God, and avoid those things
which distract him from that worship.
The
precept is partly affirmative, commanding what must be done (attendance at
Mass), and partly prohibitive, forbidding what must not be done. This week we will focus on what must
be done. We are commanded to participate
in the greatest act of worship, the sacrifice which is a commemoration and the
continuation of Christ’s own sacrifice, source of all graces.
External
assistance is required. That means we
must be in the same building or place as the celebrant, and be able to see or
at least hear him. Parents who need to
take their children outside or to the cry room still fulfill their obligation,
so long as they can still hear the bells or choir, and can still more or less follow
the Mass. This applies only for the time
necessary, and should not be used as an excuse to spend large portions of the
Mass removed from the body of the church.
The obligation to attend Mass is not fulfilled by watching it on
television, nor even by viewing a live stream on your computer. Such practices can obviously be spiritually
beneficial and edifying, but they are never to be used as a substitute for
attendance at Mass.
Internal
assistance is also required. This means
that you must intend to pay attention to the Mass with your mind. If you go to church merely to see your
friends or to hear the beautiful music, you do not fulfill your Sunday obligation. If you fall asleep during the sermon and forget
to wake up again till people are leaving at the end of Mass, you were
technically not at Mass, for lack of attention.
A brief doze would not, however, even be more than venially sinful, and
if involuntary, then not sinful at all. If
your thoughts are deliberately given to non-religious matters, you may fulfill
your Sunday obligation, but still commit the sins of irreverence and voluntary
distraction.
You
may be excused from Mass because of inability or necessity. A two-hour drive is usually considered a
reasonable excuse for missing Mass, at least now and again. Those who would suffer grave detriment to
health, honor or fortune are excused, and also those who are kept away by
duties of charity or employment or office that cannot be omitted. Not every reason constitutes an excuse! We should not unnecessarily place ourselves
in the impossibility of observing the law, for example by taking on employment that
requires us to work every Sunday, moving permanently or even going on vacation
to a place where there is no church. Frivolous
reasons are never enough. If we don’t
like the priest, or we don’t want to bump into so-and-so, we get upset with
crying babies—these are not excuses to miss Mass!
If
you really have a reasonable excuse for not attending Mass on certain Sundays,
remember that you can never be excused from the divine law of keeping holy the Lord’s
day. Try to make up for not going to
Mass by some extra prayers, some time given to spiritual reading, or by
performing good works like visiting a sick or elderly relative. Sunday is the Lord’s day. Keep it holy!
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