Why is going to church necessary?

[upbeatjonm]

My daughter is deciding to leave the church. Her reason is “I still believe in God, I just don’t think you have to go to church to prove it”.

How can this best be answered? She says she still prays daily.

Thanks

Jon

 

[Annunciata]

First I would ask how old is she? Then, has she been catechized and has she received the Sacraments…namely, Baptism, 1st Communion and Confiramtion?

 

[Scott_Waddell]

We don’t go to Church to prove we believe in God, we go to worship him and receive His body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist. It strengthens the bonds of kinship we have with Our Lord and with each other. Think of it this way, if I have a great friend but don’t see him regularly, our bond begins to diminish and possibly extinguish. Now your daugther may counter that she prays all the time, which is fantastic, but if that is the total of her faith, it will turn into a purely existential head trip in which there is no distinction between God and her thinking voice. The sacraments, the Church, and your neighbors, ground faith in reality and avoids the quasi-gnosticism of a purely spiritualized faith.

Scott

 

[Tantum_ergo]

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2177 The Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Day and his Eucharist is at the heart of the Church’s life.
“Sunday is the day on which the paschal mystery is celebrated in light of the apostolic tradition and is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church.”[110]
“Also to be observed are the day of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Epiphany,
the Ascension of Christ,
the feast of the Body and Blood of Christi,
the feast of Mary the Mother of God,
her Immaculate Conception,
her Assumption,
the feast of Saint Joseph,
the feast of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and the feast of All Saints.”[111]

2178 This practice of the Christian assembly dates from the beginnings of the apostolic age.[112] The Letter to the Hebrews reminds the faithful “not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but to encourage one another.”[113]
Tradition preserves the memory of an ever-timely exhortation: Come to Church early, approach the Lord, and confess your sins, repent in prayer… Be present at the sacred and divine liturgy, conclude its prayer and do not leave before the dismissal… We have often said: “This day is given to you for prayer and rest. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”[114]

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.”[117] “The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.”[118]

2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor.[119] Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.

2182 Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church. The faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity. Together they testify to God’s holiness and their hope of salvation. They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

2183 “If because of lack of a sacred minister or for other grave cause participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, it is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the Liturgy of the Word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families.”

I hope that makes it clear to her!

 

[dhgray]

There was a man who always went to a special spot in the woods every day to pray. The trek to the spot would take him over an hour to get to. His friends ask, “Why do you walked over an hour to that spot to pray? Isn’t God the same everywhere?”

The man replied, "Yes God is the same everywhere, but I am not?

 

[Tantum_ergo]

DH–

I miss your earlier signature! I mean, those were some of my most favouritist people there!

DO BE bringing it back sometime, please?

 

[stbruno]

Outside of the fact of the commandment, I love this story.

A preacher was asked a similar question, why we must go to church. He responded. Picture yourself with some charcoal.

How long does a fire stay lit if the coals do not touch each other?
A fire will not stay lit for very long. But if the coals touch each other, the flame spreads to the next and the next and the next and the fire burns brightly and warmly. That’s what going to church does. It spreads the light and the flame of Christ’s love for each and everyone of us, and we in turn spread it to others.

That’s why we go to church. To be enriched, to be enlightened, to be warmed and nourished by the body and blood of the sacrificed Jesus Christ. We get grace. How can we refuse this life giving nourishment. He is the way, the truth and the life! He who believes in me will never ever die!

Go to church!

 

[renee1258]

How would anyone ever learn about God is there was no Church to begin with?

God is everywhere, but I want God to know I know that He is everywhere.

 

[YinYangMom]

upbeatjonm:

My daughter is deciding to leave the church. Her reason is “I still believe in God, I just don’t think you have to go to church to prove it”.

How can this best be answered? She says she still prays daily.

Thanks

Jon

Whatever happened to Keep Holy the Sabbath?

Goodness, it doesn’t get more obvious than that. God issued that commandment, then He sent His only Son to earth to show us the way to get closer to Our Father (by giving us that prayer) and by establishing the Church. Going to Mass is the way we keep Holy the Sabbath…we start with Mass then carry on throughout the day, resting and reflecting upon God’s great works and mercy.

45-55 minutes out of one week is not too much to ask for all that God has given her. She prays daily. I suppose that means most of her prayers have been answered in her favor. She should be happy to visit Jesus Himself in Mass to thank Him for keeping a watch over her and for hearing her pleas.

As for her deciding to leave the Church, then she needs to read up on what being Catholic is all about. Ask her what happened in her experiences which have discouraged her, then find the appropriate books out there to help her better understand how to put her experiences in the proper perspective.

 

[Stylteralmaldo]

If your daughter understood that Christ is present in the Eucharist, she would likely want to be there as often as possible. We go to Church to pray, but also to be very close to our Lord and Saviour.

Right now, it seems apparent that she does not believe in the real presense of Christ in the Eucharist. If you could explain this to her, or direct her to good resources that explains this reality, that might be helpful.

This advice of course depends on your daughter’s age and mental state right now. My prayers are with you.

 

[Fidelis]

Exodus 20:8-11
8
"Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
9
Six days you may labor and do all your work,
10
but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you.
11
In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Hebrews 10:23-25
23
Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy.
24
We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.
25
We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.

 

[Pug]

upbeatjonm:

My daughter is deciding to leave the church. Her reason is “I still believe in God, I just don’t think you have to go to church to prove it”.

How can this best be answered? She says she still prays daily.

Thanks

Jon

Jon,

This may be off the wall, but the main reason I fell into not going on Sunday as a child was that one of my parents never went. If that is the case, it needs to be addressed seriously.

Is she willing to pray for 55 continuous minutes alone at home each Sunday in lieu of Church? It is so much easier to pray together.

I’d suspect that there are other issues besides mass attendance for her, like not even knowing what it means to live a Catholic life or thinking it has nothing to do with her life as it is now. I’d try to fish these reasons out with a little conversation.

Of course, there is the ever popular staying out too late on Saturday night to drag yourself out of bed.

 

[Strider]

Stylteralmaldo:

If your daughter understood that Christ is present in the Eucharist, she would likely want to be there as often as possible. We go to Church to pray, but also to be very close to our Lord and Saviour…

This is the key. There is no other place she can meet Our Lord on a more personal level. But, like all faith, belief in the True Presence requires grace.
Pray, give her something like Theology for Beginners by Frank Sheed, if she’ll read it. Then pray some more.
God bless

 

[frdave20]

many people who argue that there is no need to attend Mass on days of obligation (sundays, etal) refer to the scriptural verse of “where two or three are gathered…”. How can this be refuted – in other words, their interpretation and use of this passage to support their position?

 

[Sherlock]

When I was a Protestant, I tended to view Sunday services as an “extra”—that is, an external but entirely voluntary show of devotion that was nice but not necessary. Somehow, keeping the Sabbath was an Old Testament rule that I could dispense with since I had warm fuzzies in my heart. When I returned to the Catholic Faith I saw the relevance of keeping commandments even if no warm fuzzies were present. I saw the connection to my earthly relationships: if I only expressed my love for my spouse when I felt the warm fuzzies, my marriage would have ended long ago. True love sometimes requires doing external actions regardless of transitory feelings, out of a sense of obligation to the loved one. So, I began to see Mass attendance as an act of obedience, which sounds very sterile but really is not, because from there one can progress to seeing Mass as a loving act of worship regardless of subjective feelings. Once I reached that state, the progression of wanting and desiring the Mass at any time and appreciating it for the gift that it is came quickly. I love Holy Days of obligation, and I love the Sunday Mass. I think that anyone who is willing to suspend their personal desires for autonomy (“no one will tell me when to worship”) will end up reaping great spiritual rewards.

 

[Toni]

Wow such great answers worth using with my girls in class. Of course the #1 is keep holy the Sabbath Day.

But another I always tell my students is simply grace, and what grace does for the soul.

 

[jimmy]

upbeatjonm:

My daughter is deciding to leave the church. Her reason is “I still believe in God, I just don’t think you have to go to church to prove it”.

How can this best be answered? She says she still prays daily.

Thanks

Jon

I have a sister who thinks the same way.

By refusing to go to church, you are refusing to spend time with God. Christ is present in the Eucharist. You are refusing the chance to actually go and be in the presence of the body of Christ. How can you say you love Christ when you really do not want to go and spend time in his presence?

My sister says, “You can live your life like a prayer and there is no need for church.” The thing about this is that most people can’t live there life like a prayer. Recieving the Eucharist gives you the strength to do what is right. Mass is the repressentation of Calvary for all of Christs church through history. When you do not go to mass each week you are denying the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It is not like it is a three day process, it is one hour out of 168 hours of your week. You can not even devote 1/168th of your time to Christ?

If you look at society, you can see how all morals are lost gradually. First it started with the sexual revelution then it went to abortion being legalized and made a womans right. Then it goes to homosexual marriage, and it will keep going. It is the same with a persons spiritual life. You can lose your belief in God, but usually it will start out as a small little step. First you stop going to church, then you stop praying before meals, then you stop praying all together, and it keeps going until there is nothing left. It is a gradual process and no one should think that they are immune to this process. So, what you must do is catch it before it even starts. That is the time when it is easiest to stop it.

It may not be a sin to miss church every once in a while if you have no way of getting there or you are sick. But the deliberate refusal to go to church is. By refusing to go to church you are refusing God. Everything we do affects our salvation in some way. It is either a step toward Christ or a step away. We all faulter sometimes but we have to try our hardest to minimize these stumbles.

I hope that this will help you with your daughter. I will be praying for you and your daughter. Please pray for me and my sister, so that she will start going to church again also.

 

[sabrinaofmn]

My husband recently asked this same question of me because he doesn’t want to go to Sunday mass. He thinks that if we go during the week we shouldn’t have to go on Sunday. I didn’t have a good answer until I heard a radio show on an unrelated science topic. They were talking about “resonance”. They were talking about how prayer is more effective when more than one person prays. Specifically, this show has millions of listeners, and they had done some crude experiments where they all focused on the same thing and it came to pass. The point is that if 1 million people pray it’s more powerful than if one person prays, a triple braided cord is more stronger than a single cord. I realized that there is a physical reason why we all worship on Sunday. There is something physical and scientific happening through group worship or “resonance” that we don’t really understand. This answer satisfied my husband, and now he is happy to go to mass.