When are we going to Mass this Sunday?  Why do we have to go to Mass this Sunday?  Are we going to Mass this Sunday?

 

These three questions express a significant shift in the conversation about Sunday Mass attendance over the past fifty years.  It has become increasingly obvious to most who regular attend any of the four weekend Masses in English that the number of people attending on a regular basis has continued to drop over the past ten years.  We especially note the absence of the children and youth of the parish and their parents.  Most of us over forty grew up in families in which the only question was when we were going to Mass.  The question of why was the refrain of children and teens whose parents responded with some version of “because you live in this house and those are the rules.”  While that might be an adequate answer for young people, it becomes inadequate by the time we reach young adulthood.  I sense that our failure to provide mature answers to the why question, and the increasing demands on personal and family time, have led many adults to ask whether we are going to Mass this Sunday.  And as Sunday Mass becomes one more activity on a list of options and we lose connection with the community that worships regularly, it becomes easier to stop going altogether.

 

Why do we go to Mass on Sunday?  We are faced with many conflicting demands throughout the week, and Sunday is often the only day on which we can sleep in – or, if we have children in various sports leagues, a necessary day in order for them to be able to play in as many sports/ leagues as possible.  We want a reason for giving priority to certain events or activities.  Some pay the bills; others offer our children more opportunities; still others are necessary to maintain a healthy household.  Why give priority to one hour on Sunday morning that requires another hour of preparation and twenty to thirty minutes of travel round trip?

 

The Second Vatican Council brought us a renewed understanding that Church is a vibrant, living reality.  Communion is not only our understanding of the bread and wine that become the Body and Blood of Christ.  Communion is also what we become as we share in his Body and Blood.  The choice to enter into and share in communion each Sunday has the power to release us from the ordinary sins of the past week and to strengthen us for the challenges of the coming week.  Communion in Christ gives us our identity and reshapes us as members of something much larger than ourselves.  Communion transforms us again and again into the presence of Christ in the world as we invite Christ to speak and act in all we say and do.

 

This is why we go to Mass.  And I dare to say that this is why we must go to Mass.  There is never a week in which I have not engaged in some thoughts, words, and behavior that is contrary to my identity as a member of the Body of Christ.  I need the weekly opportunity to be forgiven for my ordinary, human faults and to be made whole again.  There is rarely a week that does not present its share of challenges that are better met when I have been recently reminded who I am as a disciple of Jesus and received the strength and guidance that come through Word and Eucharist – even when the homily bored me and the music failed to inspire.  In a culture that encourages competition and independence, there is never a week in which I do not need to be reminded that I am created as part of a larger communion and to be reshaped into that communion – even when those sitting around me distracted or downright annoyed me.

 

Lent offers a time for developing or renewing good habits.  If regularly sharing in Sunday Mass is not now one of them, consider giving it a try.  If it already is a regular habit, consider making a special effort to connect with those who sit near you and even inviting neighbors and friends to join you at Mass and for coffee afterward.  Over time, the reward far outweighs the effort and makes us all stronger witnesses to our communion in Christ.