Sunday Mass no longer seems to be “in fashion.” If Christians knew what a treasure was prepared for each of them every Sunday, there would be endless lines in front of church doors. And yet… So let us stop and reflect to understand the meaning of Sunday for Christians and rediscover its full value.
What is Sunday?
Sunday is the Lord’s Day, the day of the Resurrection, the day of celebration, the day of rest, the day of the Word and the Eucharist, the day when encountering the Risen One renews the body, nourishes the soul, and fills the heart. Sunday Mass is the center of the life of every believer in Christ.
Why must we go to Mass on Sunday?
The first answer: because it is a precept of the Church. Certainly, this answer is correct, and the fact that the Church asks Christians to do so safeguards its importance, but it is surely not enough.
Christians do not merely have to attend Mass; they need to participate in Mass because only by drawing grace from Christ, through his Bread within us and his Word among us, can they live out the commandment of love each day and be an authentic witness.
At Sunday Mass, Jesus allows himself to be encountered, speaks to the heart through the Word, nourishes us at the table, and makes each person an active part of his body, which is the Church.
Why Sunday?
The first disciples celebrated their encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist on the day of the week that the Jews called “the first day of the week” and the Romans called the “day of the sun”: the day of the Resurrection, the day on which Jesus had appeared, eaten with them, and given them the Holy Spirit on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection. For this reason, Sunday is a holy day for Christians!
Mass sanctifies Sunday
Therefore, the holy day is Sunday - the first day of the week, not the last! - and Mass sanctifies it because we encounter the Risen One and are nourished by his Word and his Bread together with our brothers and sisters. For Sunday to be Christian, it cannot exclude Mass. Indeed, only from the Eucharistic celebration can Christians draw the strength necessary to live the Gospel and, Sunday after Sunday, grow in love and live the entire week united with Him.
A gift can never be taken for granted
Today, unfortunately, a certain indifference to Sunday Mass is plain for all to see; people have lost the Christian understanding of the Lord’s Day and its meaning as a celebration, a time of joy, rest, fraternity, and solidarity. Every day seems to have become the same…
Yet what our society takes for granted - all it takes is leaving home to find a church where Mass is celebrated - is not so elsewhere! There are Christian communities that, unfortunately, because of a lack of priests, cannot enjoy the joy of taking part in the Eucharistic celebration… so let us also give thanks for this gift!
A sign from heaven
Taking part in Sunday Mass is so important that heaven itself has “gone out of its way” to remind us. On September 19, 1846, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in tears to two children, Mélanie and Massimino, at La Salette, to remind the world to resume its journey of faith, do penance, persevere in prayer, and in particular remain faithful to Sunday Mass.
The Virgin’s tears remind us that God is truly attentive to his children; he wants them to be holy and saved so that he may see them live in the complete joy that never ends.
Let us prepare to receive a treasure of grace every Sunday, rediscover the beauty of putting on our best clothes, going to Mass, allowing ourselves to be loved by Jesus, and living the Lord’s Day in rest, joy, and solidarity with the people we love and who love us!
