Sunday Mass

Do you know that Sunday Mass is considered a Holy Day of Obligation? What is that you say? Well according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2180 The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass.” Which means we should be attending Mass each Sunday. This comes from the 3rd Commandment which tells us to keep holy the Sabbath. God rested on the 7th day in the story of creation, not because he was tired but because he wanted us to see that rest is important in our lives.

So why if we are to rest should be go to Mass? We can always pray at home or in the woods or in the car, the places are endless. When we pray in these places for the most part this is individual prayer one on one with God. When we pray in church with everyone we are praying with our entire being, using all of our senses and joining our prayer with those around us.

We are part of a community of believers and when we raise our voices together in prayer at Mass we are hearing each other. We see others praying as we do and we see the sacred objects in our church. The Crucifix is much larger in a Church than the small ones we may have hanging in our homes. If incense is used at Mass we smell the scent as it carries our prayers upward. Some of us can even smell the candles burning. Our sense of touch is used as we participate in greeting each other with a handshake at the sign of peace. We also can feel the Holy Water as we bless ourselves with it and feel the smoothness of the wood of the pews.

We do many things at a Mass when we pray that we don’t do when we pray privately, such as genuflecting or bowing before we enter the pew, we sit, stand and kneel. At home we most likely would be sitting as we pray or some of us might even pray in bed. We sing songs praising God. We here a homily that helps us to understand the Scripture readings. We are blessed by the priest before we leave and are sent forth to carry the Word of God to those we meet in our everyday lives.

Yes, we can pray anywhere at any time, but we also need to pray with one another, to connect as a community of faith. This allows us to know we are not alone in our beliefs. To take the time for one hour or so a week to come together is a benefit to everyone and we realize we are part of something bigger than we are.