Why Do I Have to Go to Mass on Sundays?

When teens ask this question there are a lot of issues hiding behind the question:  “Religion is for little kids.” “My friends don’t go to Mass.” “I’ve got better things to do!” 

These issues are important, but they don’t get to the heart of the matter:  Why do you, as parents, go to Mass? You may go to set a good example for your children, or to live your faith, or to respond to God’s command to worship Him, or to hear God speaking to you in the Scriptures, or to hear a challenging homily to live a holier life, or to rejoice in God’s presence, or to make your will one with God’s, or to receive the Eucharist and become one with God in a very special way.  All these are good reasons! But you as parents need to know why you attend Mass in the first place!

Mass is where Christ is present in the people, in the priest as an alter Christus, or another Christ, in the Word of God in the Scriptures, and in a real and substantial way in the Eucharist.  We come to give thanks, to worship, to praise, and to remember the great gift of love that Jesus gave us in suffering, dying, and rising.  From Vatican II, we have the following:  “The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 10).  The Mass is the means by which we come together as a community and receive the gift of Christ from God and the event from which we go forth to spread the Good News.  Read more in the Catechism, paragraphs 1322-1405.

Know your faith.  Live your faith.  Teach your faith.