How do i push myself to go to mass on Sunday?

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Great questions. I’m glad you came here with your questions. Here’s is some advice and my thoughts.
  1. Your parents may be wonderful people but to not care if their children go to mass is wrong. God, and the sacraments, mass, should be their #1 priority in life. I am only telling you this because even though they may have bred this belief that mass isn’t important into your head, it’s simply not true.
  2. Mass is important because it is your sacrifice for God. Never get into the idea that mass is for your entertainment. It is you giving for God.
  3. Mass has the eucharist. The body and blood of God. If you do not go to mass you are not receiving this.
  4. It is a commandment from God. I think this point says it all.
  5. What you should do in mass? Grab the book in your pew, turn to Sundays readings and read the reading for the day. Ponder and reflect on them. Listen to the Homily of your priest. Pray and receive communion. For one hour, there is much to do. And trust me, your not missing anything exciting at home. Trust me, it’s in your head.
  6. Community. Church can offer a sense of community but I admit not necessarily. Your about the age though for teenage youth groups which may offer after Mass activities. I hope you see and check them out.
 
While you should speak to Jesus with honesty and an open heart, Catholics shouldn’t talk to him as just a friend.

In recent decades, “personal relationship” theology has crept subtly into Catholic circles. It can be found especially in Catholic youth ministries as well as apostolates directed toward college students.

What’s often not made explicit—and perhaps often not even realized by those who promote it—is that “personal relationship” theology portrays Jesus primarily as a friend. After all, one doesn’t usually have a personal relationship with a king or a ruler, or even with a teacher. We most commonly have personal relationships with equals.

But this image of Jesus as a friend is not based in Scripture nor does it follow time-tested methods of evangelization. In the Bible, Jesus is called “friend” once: in Matthew 11:19, Christ notes that people say he’s a “friend of tax collectors and sinners.”

In John 15:14, Christ tells the apostles, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” and says they are no longer servants but “friends.” And in Luke 12:4, he refers to the disciples as “my friends.” However, other than these few references, nowhere else is Jesus presented as a friend.

Note that the Gospels do not shy away from giving Jesus titles and names. In Matthew’s Gospel alone he is referred to as “carpenter’s son,” “King of the Jews,” “Lord of the Sabbath,” “Physician,” “Son of David,” and “Son of God,” among a host of other designations. Most of his titles are prophetic or kingly, and “friend” is notably absent.

Paul saw Christ as the Image of the almighty God who became man, died for us, and in doing so restored and saved the whole universe. We, on the other hand, picture Jesus—and present him—as a good buddy we can count on in times of trouble.

Has this new presentation of Jesus been effective as a means of evangelization? It seems that it has not, as our era has seen a precipitous drop in the number of practicing Catholics. A Jesus equal to us is simply not worthy to be worshipped or followed.

People today are looking for more than a good buddy. They want someone to look up to and to follow. As a culture, we’ve insisted on cutting down our heroes and leaders, but this has left a void in our hearts, because we were made to serve a king. If we begin to preach Christ as King and Lord of the universe, many may decide to follow him. Not simply as their friend, but as their God.
 
Honestly at 15 you probably should be bored. And that’s not because Mass is inherently boring or because your particular parish is boring. Its probably because, like a lot of us here, you weren’t very well catechized. I’m guessing (and believe me, this is not a judgment against your parents) that if they’re allowing you the option to attend Mass they’re in the same boat.

However, your prayer life sounds above-average for even an adult so the years of receiving Communion and attending Mass is working on you! You probably know you should go to Confession, and you obviously know you should be going to Mass. At your age you should be questioning the Faith. As a parent and former hell-raising teen I can tell you no one wants you to be a Catholic robot. As much as it would probably ease your parents’ minds to have you be even nominally Catholic on your own, they really, deep down, want you to believe of your own accord, not because you’ve been forced. So now is the appropriate time to start asking good questions and really digging into the “why” of being Catholic, for you personally.

Work on developing a personal and daily relationship with Christ. Reading Scripture daily, praying the Rosary and setting aside even 10 minutes for prayer are all things that you can do on your own without anyone else’s help. Maybe find another saint in addition to the one you already have a devotion to- learning about their life and deeds may inspire you.

Learn about the Mass. Start to understand why its important we attend each week, and try to shift your thinking from “this is something I have to do” to “this is so important the Church wants us here once a week”. Start to think about what it means to receive the Eucharist. Something that helps me pay more attention at Mass (and we all need help, believe me!) is to go over the readings beforehand, whether its at home or sitting in the pew beforehand. Try to pick one thing out of each reading and listen for it during the reading. See if anything else catches your attention- sometimes the Lord speaks right to us during those readings and you don’t want to miss that!

There’s probably a few things you like, or at least find interesting, about Catholicism. Sure, Mass can be boring, but there’s a lot out there to learn about and dig into. If you think you’re geared more toward a contemplative mindset you might enjoy learning more about prayer techniques, such as lectio divina or Ignatian spirituality. If you really like the lives of the saints see if your parish has a library and read up on some of them. Maybe you like the fact that the Church provides a lot of assistance and charity to the world- get involved in those areas when and how you can. Basically find one or two things you think are interesting and pursue them when you can. Or, maybe there’s a youth group you can get involved with.
 
(cont.)

In all of this its important to find someone who you can safely and openly communicate with. Since you need to get to confession anyway, maybe you can schedule a meeting with yourself and your priest and share some of your thoughts and feelings about this as well as getting some help to prepare for the sacrament. It would be awesome if you could be the one to spark new interest in your family’s faith for everyone. You’re parents are probably tired and stressed out and Mass and practicing the Faith can pretty easily slip to the backburner when there are bills to pay, groceries to buy, kids to take back and forth to this or that. They might want to be more involved in the parish or have a deeper connection to God, but they just don’t know where to start. So, maybe, its a journey you all can start together. But there’s a lot you can do on your own.

Lastly, you might be opening the door to years of questioning and even doubts. That’s totally ok and its normal. It takes time to make something that was handed on to your own (you’ll probably learn this better when you get your first car, it takes time before it feels like its really yours). I will tell you right now something I wish I had been told at your age- the answers ARE out there, and with some diligence on your part and the help of some good Catholics you’ll find them. I’ll be praying for you.
 
angell1 said:
we go because Jesus died to save us from our sin. he deserves at least one hour of our time each week. which is really not asking a lot.
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Yes, this is what I was always told growing up.
“Jesus suffered and died on the cross for us. You can give him one hour.”
 
I can remember thinking my parents forced me to go to Mass too. I would have rather been playing baseball or fishing, and that’s what I did when I began to drive. It was too easy to go fishing and swing by after Mass to get a bulliten and make my parents think i had gone to Mass. Dont get any ideas lol.

For the next 25 years I was either completely away from my faith, or was a submarine Catholic at best (only surfacing 2 times a year, Christmas and Easter). It never occurred to me all those years how much I was breaking my parents hearts, or even worse, the heart of our Blessed Mother and her Son.

My parents forced me to brush my teeth, they forced me to go to bed at a decent time, and heck they even forced me to go to school, yuck! But wait! Were they forcing me or were they LOVING me?

I came back to my faith one week before I found out my father had cancer. Over the next year it was faith that healed and bonded us. I learned more in that one year than my whole life combined. When my father passed away I finally realized what he and my mother had done for me.

My dear child, today is my 51st birthday, and not one physical present from my parents do i think about or treasure. The ONLY gift i treasure and need is the gift of faith they passed down to me.

I pray you will no longer see your parents as forcing you to go to Mass, and for the Holy Spirit to guide you to see they are LOVING you and giving you the greatest gift parents can give. They love you, and God loves you, and they both want you there.

God bless.
 
This is a beautiful post, DeSales111. I relate to so much of it. Except it was easier for me to go out shopping or to sit in a coffee shop for a few hours until all the Masses, which were at inconvenient times (no MassTimes app then to easily find out where the 5 pm Masses were to still get to one on a Sunday), were over.

I was a submarine Catholic for a few years too. Wasn’t happy with myself but didn’t do very much about it until my mom got really sick. There is something about watching people you love crossing over that bridge that all of a sudden makes you realize how important and meaningful it is to be sitting in “boring” ol’ Mass.
 
Hi,
I’m wondering if your parents go to Mass, even occasionally? If you asked them, or one of them, would they go with you? God wants your family to know Jesus too, you know! It could be a really beautiful thing – and you could make it a fun outing. If I were your parent, I would be extremely proud and my heart would be very deeply touched if my child approached me to take him to church. 😉
 
You hit the nail on the Head, it is your relationship
w/ God that is in question, you doubt that God is
pleased or is desirous of you going to Church, but
the Bible clearly states that “The Father SEEKS
for those who worship in spirit and in truth” John 4:23
Or you doubt that it will MAKE A DIFFERENCE in
your life if you go or don’t go to mass, well, as a
nearly retired man, I say affirmative, it will make a
WORLD of difference for your future, either Life
and Prosperity or death and adversity!! Dt. 30:15
Read the book of 2 Kings and you will find it rife
with examples of the calamity of abandoning the
worship of the True and Living God!!
 
¡Bienvenido Estevan! When I was in school, there were some good atheletes. They woke up early for practice: amazing to me since I like to sleep late! How did they foce themselves to do that? They thought about how much more important it is to get up and do their practice than to stay in bed. And there were, I am sure, days when they totally did not want to do it.

And that is the way we have to be with Mass. We just have to do it sometimes. And as we get better at it, we have to force ourselves less.

One thing that helps me is to use a missal, a book which tells us what we are supposed to say when, and which usually has the readings in it. I was happy to find one for Sundays at a Catholic bookshop. When I read the words, it seems more clear to me.

I think about the words which are being said, or one of the readings. For example, sometimes life is hard, and I wonder why God is doing that to me? And God is very kind and sends all sorts of information to me. This is something I have said maybe 1000 times, but which really struck me: “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give You thanks, Father most holy.” And I have been thinking about that during the week.

I think about little parts, why is it our duty to thank God? What does that mean?
And the sentence as a whole, this is really important! It is always and everywhere! It is our salvation!

And, how can we thank God even in the middle of difficult times?

Lent starts this Wednesday. How about if you make a commitment to go to Mass each Sunday of Lent, and to read a part of the Mass each day of Lent so you can learn more about it? In your prayers, ask God and your saint to help you love the Mass and to love Jesus more.
 
Good question.

Often we have to make ourselves do things we don’t at first like to do - like learning how to cheerfully change the diapers of our children.

One way to push yourself is to realize that when you go to Mass - each Mass, every Mass - you are made present at your own redemption!

That’s a pretty attractive idea isn’t it?
 
FrancisPio said:
Mass has the eucharist. The body and blood of God. If you do not go to mass you are not receiving this.

It is a commandment from God. I think this point says it all.
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Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. John 6: 53
anon65111186 said:
As a culture, we’ve insisted on cutting down our heroes and leaders, but this has left a void in our hearts, because we were made to serve a king
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I agree, except that I think the need has been projected into the media and fantasy realm, so that our culture is overwhelmed with “heroes” from sports, performance, and most especially, fantasy characters such as avatars and characters with superpowers. Then hapless people become addicted to associating with these figures, usually in the virtual reality.

I have wondered what Mass would be like if the faithful showed up with the enthusiasm we see at football games and music concerts!
 
guanophore said:
I have wondered what Mass would be like if the faithful showed up with the enthusiasm we see at football games and music concerts!
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Yes, me too. The thing is those kind of events have a culture, one of which is fueled by more worldly elements and many times alcohol and drugs.
 
Thanks for the verses @Guanophore. Always proves a point best with the facts and references on hand.
 
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My friend your challenging GOD; NOT a great idea

Going to Sunday Mass is a GRAVE and very serious Moral obligation.

You are well beyond the age of reason so toy ARE obligated.

GET to Confession and GET to Mass; it IS the RIGHT thing to do

May God guide your path

Patrick
 
Have you ever attended a weekday mass? You might want to try to do so as they tend to have much smaller numbers in attendence than Sunday masses and so it should be less distracting. I personally found it revolutionised my feelings about going to mass.

I appreciate it might be difficult with school work or if you have to rely on your parents for transport, but I would really encourage it even if you can’t go frequently. If your patron saint’s feast day is approaching maybe you could aim to attend then?

I also cannot recommend highly enough spending some time in Adoration.
 
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