The Holy Father’s Catechesis: Why Go To Mass On Sunday?
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
Taking up the series of catecheses on the Mass, today we ask ourselves: Why go to Mass on Sunday?
The Sunday celebration of the Eucharist is at the center of the life of the Church (Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2177). We Christians go to Mass on Sunday to encounter the Risen Lord, or, better, to let ourselves be encountered by Him, to listen to His word, to eat at His table, and thus become Church, that is, His living Mystical Body in the world today.
It was understood, from the first moment, by Jesus’ disciples, who celebrated the Eucharistic encounter with the Lord in the day of the week that the Jews called “the first of the week” and the Romans “day of the sun,” because on that day Jesus rose from the dead and He appeared to His disciples, speaking with them, eating with them, giving them the Holy Spirit (Cf. Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:9.14; Luke 24:1.13; John 20:1.19), as we heard in the biblical Reading. The great effusion of the Holy Spirit also happened on Sunday, the fiftieth day after Jesus’ Resurrection. For these reasons, Sunday is a holy day for us, sanctified by the Eucharistic celebration, the Lord’s living presence among us and for us. Hence, it is the Mass that makes Sunday Christian! The Christian Sunday revolves around the Mass. For a Christian, what sort of Sunday is it that lacks the encounter with the Lord?