The Precepts of the Church: Sundays and holy days

As a teen growing up in a Catholic home there was never any doubt about where I belonged on Sunday morning. If I ever dared complain about having to get up for Mass, my parents’ response was predictable: “As long as you live under this roof, you will go to Mass on Sunday morning.” (Saturday evening was an acceptable substitute.) This was something we did. Period. If we traveled on the weekend, we always would have to plan to attend Mass somewhere. Sometimes that presented a challenge! We were an ordinary Catholic family. Skipping Sunday Mass was simply not an option. 

Times certainly have changed. In the past few decades, the number of Catholics in the United States who regularly attend Sunday Mass has declined dramatically. Fortunately, the wisdom of the Church on this matter has not changed and the Precepts of the Church are as clear as ever. 

As mentioned in my previous column, the Precepts of the Church are intended to guarantee the necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer, sacramental life and moral commitment to ensure our continued growth in the love of God and love of neighbor. They remind us of what we need to live as faithful disciples. 

As we begin to come out of this global pandemic during which so many familiar routines and practices of our lives have been disrupted, including our participation in Mass, perhaps we need a reminder. We need the Sunday Eucharist. It is the foundation of our lives as Catholics. It is the source of the divine life of grace and the summit of all Christian worship. The first Precept of the Catholic Church therefore states: You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2042).  

Sunday is the Lord’s Day. As the day of the Resurrection, it is different from the other days of the week and ought to be treated so. This includes, of course, the serious obligation to participate in the Mass. 

Now that the temporary suspension of the Sunday obligation has been restored, we need to reflect on the importance of Sunday in the Christian life. Many experienced a renewed hunger for the Eucharist when it was not easily accessible. Others simply got out of the habit. What does Sunday mean for us? Mass ought to be central. Is it? 

But, honoring the Lord’s day means more than Sunday Mass. It also means that we ought to refrain from unnecessary work and commercial concerns that distract us from the worship of the Lord and the joy that is proper to the Lord’s Day. Sunday is a day of rest and is meant for the relaxation of mind and body. It is meant for family and attending to those things that nourish our faith and express our love and concern for others. 
The full and proper observance of the Lord’s Day is the necessary antidote to the dehumanizing effects of a materialistic society and consumer culture that ignores the rights of God and treats human beings as mere cogs in the economic machinery. 

Our participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Mass is testimony of our belonging to Christ and to his Church. Because of the importance of the Sunday Eucharist in terms of our duty toward God and our own spiritual well-being, those who do not participate without serious reason such as illness or the demands of charity, commit a grave sin. The same is true for those holy days of obligation that celebrate the principal mysteries of our faith.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “Sanctifying Sundays and holy days of obligation requires a common effort” (2187). Christians ought to avoid as much as possible making unnecessary demands on others that keep them from observing the Lord’s Day. 

When scheduling sporting activities, doing chores and household tasks or going shopping we ought to ask ourselves if these activities are in keeping with the spirit of the Lord’s Day as a day of prayer and leisure. Can these activities be postponed? Do they separate families or hinder others from fulfilling their religious obligations? If so, then they should be avoided. Some people’s work, admittedly, requires them to labor on Sundays. Still, employers have an obligation to ensure their employees have an opportunity to fulfill their religious duties.

Our secular culture has lost its sense of the sacredness of Sunday. It treats Sunday as any other business day. One of the dogmas of the secular creed seems to be: Time is money. 

The Catholic view is different. Time is sacred. God has hallowed time through his work of Creation and Redemption. Keeping the Lord’s Day holy acknowledges this truth. Sunday is the primary holy day of obligation. It is up to us to reclaim the special reverence due to the Lord’s Day. We can begin by making Sunday Mass the priority that it deserves to be every week!