Why Make It An Obligation?

[Mrs_Sally]

Of course daily Mass is not mandatory. I never said it was. And there are certainly people who absolutely cannot attend daily Mass, be it for reasons of distance, a mother with 5 kids, working people whose schedule just doesn’t fit, illness, whatever. And it is not a sin not to go just because you don’t want to go. I am not scolding anyone for not attending and I am sorry you took it that way.

My problem with your original post is that you said the reason for the weekly obligation was to “protect us from overzealousness.” My comment is that going to daily Mass is not being overzealous. The reason for the Sunday obligation is to make sure we go to Mass at least once a week. It is not to stop us from attending daily Mass. But I will state again that if you are able to go, there are many, many blessings for being a daily communicant. Going to daily Mass is not, in any sense of the word, being overzealous.

I think we are talking past each other. I am not trying to say that attending daily Mass is being overzealous. The problem comes in when others try to lay the burden of attending daily Mass on everyone.

 

[mick321]

Of course Christians advance in their faith. But it is not a linear line. In some seasons of faith, we are excited to go to Mass and go at every opportunity, but in other seasons of Faith, it is not that easy, regardless of what we know intellectually.

Just because you “accept the Faith in their heart” (whatever that means) doesn’t mean that some things (like attending Mass) are still not difficult sometimes.

This past winter my youngest child was an absolute terror at Mass, and I (also being 4-5 months pregnant) did not always feel very well. I would spend the entire Eucharistic prayer out in the vestibule with a screaming child, hoping I could keep my breakfast. I wanted to go to Mass, but I didn’t want to go and have to take care of this child or get sick in a public place. But knowing that I had an obligation to attend Mass and would have to seriously discern whether my obligation was dispensed, motivated me to go to Mass. It was not the Mass that I did not want to attend, but it was the earthly things that made Mass difficult. (In my case it was a child, and my own body).

Your reasoning falls flat, their is virtue in attending out of obedience and obligation. (or obedience wouldn’t be a virtue). To go to Mass to worship God even when we don’t want to go, is a virtue. Just like when we don’t feel like loving (or being loving to our spouses) but we do it anyways, yes out of obligation and charity. This is a form of love, I choose to love even when I don’t “feel” loving, even when it is hard to love.

You mistakenly equate obligation with fear of hell or mortal sin, but it is not, sometimes it is just the body is weak, though we want to attend Mass and receive graces and worship God. But even if it was true, is not fear of hell or mortal sin a form of love as well? If we are honest about why we fear hell or mortal sin, it is because we fear separation from God. If we fear separation from God, then wouldn’t that mean we Love God?

We are sinful and weak, thus an obligation, just because at one point in our faith journey we don’t or shouldn’t need an obligation, does not mean that that at other times the obligation is useful to us. Besides God commanded us to keep Holy the Lord’s Day, sometimes people need to be told that they are going against God’s commandments, the easiest way to do that is with an obligation.

Does the Sunday Mass at your parish offer anything that would attract you if there was no obligation to attend? Will attending our local parish Mass lead us toward eternal salvation in Christ? Is that what we truly want? If so, then the desire to unite with Christ in the Eucharist lives in our hearts. When the motivation to “keep the Lord’s day” comes from within us, the whole “obligation” thing is unnecessary. A worthy goal of adult catechesis perhaps?

Grace is a free gift from God. It’s kind of like a full ride scholarship to an Ivy League university. It’s not so difficult to understand the earthly benefits of a earning a degree from a prestigious institution. I suspect most students would attend the classes without the need for arm-twisting. Is eternal salvation any less worthwhile?

 

[jilly4ski]

Does the Sunday Mass at your parish offer anything that would attract you if there was no obligation to attend? Will attending our local parish Mass lead us toward eternal salvation in Christ? Is that what we truly want? If so, then the desire to unite with Christ in the Eucharist lives in our hearts. When the motivation to “keep the Lord’s day” comes from within us, the whole “obligation” thing is unnecessary. A worthy goal of adult catechesis perhaps?

Grace is a free gift from God. It’s kind of like a full ride scholarship to an Ivy League university. It’s not so difficult to understand the earthly benefits of a earning a degree from a prestigious institution. I suspect most students would attend the classes without the need for arm-twisting. Is eternal salvation any less worthwhile?

And yet the obligation to attend classes still remains.

Of course Sunday Mass has other things to attract besides an obligation. Did you not read my post? I specifically said that it is usually not Mass (though it can be) that people are trying to avoid. In fact they would happily attend Mass. But indeed other things sometimes make it difficult or put road blocks in the way. If I am in the back for all of Mass with a screaming child did I really unite with Christ in the Eucharist, did I really worship God, have I really witnessed the representation of Calvary? Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, because I was in the vestibule trying to calm a screaming child not actively participating in Mass. No amount of catechesis is going to change that. One can know all that the Mass is and what happens at the Mass, but there can still be times when we don’t feel like going.

My other point is that sometimes our obligation is actually dispensed in such times as illness. When it is unclear whether or not the obligation has been dispensed, it helps to have it there, to make us seriously discern whether we can miss or not. Like one weekend at college, I got the stomach bug. Sunday morning I was still not feeling well, but by Sunday afternoon I was starting to feel better. Still weak but not sick. I definitely would have been more comfortable in my dorm room sleeping and trying to eat a little to rebuild my strength after not eating for over a day. But I had an obligation to fulfill and I was no longer sick. It kept me away from that attitude of “Jesus will understand.”

 

[cjmclark]

With that way of thinking, there shouldn’t be ANY Catholics in prison because they should want to follow the law. There shouldn’t be anyone in line at Confession because they shouldn’t sin. None of that should even be an issue.

But we are a fallen people.

See my earlier response to Tantum Ergo:

I’m not trying to be disingenuous here. The difference is that the highlighted issues (adultery, lying, stealing) are generally and self-evidentially considered “bad” and are widely recognized as things to be avoided (even by those who engage in them). A great many people (Catholics included) simply don’t recognize the beauty and necessity of the Eucharist (due mostly to a failure to understand the concept of the True Presence)…they just see weekly Mass as that check in the box, and then worry that they’ve sinned (without understanding why) if they miss it.

I’m not disputing the notion that we are a fallen people. While there is a certain understanding that things like murder, adultery, lying, stealing, et c. are bad, I think there is a serious deficiency in understanding among many Catholics (because a great many of us are poorly catechized) regarding why it’s important not to miss Mass. Like I’ve said, many of our brethren do not understand the True Presence and view Mass as just a weekly obligation to be fulfilled. And then they worry about if they’ve sinned if they miss it without understanding why.

 

[mlz]

My husband (protestant) after I came home after a week day Mass said, " You realize this was the most important thing that happened all day in our town and only 12 people came"…Now I know he understands what happens! (I’m thinking he might become Catholic some day) Perhaps some Catholics don’t realize what really is happening?!! Jesus is THERE, for YOU! Wow! I often think the same at Adoration when only a few of us trickle in to sit before our King of Kings, Lord of Lords. We need to be voices to all Catholics of this wonderful blessing!!! I’m in awe of Him when I go to Mass, all of Heaven is PRESENT when we are there…Alleluia! Let’s get the word out and be megaphones to let others know this reality

mlz

 

[Incomplete]

Yes, I know. As I said, I attend every Sunday and Holy Day.
Right. I know.

The question that people have, (Again, not me, I go every Sunday) is WHY is it an obligation? Of course we have “Keep the Sabbath Holy,” but does that mean that someone has to spend an hour, or two, in Church. WHY wouldn’t spending time with your family or children or in nature keeping the Sabbath holy? If going to church is what keeps the Sabbath holy, why not tell us that we have to be in church all day?

(Again, I attend Mass every Sunday and Holy Day. I know I keep stating this but I also know that someone will pounce on me about attending Mass, if I don’t.)

While spending time with those you love can be a good thing, it is not necessarily a holy thing. We need to worship. That is the holy thing. It is an obligation in part because we do not do it for ourselves; we do it for God. Yet it is good to have things like family time on the Lord’s Day. In fact, one reason to not be in church all day is because the Lord’s Day is also about rest and about freedom.

The “obligation” is also a blessing from God. As has been mentioned, there are people who would not be attending Mass regularly otherwise, and that risks them eventually backsliding in whatever faith they have. Conversely, attending Mass regularly offers them the opportunity each week to participate in Eucharist and to grow in love of God. They can hear the Word of God rather than just reading it on their own…and many, many people never read it on their own.

I was once one of those people who attended primarily because of the “obligation.” Sometimes I’d go Saturday night to “get it out of the way” (and yes, those words make me wince!). I claimed to love God, but in retrospect, I see how I went down such a slippery slope, growing more selfish, more about the attitude that God loves me just as I am…so it didn’t matter so much what I did or who I was. There are things I have done that I am so ashamed of. But later, at some point, I started the slide towards agnosticism (though I never called myself that), while continuing to go to Mass…because of the “obligation”.

And finally, finally I started to listen better, to grow more, to realize just what Mass is. I now go to daily Mass, joyfully. I now desire to serve God, and I think my family would tell you it has made a difference in me.

It’s odd how in many ways I flaunted Church teachings, yet kept attending Mass. Had I grown up in a Church that did not teach this, I am certain that, little by little, I would have stopped attending.

In other words, the “obligation” is a gift, a grace and a blessing, giving us every opportunity to grow, to bring back those who are going the wrong way, giving chances for the tepid to grow passionate, and hopefully helping some to not fall away in the first place. Even though worship is about God, not us, God would give us so much in return through it.

 

[Incomplete]

My husband (protestant) after I came home after a week day Mass said, " You realize this was the most important thing that happened all day in our town and only 12 people came"…Now I know he understands what happens! (I’m thinking he might become Catholic some day) Perhaps some Catholics don’t realize what really is happening?!! Jesus is THERE, for YOU! Wow! I often think the same at Adoration when only a few of us trickle in to sit before our King of Kings, Lord of Lords. We need to be voices to all Catholics of this wonderful blessing!!! I’m in awe of Him when I go to Mass, all of Heaven is PRESENT when we are there…Alleluia! Let’s get the word out and be megaphones to let others know this reality

mlz

I love this. Thanks for posting.