The second half of the Mass is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Peter accurately observed, “Master, you have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). God wanted him to devour his word, and God wants us to do the same. God told the prophet Ezekiel, “Eat what is before you eat this scroll” (Ez 3:1). The Mass begins with the Liturgy of the Word. We need to be spiritual-food conscious if we wish to avoid emptiness, spiritual weakness, vulnerability to temptation, and sickness due to sin. It is important to eat properly every day to avoid hunger pains, weakness, malnutrition, and disease. Weekly Eucharist is Solid Spiritual Food. The more a person prays privately, the more the person should want to worship with the community, and the more a person worships with the community, the more a person should want to pray privately. There are two pillars to a well-rounded prayer life, communal and private, and to do one or the other exclusively is to be imbalanced. Some make the unfortunate claim: “I can pray by myself and I do not need to go to church.” Usually the more negligent a person becomes with their Mass attendance, the more negligent the person becomes with their private prayer. Christians pray together by nature, and the Mass is the premier form of communal prayer. From the beginning of the Church the community “devoted themselves … to the breaking of the bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). If we give thanks only intermittently or rarely we fail to adequately honor the Giver of the gifts.Ĭommunity Prayer is Essential. These gifts are so awesome that we ought to be overflowing with gratitude and eager to give our thanks and praise. God graciously blesses us with everything that we have: life and health, food and shelter, family and friends, intellect and talents, opportunity and resources – and faith. It is right and just to give thanks to the Lord our God, and the Mass is the best prayer to offer thanks. If Jesus went to the synagogue to observe the Sabbath every week, we should go to Mass every week.
Not only did they observe this law themselves, they took their son with them, and when Jesus was old enough he went on his own.
His mother Mary was “full of grace” (Lk 1:28) and his stepfather Joseph was “a righteous man” (Mt 1:19) and they both carefully “fulfilled all of the prescriptions of the law” (Lk 2:39) which means that they went to the synagogue every Sabbath. Jesus was in the habit of going to the synagogue on the Sabbath day (Lk 4:16b). The law makes compulsory what we should want to do on our own. The Commandment is not a suggestion or a request it is a command or an order. The Christian Sabbath is Sunday, and Catholic’s keep the Sabbath holy by fulfilling the obligation to attend Mass (Canons 1246-1248 Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. The Third Commandment is, “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day” (Ex 20:8 see also Dt 5:12).
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