Obligation: an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment.
We often hear of our ‘Sunday Obligation” to attend Mass. This is the Church telling us that we must go to Mass or else. Through the months and as this pandemic drags on, we hear of so many “good Catholics” who are passing on this obligation. For many, their Bishop removed the obligation to attend Mass and they are ok with this. They see it as freeing them from an obligation to wake early on Sunday.
What does this ‘Sunday Obligation’ mean to you?
For me… yes I am obligated to come to Mass each Sunday. But, the obligation for me goes beyond a Church command. It even goes beyond the threat of mortal sin for missing. I am obligated within my soul to come to receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Without the Eucharist I don’t know what I’d be or how I would survive.
I don’t come to Mass or Divine Liturgy for a great homily from the priest nor to see friends in community. I am not there for the readings or music. It doesn’t matter if the homily is horrible or incredible. It doesn’t matter how good the priest is with the Liturgical prayers.
It is for the Eucharist that I come.
The Holy Mass is perfect all the time. The Mass is perfection even when the priest and everyone in the pew is not. The Mass is perfect when the priest fumbled or rushes through. The Mass is perfect when that person in front of me in the shorts and flip flops reads the bulletin or daydreams throughout. The Mass is always perfect.
And, at the culmination of this perfection is Jesus in the Holy Eucharist that we get to take within our bodies and souls.
Yes, I feel a strong obligation each Sunday to attend Mass because without the Eucharist that I receive how will I be a husband or dad? Without this encounter with Jesus how can I be a Christian?
Without the Eucharist, how can I ever become a saint?
Do you feel an obligation to come to Mass? Do you at least attend Sunday Mass? If not, why? Jesus is there waiting. Nothing, not a pandemic or work or any excuse should stand in the way of this obligation within your soul to be fed by the Eucharist.