Dear Theophilus,
This past weekend I
was going through my notebook from the Catholic teacher education course I took
last summer when I came across a quote from one of the instructors I had
written down:
No where in the Bible does Jesus say to us that
we must go to Mass every Sunday or go to confession at least once a year.
This is a very bold
statement with even bolder implications, especially when given by a person with
some academic authority in front of a room of impressionable young teachers. I
distinctly remember twitching in my seat, but at the time I had no way of
countering this statement. To be honest, when I racked my brain, I couldn’t
find an answer that could have suitably swayed the argument towards an
acceptance of our dominical obligation.
That was, until my
pastor made a very profound observation on the Gospel during his homily this
past weekend.
The Gospel story from
Luke is a well known one. It recounts Jesus’ return to Nazareth at the start of
his ministry, as the people are beginning to learn of his teaching in the
synagogues throughout Galilee. It wasn’t Jesus’ reading from the Book of the
Prophet Isaiah and his subsequent announcement that he is the Christ foretold
by the prophet that struck me as Father expounded the Gospel in his homily.
Instead, it was Father pointing out the significance of a seemingly
insignificant line that caught my attention:
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been
brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.
(Lk 4:16)
As was his custom. In other words, Jesus was in the habit of
keeping the Fourth Commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. (cf. Ex 20:8)
Although he is the Christ, himself, the living Temple of the Lord our God,
Jesus, in the humbleness of his humanity, did the Father’s will and went to
synagogue on Saturday (or, as a Christian equivalent, he went to church on
Sunday).
As the saying goes –
actions speak louder than words; and through his actions, Christ was telling us
that we need to meet our dominical obligation to deepen our relationship with
him by becoming an imitation of him.
As the beautiful
expression of St. Augustine states: “Lord, our hearts are restless until they
rest in you.” Our entire existence is one that is meant to bring us back to the
Lord. What more beautiful way is there to bring restfulness to our hearts, than
by becoming one with the Lord in thought and action.
Although Christ never
commanded us: Thou shalt go to Mass on
Sunday, he definitely showed us by example that we should. Since he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day,
as was his custom; then we too should make it our custom to go to church on
the Sabbath day.
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