We Christians do not celebrate the Sabbath per se. The original Sabbath, still observed by our Jewish brothers and sisters, is Saturday, the day God rested from creation. For Christians, the Sabbath has been replaced by “The Lord’s Day,” which is the day we remember Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead: Sunday. In fact, every Sunday is holy because it is a “mini-Easter.” So the 3rd Commandment applies to us in terms of keeping holy the Lord’s Day.
I remember back in college eavesdropping on a heated discussion in the computer lab about going to Mass on Sunday. One student vigorously shouted, “The commandment says ‘Keep Holy Sabbath,’ not ‘Go to Mass on Sunday.’” This person seemed particularly proud of themselves for making such an astute scholarly observation. Of course the follow up question to that should be: “How did the early Christians understand what it meant to keep holy the Lord’s Day?”
The answer, of course, is go to mass. In fact, to intentionally skip the Lord’s Day mass has always been understood to be a mortal sin.
Sometimes someone will say to me in class, “I don’t go to Church, but I love God.” My response is always the same: “No you don’t.”
Judgmental of me? Perhaps. But let us look at the facts.
Jesus said at the Last Supper, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. “ (Luke 22:15) Jesus desperately desired to give us the Eucharist. In fact, in order for us to experience this amazing sacrament, He had to suffer on the cross and die for us. So in this sense, Jesus is literally dying to give us the Mass.
And what happens at Mass? A miracle.
That which was once bread and wine cease to be bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Lord. Every mass is a miracle where He-Who-The-Universe-Could-Not-Contain humbles Himself to be present substantially on the altar. And then mystery of mysteries occurs when I hold the God of the Universe in my feeble hands and greatest mystery of all: that I get to be united to Him in substance as He is united to me body and soul!
What greater ecstasy or greater mystical unity could ever hope to accomplish here on earth?
And can anyone honestly say they are too busy for that?
If so, then it is very clear that they do not love God. Of course this does not count sickness or employment. The Church teaches that if a job forces you to work at times that interfere with your ability to go to mass, then this is excusable. This is especially true for those who are the sole earners for their families and this employment is necessary to earn the daily bread for the family. Also if you live in an area where Mass is not regularly celebrated because of an absence of clergy, this is also excusable. The rule of thumb is that if it is beyond your control, you bear no guilt.
However the obligation to attend mass on Sunday is given the widest possible interpretation. We moderns reckon the days from midnight to midnight. But in the ancient world they did not have clocks. For them, the day ended as soon as the sun set. So as soon it was evening on Good Friday, the Jewish people recognized that the Saturday Sabbath began. The Catholic Church has adopted both methods of measuring time to be valid towards the Sunday obligation. This is why you can attend Mass on Saturday evening (after 4:00 pm) through to midnight on Sunday and have it count towards your Mass obligation. And on this model there are very few reasons why one could not attend a readily available church for Mass.
And Mass takes only about an hour. God could have obliged us to celebrate Mass every day. Some people are so devoted to the Eucharist that they do this already on their own. But God only stipulated one hour a week. That is 1/168th of your life! If you cannot give God .6% of your time, how can you say you love Him? And even if you allow 8 hours a day for sleep and 8 hours a day for mandatory school or employment, God is still only asking for 1/58th of your free time. That’s less than 2%!
Imagine someone in your life claimed that they loved you. But they could not spare 1.7% of their lives to spend time with you. Would you believe them when they told you they loved you?
Jesus Christ gave us 100% on the cross. He held nothing back. And if we give Him that 1.7% of our lives, in exchange He will give us His love, His body, His blood, His mercy, His consolation, His grace, and His salvation.
Are you still too busy?
© W.L.Grayson, 2016
W.L. Grayson
I am a devoutly Catholic theology teacher who loves a popular culture that often, quite frankly, hates me. I grew up absorbing every movie, TV show, comic book, science fiction novel, etc. I could find. As of today I’ve watched over 2100 movies and tv shows. They take up a huge part of my life. I don’t know that this is a good thing, but it has given me a common vocabulary to draw from in order to illustrate whatever theological point I make in class. I’ve used American Pie the song to explain the Book of Revelation (I’ll post on this some time later) and American Pie the movie to help explain Eucharist (don’t ask). The point is that the popular culture is popular for a reason. It is woven into the fabric of our lives and imaginations, for good or ill. In this blog I will attempt to bring together the things of heaven with the things of earth. Of course this goal may be too lofty for someone like me.
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