Going to Church

[dominikus28]

Today a friend (claiming to be catholic) said that one doesn’t have to go to church, they can just pray anywhere because God is everywhere. I didn’t know how to justfy the fact that one must go to church evey Sunday. Can someone help me?

 

[Saint_Gemma]

Today a friend (claiming to be catholic) said that one doesn’t have to go to church, they can just pray anywhere because God is everywhere. I didn’t know how to justfy the fact that one must go to church evey Sunday. Can someone help me?

You can pray everywhere, but you cannot be next to Jesus truly present or attend a recreation of the sacrifice at Calvary everywhere.

 

[Holly3278]

You can pray everywhere, but you cannot be next to Jesus truly present or attend a recreation of the sacrifice at Calvary everywhere.

Exactly. And the Church has said that missing Sunday Mass and Mass on holy days of obligation is a grave sin. Therefore, we must listen to the Church. If we can’t accept her authority. How can we truly be Catholics?

 

[Pax]

Scripture can also be of help.

To start with we know that the third commandment says that we must keep holy the Lord’s day.

Hebrews 10:23-25 says:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,** not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,…** Verse 26 then says, “For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,”

The deliberate sin referred to in this passage is that of “neglecting to meet together.” Furthermore, if we commit this sin there is no longer a “sacrifice for sins.” The only eternal sacrifice for sins is Jesus sacrifice on the cross. We meet together at Sunday mass to receive the precious body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Hebrews 10 comments on the blood of Jesus and his eternal sacrifice. In reading Hebrews 10 we see a reference to the new covenant. When we read the account of the Last Supper we notice that Jesus makes reference to drinking the cup which he refers to as his “blood of the covenant.”

Malachi 1:11 is a prophecy concerning Jesus sacrifice and the offering of the mass. It says, “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.” There is only one pure offering and that is Jesus sacrifice. There is only one way this pure offering is made everyday from the rising of the sun to its setting…this is the mass. The sacrifice of the mass is offered hour after hour around the world everyday.

Surely we cannot neglect to meet together on Sunday to participate in the offering of the sacrifice of the mass, and to thereby keep holy the Lord’s day.

 

[StCsDavid]

Today a friend (claiming to be catholic) said that one doesn’t have to go to church, they can just pray anywhere because God is everywhere. I didn’t know how to justfy the fact that one must go to church evey Sunday. Can someone help me?

This person likely believes that Christ and His Church are seperate when in fact they are one. One cannot experience Eucharist, the actual body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ just anywhere. Yes, one can pray anywhere, but one prays the ultimate prayer, the mass, ordinarily within a church. At minimum, one does this on Sunday. Christ didn’t say, “just pray.” He called us to be one with him, body and soul, and gave us the Eucharist as a means to accomplish that.

 

[Adam41]

Today a friend (claiming to be catholic) said that one doesn’t have to go to church, they can just pray anywhere because God is everywhere. I didn’t know how to justfy the fact that one must go to church evey Sunday. Can someone help me?

I would first affirm that yes, God is indeed everywhere… but as the Church teaches, God is real in the FULLEST sense in the Eucharist. (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1374) … if your friend truly cares about God… truly wants to pray to God and be near to Him… Church, and the Eucharist make God near to us in a totally unique way in that we are with the Lord mentally AND physically. That’s not possible in ANY other setting… and I pray your friend really loves God and desires that connection.

I would encourage your friend to continue to pray to God in everyday life… we all should… but pray that the Holy Spirit guides him back to the Love Incarnate that is the Mass.

Peace in Christ,
Scott

 

[Jennifer_G]

To summarize what our priest said at RCIA class last week -

It’s a yes and no answer. Sure, you can pray alone, but you’re leaving yourself out of the community (plus the sacraments!). One saint said something like prayers are like little straws of hay or sticks strewn about with each one burning a flame at the tip. It’s small by itself, but when you bring them all together, it’s a burning torch.

Also…

**Matthew 18:20 **
For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

To have a church, you need at least one priest, and at least one parishioner. (sure, an altar and a building helps, too)

To not go to church, you’re leaving yourself out of Confession and Holy Communion - two sacraments that should be a weekly (if not daily if possible - Pope John Paul The Great did it daily!) practice.

 

[puzzleannie]

Today a friend (claiming to be catholic) said that one doesn’t have to go to church, they can just pray anywhere because God is everywhere. I didn’t know how to justfy the fact that one must go to church evey Sunday. Can someone help me?

where in the bible does God say: stay out of churches and synagogues and worship me in nature because I am everywhere,
find the command from God: go out into the woods or walk along the seashore and worship me there

no, the bible clearly prescribes the manner of worship God demands in the narrative of the Last Supper and other scripture on the Eucharist, in the command to honor the Lord’s Day, in the establishment of Peter and his successors as leaders of the Church and arbiters of correct worship.

ask your friend by what authority does he exempt himself from God’s law?

 

[BobP123]

On the contrary, one can stay home and pray given the right conditions.

Can. 1248 §1 The obligation of assisting at Mass is satisfied wherever Mass is celebrated in a catholic rite either on a holyday itself or on the evening of the previous day.

§2 If it is impossible to assist at a eucharistic celebration, either because no sacred minister is available or for some other grave reason, the faithful are strongly recommended to take part in a liturgy of the Word, if there be such in the parish church or some other sacred place, which is celebrated in accordance with the provisions laid down by the diocesan Bishop; or to spend an appropriate time in prayer, whether personally or as a family or, as occasion presents, in a group of families.

 

[Heart_Of_Love]

You can pray everywhere, but you cannot be next to Jesus truly present or attend a recreation of the sacrifice at Calvary everywhere.

Right on.

 

[Peregrino]

I would first affirm that yes, God is indeed everywhere… but as the Church teaches, God is real in the FULLEST sense in the Eucharist. (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1374) … if your friend truly cares about God… truly wants to pray to God and be near to Him… Church, and the Eucharist make God near to us in a totally unique way in that we are with the Lord mentally AND physically. That’s not possible in ANY other setting… and I pray your friend really loves God and desires that connection.

I would encourage your friend to continue to pray to God in everyday life… we all should… but pray that the Holy Spirit guides him back to the Love Incarnate that is the Mass.

Peace in Christ,
Scott

Is God more real in the Eucharist than when God in heaven? I.e., is God’s presence in heaven in some sense less real than God in the Eucharist? How can this be? Why does the “physicality” of God in the Eucharist make God “more fully present” than the God we will experience in heaven? This seems incorrect to me. I hope this is not the case; I hope I experience God in a more full manner in heaven than I do in the Eucharist. My brothers and sisters in church express more love and mercy than the paten in the monstrance, at least their love and friendship seems more “fully real” to me than the silent piece of bread.

 

[Pax]

God’s presence in heaven and the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist are the same. The mass and the Eucharist are where we experience the physical extension of our glorious Lord from heaven to earth.

 

[Peregrino]

God’s presence in heaven and the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist are the same. The mass and the Eucharist are where we experience the physical extension of our glorious Lord from heaven to earth.

So God in heaven is physical; God has a physical body in heaven?

 

[Pax]

So God in heaven is physical; God has a physical body in heaven?

Jesus has a glorified body in heaven. Jesus is God. Therefore, the answer would be yes in so far as the second person of the Trinity has a glorified body in heaven.

 

[Peregrino]

Jesus has a glorified body in heaven. Jesus is God. Therefore, the answer would be yes in so far as the second person of the Trinity has a glorified body in heaven.

Does glorified mean physical?

If it does, then is the 2nd person of the trinity “more fully real” than the 1st and 3rd given that only the second is “physical”?

 

[Pax]

Jesus glorified body is a physical body. This does not make Jesus more real than the Father or the Holy Spirit with which he is one in being. Spiritual beings are not less real than physical beings.

 

[Peregrino]

Jesus glorified body is a physical body. This does not make Jesus more real than the Father or the Holy Spirit with which he is one in being. Spiritual beings are not less real than physical beings.

Does it then make sense to say that the “real presence” in the Eucharist is more “real” or more fully “present” than the presence of Jesus/God/Holy Spirit in the people?

 

[Pax]

The sacramental presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not more real than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within the Christian. The distinctions between the two are not based in levels of reality.

Please keep in mind that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. Jesus had a human body and soul*. Likewise, Jesus had His divine nature. The hypostatic union of the two are what make up the person of Jesus.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is just as real but it is a spiritual indwelling that does not include the body, blood, and soul of Jesus. The absence of Jesus body and blood does not make the indwelling of the Holy Spirit less real.*

 

[Peregrino]

The sacramental presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not more real than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within the Christian. The distinctions between the two are not based in levels of reality.

Please keep in mind that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. Jesus had a human body and soul*. Likewise, Jesus had His divine nature. The hypostatic union of the two are what make up the person of Jesus.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is just as real but it is a spiritual indwelling that does not include the body, blood, and soul of Jesus. The absence of Jesus body and blood does not make the indwelling of the Holy Spirit less real.*

Thank you for your clear explanation. So there is no difference in the “realness”, only in the characteristics. Is that correct?

 

[Pax]

Yes.