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Do I really have to come to Mass every Sunday?

Many Catholics today are under the impression that they need only attend Mass on Sundays and Holydays of Obligation as and when they feel like it. This is a big error which from time to time needs correcting, hence the title of this newsletter. ALL Sundays are Holydays of Obligation, and in England and Wales, the other days Catholics are obliged to attend Mass are: Christmas Day (25^th December), Epiphany of Our Lord (6^th January), Ascension of the Lord (Thursday after 6^th Sunday of Easter), Ss Peter and Paul (29^th June), The Assumption of Our Lady (15^th August) and All Saints (1^st November). There is also Corpus Christi which is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but the current practice in England and Wales is to transfer it to the following Sunday. And if you think that’s a lot, before Pope St Pius X reduced the number of Holydays of Obligation to eight in 1911with his motu proprio Supremi disciplinae, there were thirty-six Holydays of Obligation! Regarding Sundays and Holydays, here is what the Code of Canon Law says:

Can. 1246 §1. “Sunday, on which by Apostolic tradition the paschal mystery is celebrated, must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holyday of obligation.” And then, Can. 1247 says: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.”

The Sunday obligation may also be fulfilled by attending the Vigil Mass on a Saturday evening. If you are housebound or sick, or you have to look after a sick person or a child, or you are travelling, or you are a long way from the nearest Mass, or you arrive at Mass and find it is cancelled because the priest is sick, you are dispensed from the obligation. But to not come to Mass because you have arranged other things such as sports, or you’ve decided you want to sleep late, or you simply don’t feel like coming, is a mortal sin, and you should not receive Holy Communion again until you have been to Confession. If you receive Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin, you commit the further mortal sin of sacrilege. Parents must teach this to their children. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes it clear:

#2181 “… the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.”

So it is a serious thing to miss Mass. However, if you regularly have to work on a Sunday, the Parish Priest can give you a dispensation so as you may fulfil your obligation by attending Mass on a different day, which some of you already do. But why is it so serious to miss Mass on a Sunday or day of obligation? Firstly, God commands that we keep the Sabbath holy, but even more importantly we owe Him worship. He is the Creator. He has given us everything we have, including life, and so we owe Him everything. Even if you are bored and you feel you pray better elsewhere, it doesn’t matter. You still owe God the worship. We must give God what He deserves, and He deserves the best, which is the Sacrifice of His Son on the Cross which is made present on the altar at every Mass, and then offered to the Father for His glory and for the salvation of the world. Your prayers and your presence at Mass matter, and so when you don’t come, God is less glorified and the world is less sanctified, and even worse, you may find you drift away from Him altogether. And every Mass you attend with devotion will give you a higher place in Heaven.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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Vocations Sunday

The Church has chosen this Sunday, also known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’ to pray for vocations to the priesthood. It is, therefore, also ‘Vocations Sunday’. Our Lord in today’s Gospel calls Himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:14) because He wants to take care of us all personally. “The sheep that belong to Me listen to My voice: I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life” (John 10:27-28). The priest is an ‘alter Christus’ or ‘another Christ’, whose task it is to bring those entrusted to his care to eternal salvation, to save their souls. Today, as we all know, there is a grave lack of priests, so this affects all of us, whether we like it or not. More and more parishes are having to be amalgamated, and in some areas one priest can be taking care of up to four churches. Daily Mass in a parish church is quickly becoming a thing of the past. So what do we do?

Our Lord told us what to do. “Pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He send labourers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38). In other words we have to pray for vocations and we have to pray very hard. Where there are vocations, it is a sign that there has been much prayer. Where there are no vocations it is a sign that prayer has been lacking, or at the very least, there has not been enough of it. We can do all the promotion and advertising imaginable, but without prayer there will be no fruits. St Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “The most important hours for my communities are the four hours of community prayers each day.” And the result is plentiful vocations.

Today we hear frequently that the seminaries are empty with many closing, and people even wonder if God has stopped calling men to the priesthood because He wants the laity to take over. No! The Catholic Church needs priests to function, otherwise it would not be the Church Christ founded. A Church without priests would be Protestant. Our Lord founded a hierarchical Church with bishops and priests to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, to administer the Sacraments and to govern. God keeps calling people to this life, but do people hear Him? There needs to be a fervent Catholic environment in families, and the young must be taught not to deny God whatever He asks for. We must pray continuously for vocations from our own homes and families, and that those God is calling will hear that call.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century in this country, a woman spent an hour a day in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament that just one of her ten children would consecrate themselves to God. After some years, nine of them became consecrated religious and the tenth became the famous Victorian Cardinal, Nicholas Wiseman (1802-65).

St John Vianney (1786-1859) the Patron Saint of Parish Priests wrote, “Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put Him there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of JESUS Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if this soul should happen to die (as a result of sin) who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest … After God, the priest is everything! Only in Heaven will he fully realise what he is.”

The Church and the world needs priests and we need holy and faithful priests!  Pray for your priests that we live up to our calling. Could God be calling someone reading this to the priesthood or religious life? Do you know somebody who might make a good priest? Pray for them. Perhaps even suggest it to them. We can all be vocation promoters by helping those around you to live a Christian life. A priestly vocation, and therefore the salvation of many souls, could be depending on you!

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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We believe in the Resurrection of the body

In our Gospel reading this week the risen Jesus doesn’t just meet odd individuals but the whole group of disciples in their refuge, the Upper Room. The stress is on their meeting a REAL PERSON, not a disembodied ghost or phantom, not ‘a spiritual experience’ but one to touch and who eats a piece of fish in front of them.

The important lesson of this is that in our resurrection to true life, it is the whole person that is raised, not just the soul. Our bodies will be so real that we will be able to eat! We work out our salvation with fingers and toes and other bodily members, and all will be raised to life. It is not just a matter of thoughts and intentions! The whole body is baptised into Christ and is the instrument of our salvation. Our body, like Christ’s, will be changed and we shall be raised as whole persons, body and soul. That is the promise. That is our faith!

A very common misunderstanding is that your body is a shell and only your soul will live on forever. So, it can be tempting to view our body as only a vehicle for our soul, something that is a “necessary evil.” This false belief can be found throughout history and is still prevalent today.

Unfortunately, it can have a negative impact on the way we live our lives and is a philosophy, a false teaching, a heresy, that runs directly counter to the Catholic Church’s revealed truth. The Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly states that both body and soul have great dignity and are meant to be united. It says:-

‘For this reason, man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honour since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.’ CCC 364

It is important to note that Catholics believe in the resurrection of the body, we state it each week in the creed. This means that after our death, we will eventually be reunited with our body for all eternity.

In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus’ Resurrection. CCC 997

Death is something unnatural, as it separates what should be united. This is one of the reasons why Jesus’ resurrection was called “good news,” Gospel. It meant that no longer would our souls be isolated from our bodies, but that at the end of time they will be reunited for all eternity. If we think of our body as only a shell, then we can do whatever we want with it! Our health does not matter, nor does it matter if we sin with our body. However, Catholics believe that our body has great dignity, and that what we do with our bodies also affects our soul. As St Paul teaches, our bodies our Temples of the Holy Spirit. We are not mere animals, who are not bound by any moral laws. We are children of God, destined for eternal bliss with our Heavenly Father. We are to treasure our bodies and use them well.

May we live as children of a loving Father, treating our body with care, knowing that it will be with us (in a glorified state) for all eternity.

Fr David Jones OLW

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The Greatest Day

Today, Easter Sunday is the greatest day in the Christian calendar – the Resurrection of JESUS Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, from the dead. It is the fifth Article of the Creed. Our Lord had on a number occasions, foretold His Resurrection, and had He not risen, it would have been proof that He was not the awaited Messiah. So the Resurrection gives the seal of authenticity to all of Our Lord’s teachings and to all of the miracles He worked during His earthly life. It confirms that He is indeed the God man foretold by the prophets and awaited by Israel. And by His Resurrection, He has broken the power of death, and suffers and dies no more.

It is a formal teaching of the Catholic Church that Our Lord, after having been put to death on the Cross, three days later rose in the same Body. When He appeared to Mary Magdalene and the Apostles, He was not a ghost (Luke 24:39). On the contrary, He proved to them that He was true flesh and blood and He even ate food in front of them (Luke 24:39-43). Although He still bore the five wounds of the crucifixion in His hands, feet and side, His Body was now glorified and qualitatively changed. He could pass through walls and could arrive at different places instantaneously (John 20:19). Our bodies will one day share in these same qualities. In addition they will no longer be capable of suffering and death. We will be freed from any deformities and be filled with beauty and radiance.

The Apostles, who were at first the greatest sceptics, once they were convinced, preached the Resurrection of JESUS everywhere as the most important truth of the Faith. St Paul rightly said, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). The Apostles were “witnesses of the Resurrection” (Acts 1:22), and went to their deaths for it. In next Sunday’s Gospel (John 20:19-31), we will hear how Thomas, who was not present when JESUS first appeared, refused to believe He had risen. Then eight days later, JESUS appeared to the Apostles again, this time with Thomas present, and bid him to put his hand into His side, and not be unbelieving but believing. Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). So the Resurrection of JESUS is a profound teaching of hope for us.

May I wish you all a very happy and blessed Easter from Fr David and myself. And don’t forget – Easter has an Octave, which means that every day this week is Easter Sunday and time for celebrating this great truth. “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 117:24).

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week, and our procession today with blessed palms recalls Our Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when the crowds cried out “Hosanna” and spread their garments and palm branches in His way.

The palm is a sacramental of the Church, and carrying them in procession goes back to the Old Testament. God commanded the Israelites on the feast of Tabernacles to take the branches of the palm tree and rejoice with them before the Lord (Leviticus 23:40). We also read of palms in the second book of Maccabees where they were used in the victory procession over Israel’s enemies (13:51), and in the book of the Apocalypse the martyrs are represented carrying palms (7:9).

The custom of carrying palms in procession on Palm Sunday originated in the East probably around the eighth century, and most likely the idea of a procession preceded that of the blessing. It was later on that the principle of whatever is used in God’s service should first of all be sanctified by the blessing of the Church. However, the name “Palm Sunday” is mentioned at least as far back as the fifth century. And in the ‘Sacramentary’ of Pope St Gregory the Great at the end of the sixth century, mention is made of the faithful being present at Mass with leaves and palm branches in their hands. And in our own country, St Bede mentions their use in the seventh century.

The palms are blessed before the Solemn Mass on Palm Sunday. The priest reads the Gospel account of Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and we pray that we may in the end go forth to meet Christ, bearing the palm of victory, and that laden with good works, we may enter with Him into the eternal Jerusalem. The procession then follows outside the church.

The palm, as mentioned above, is a symbol of victory. It should be a continual reminder of the victory won by Our Lord by humbling Himself and dying on the Cross for our salvation, and also that all true victories in our own spiritual lives are won by triumphing over ourselves and our wayward passions and sinful inclinations. We should treat the palm we receive with respect and put it in a prominent place at home. People often place it with a crucifix or a holy picture. I think it is well known that the remaining palms are later on burned and then used as ashes on Ash Wednesday the following year. This brings out the connection between suffering and victory.

Later in the week we will be with Our Lord as He institutes the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Priesthood on Maundy Thursday. This will be followed by the Solemn Procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose where there will be Watching until 11.15pm. “Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). We will also be with Him as He sweats blood during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, His arrest and trial. On Good Friday we will be with Him in the scourging and crowning with thorns, and the terrible journey on the Via Dolorosa which will culminate in His suffering and dying on the cross. Then on Saturday evening we celebrate the Easter Vigil beginning with the blessing of the Easter Fire and the Procession of the Paschal Candle into the dark church symbolising the Risen Christ Himself, Who is “the light of the world” (John 9:5).The Sacred Liturgy makes all these events present to us. I strongly recommend you do your best to be present at these beautiful and solemn ceremonies of Holy Week.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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