Morning Reflection for December 9, 2010

Yesterday, Catholics had a Holy Day of Obligation, which is a special day in which Catholics are to attend Mass as part of the celebration of this feast. This is something that is unique to Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Churches, as most other Christian denominations do not expect worship attendance Monday through Saturday. Often, when discussing Mass attendance, the question arises, “Why is it important to attend weekly worship in a church? After all, I can pray to God anywhere.”

That is a legitimate question. After all, Jesus Himself tells us, “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mt. 6:6) Since Jesus tells us to pray in secret, we shouldn’t go to communal worship, right?

Not exactly. First of all, Jesus Himself regularly went to Jewish communal worship by attending synagogues and temple services. He obviously had no problem with joining others in prayer to God the Father. In fact, His next words make the meaning of this command clear: “And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Our Lord is telling us that our prayer needs to be sincere, spoken from the depths of our souls. A long, drawn out prayer with many words is useless if there is no sincerity, but a short, silent prayer is the most effective if the sincerity of heart is there.

Secondly, the Scriptures encourage us to gather as a community in worship. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us to “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb 10:25) The Apostles regularly went to synagogue and temple on Saturday, as observant Jews, then gathered again on Sunday for worship of Our Lord. The Apostles thought it was important, so why shouldn’t we?

Obviously, it is. Human beings are not isolated, strictly individualistic, creatures. We all desire some level of social involvement, some more and some less, but all have a need for contact with other humans. When we gather on Sunday for communal worship, we make visible our unity with one another as Christians. We join together to worship God with one voice, and allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us who have gathered to strengthen each other. The Body of Christ, sadly divided into denominations by human disagreements, is shown in some sense through our unity at Christian worship.

This Sunday, instead of staying home or sleeping in, if that’s your regular practice, join your brothers and sisters at Sunday worship. Jesus tells us, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Mt 18:20) Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?