Janice is happily moving through the RCIA experience at her and her husband's parish. After 11 years of marriage she feels called to enter the Catholic Church. Both of their children are baptized and attend the parish school.
During one of the RCIA sessions the discussion surrounds the importance of Sunday Mass for Catholics and one of the team members reminds everyone that deliberately missing Mass on Sunday is a mortal sin. When Janice hears this she looks furtively and uncomfortably at her husband beside her. After all, it is not uncommon for them to miss Mass when they visit his mom and dad, who only infrequently attend Mass but do go to Communion when they attend.
She begins to wonder whether her mother- and father-in-law, whom she adores in so many ways and are doting grandparents to her two children, are in fact living in the state of mortal sin and giving bad example to her children regarding their faith. And shouldn't her husband go to confession when he misses Mass?
She decides to wait until they are driving home to ask her husband, "Is missing Mass on Sunday really a mortal sin? Do your parents know that? How come you don't go to confession after those times we visit them and miss Mass?"
Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, makes the beautiful statement that "The Lord's Day is the original feast day, and it should be proposed to the faithful and taught to them so that it may become in fact a day of joy. For on this day Christ's faithful come together in one place. They listen to the word of God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the passion, resurrection, and glory of the Lord Jesus" (n. 106).
Unfortunately, this beautiful theology of Sunday Eucharist is lost when the Eucharist is spoken of almost exclusively in the legal terms of "obligation" and "duty."
While reasons and excuses for missing Mass on Sunday are as myriad as the individuals who offer them:
---Those engaged in pastoral catechesis can identify two large groups: those who, for any number of reasons, absolve themselves from regular Mass attendance because they don't see weekly attendance as a serious aspect of their Catholic faith;
---And those who attest to the fact that Sunday or at least weekly worship is essential but that such worship doesn't necessarily entail Mass. In other words, it could be watching a sunrise or hiking in the wilderness, any activity that invites meditation on the transcendence and imminence of God the Creator. Both of these approaches deserve a theological reply.
A response to God's love
From a standpoint of the Church's moral teaching, there are really two separate but overlapping issues that need to be discussed regarding the grave obligation of every Catholic to attend Mass on Sunday. First, there is the need to understand the "obligation" as imposed by the Church in her precepts; secondly, there is the need to reflect on the spiritual growth of the believer that moves one beyond Mass as "obligation" and "duty" to Mass as "opportunity" and "desire."
This issue helps us clearly understand the essential connection between our moral life and our spiritual life. In fact, there is no authentic moral life that is not founded on an authentic spiritual life. Our Catholic moral life is essentially relational. Simply stated, because we love God, our good actions are primarily and fundamentally a response to this love, and only secondarily a response to the law.
This articulation of the connection between the moral life and the spiritual life was stated early in the life of the Church by St. Augustine, who asked the question: "Is it the keeping of the commandments that leads to love of God or love of God that leads to the keeping of the commandments?" His clear and unequivocal answer was, "Of course it is love of God that leads to the keeping of the commandments." This teaching from St. Augustine should be the foundation for all Catholic moral catechesis from primary education through RCIA, but especially the catechesis surrounding Sunday Eucharist.
Returning to our concern with Mass attendance, it is clear that Jesus invites us to the Eucharist and that authentic disciples know that their participation is a free and deliberate "yes" to that invitation. In fact, it is a measure of every disciple's spiritual growth that they move from Mass on Sunday as something they "have" to do, to something they "want" to do. The spiritually mature Catholic builds a habit of reading and studying the Sunday Scripture before coming to church; plans on arriving early so as to be ready to participate fully, actively and consciously in the Eucharist by singing, praying and actively listening throughout the Mass; and finally stays until the Eucharistic celebration has concluded.
Ultimately, mature Catholics recognize and hunger for the Eucharist "as the source and summit of the life and mission of the Church" (Tenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, 2001). In fact, it is with some sadness that attendance at Sunday Eucharist remains mostly an "obligation" for so many Catholics.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes the 1983 Code of Canon Law (n. 1247) regarding the precept of the Church and "The Sunday Obligation": "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass" (n. 2180). The Catechism goes on to say (n. 2181) that "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 (illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin."
In order to determine who has failed in their obligation, it was not uncommon in Catholic education in the not too distant past for clear boundaries to be set on when the obligation began and ended within every Mass. Many were taught that one could fulfill one's Sunday obligation by getting to Church in time for the Gospel and staying until Communion. Unfortunately we still have a problem based on this truncated moral legalism with 30 percent of our folks arriving after Mass has begun and 30 percent leaving before it has concluded.
Nevertheless, it would seem that the Catechism answers Janice's question very clearly: to deliberately miss Mass is to commit a grave sin. When a sin entails grave matter and is done deliberately and with knowledge, then it is indeed a mortal sin.
This however, should not be the end of Janice's inquiry but the beginning. For in fact, Janice's question can lead her to a maturity in her faith life that has been eluding so many Catholics including, apparently, her in-laws, who may be stuck at the immature level of a morality of obligation.
To encourage, not oblige
Even a short review of the history of the Church's celebration of Sunday Eucharist reveals that it began with the strong desire of the faithful to "do what Jesus taught us to do" and to encourage, not oblige, all Christians to participate. In the Letter to the Hebrews (10:25), the faithful are reminded "not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but to encourage one another." Even in this early Christian community it was acknowledged that "some" failed to meet together, and that those who did meet should "encourage" the others to attend.
The Catechism quotes parts of an early sermon on Sunday worship:
"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 dismissal…We have often said: 'This day is given to you for prayer and rest. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it'" (Sermo de die dominica 2 et 6).
Unfortunately, it was only a few centuries into the life of the Church that the call to Sunday worship had to become a "legal mandate." As early as the Council of Elvira in 306 AD and the Council of Sardis in 343 AD, we hear the language of "obligation" regarding Mass attendance. This same legal language of "obligation" is echoed in the newest Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoted above.
On the other hand, in a considerable number of other documents, the Church speaks of the liturgy in language that is spiritual rather than legal. From Sacrosanctum Concilium:
---"Every liturgical celebration is a sacred action surpassing all others because it is an action of Christ the Priest and of his Body, the Church" (n. 7)
---"Zeal for the promotion and restoration of the liturgy is rightly held to be a sign of the providential disposition of God in our time, as a movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church. It is today a distinguishing mark of the Church's life" (n. 43).
Why the Christian community celebrates the Eucharist together is another issue that must be addressed. The Catechism, to be sure, does articulate an authentic spiritual foundation for Sunday Eucharist as an essentially communal aspect for the Christian community:
"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" (CCC, n. 2182).
As important as an individual prayer life is, it can never entirely replace the centrality of the Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Christian community on the Lord's Day. Meditating in nature is not the "source and summit" of the life of the Church. Such meditation is complementary to the Eucharist but should never be in competition with it.
Ultimately, the goal of good Catholic catechesis surrounding Sunday Eucharist would involve heeding the challenge of St. Augustine. Our loving relationship with our God should spur us on to want to celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday in communion with all our sisters and brothers.
Ideally, no mature Catholic should be at Sunday Eucharist solely because it is a "duty" or "obligation" but because it is our best desire. To be given the opportunity to participate in the Paschal mystery, to take the body and blood of our Savior Jesus Christ as communion is a privilege and a gift that we don't deserve but which we have been given.
For us to use the language of "obligation" and "duty" is to minimize the Eucharist, to miss its very centrality. The language of obligation will not increase attendance at Sunday Eucharist but authentic catechesis just might, catechesis that encourages and helps the Christian disciple to develop a deeper relationship with Jesus.
True food for the soul
At the same time, it is important for the Church to provide a Sunday Eucharist that is truly food for the soul. Sunday Eucharist should be celebrated respectfully, according to the rubrics of the Church, with music that stirs the soul and is sensitive to the multicultural context of the Church, with a homily that is well prepared and well delivered, and with priests who can preside and preach in a way that communicates the Divine Liturgy and the Scripture respectfully and clearly.
In the end, the moral obligation to attend Sunday Eucharist is summed up by saying that the Church earnestly desires that everyone who is "obliged" to be there would indeed be there --- not because they "have to" but because they "want to."
The challenge here, though, is not really one of bringing moral clarity to the question of the obligation of Sunday Mass attendance. The two real issues are (1) providing good Eucharistic liturgies in every parish every Sunday, and (2) providing good catechesis to individuals and families about the essential nature of Sunday Eucharist to a life of mature discipleship.
Ironically, Janice --- even though she is the one in RCIA --- needs to evangelize both her husband and her in-laws, and bring them the good news of regular Sunday Eucharist, not as something they "have to do" under penalty of mortal sin, but as something they will "want to do" because of their authentic love of God and His only begotten Son, Jesus. Vincentian Father Richard Benson is academic dean and professor of moral theology at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo. His column appears monthly in The Tidings. |