Sunday Obligation

The suspension of the obligation to attend Sunday Mass was to be lifted in the Diocese of La Crosse on September 28.  However, after the last presbyteral council meeting Bishop Callahan put out a statement that he would not be following his brother bishops in the Milwaukee Province (State of Wisconsin) in lifting the suspension of this obligation.  When he does however, all Catholics will be once again obligated, under pain of mortal sin, to attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.  This means, very simply, that if you willfully miss Mass on a Sunday or Holy Day of Obligation, you may not present yourself to receive Holy Communion until you have confessed this in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession).

Quite honestly, all  of this confusion could have been averted if Catholics understood the nature of this obligation (or the concept of "obligation" generally).  If this was properly understood there would have been no need for the bishops to suspend the obligation, since an obligation can only be held where there is nothing blocking one from fulfilling that obligation.  Thus, with the state shutting down our public life and later limiting the seating capacity of public places, if you can’t get in, you are not obligated to assist at holy Mass in person.  You are also not obligated if you are sick and thereby a danger to others – in fact, in that case you have an obligation to stay home; you are not obligated if weather conditions truly make it dangerous to go out; you are also not obligated if you are caring for someone who is sick and you are unable to “tag-team” with another person.  In other words, if you are in a condition such that you would not go out to eat, shop, work, or any other such thing, you are generally not obligated to assist at holy Mass.

Indeed, where does the obligation to assist at holy Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation come from anyway?  The third commandment of the Decalogue tells us to Keep holy the Sabbath.  This has been understood by the Church, under ordinary circumstances, to mean we are to spend the day in worship, fellowship with family / community, and works of charity.  The first of these is considered to be so serious that it is the first of the Precepts of the Church; it is also included in the Didache, an early second century document also know as the "Teaching of the Apostles".

The great difficulty with keeping this precept is a loss of understanding about what faith, the virtue of religion, is.  Too many, now-a-days, treat the life of faith like a box that is checked off at the proper times, a list of things to be done.  Too many have lost sight of the life of faith as a covenant relationship into which we enter with God and the covenant community (the Church) at Baptism.  It is for this reason that the holy Scriptures have frequently held up marriage as the image of that relationship between God and the human person.  It isn't merely about the right ordering of the universe, it is about the continuous deepening of our love relationship with God and the Body of His Son - the Church: this is called covenant fidelity.

When we learn and accept seeing our relationship with God in this way, everything really does fall into place.  Why do I go to Church?  Because I want to be with God who presents Himself to us in the Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of His only-begotten Son.  Why would I NOT choose to do anything else on Sunday when it is time for Mass?  Because I really do love God above all things!  Why would I not spend the rest of the day working once Mass is over?  Because I want, I need to grow in relationship with those He has so generously put into my life - family, friends, and community.

So, if we understand our relationship with God, family, and community - especially our worshiping community - in this way, the "obligation" is obvious; indeed, it ceases even to BE an obligation at all: it become instead a time of grace, a blessing.

May we all be so blessed!