Transcript

Outside of being sick, it is normally a mortal sin to miss a Sunday Mass. Yikes. Why is the Church so serious about this obligation? In the very first two chapters of the Bible, when we read the creation accounts, we hear that the Lord made the heavens and the earth in six days. On the seventh day, he rested, blessed that day, and made it holy.

In the next book of the Bible, God then commands Moses to keep it holy, and told him, “the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord, your God.” For thousands of years, the Jewish people observed Saturday as their Sabbath. But after our Lord rose from the dead on a Sunday, we started observing Sunday as the Sabbath.

The Sabbath day is so holy, that it took the death and resurrection of the Son of God just to move it. We call it the Lord’s day, not my day, so we hand it over to the Lord. And what does the Lord want to do with this day? Well, he wants to rest with his children, you and me.

What better way is there for us to be with God than for us to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? Time and again, in the New Testament, Jesus is made known through the breaking of bread, through the Mass.

When we step into Mass, we step into heaven. After all, what is heaven? Heaven is being with God. At Mass, God is in the tabernacle, then he is made present on the altar, and then we receive him in Holy Communion. Why do we call it communion? Because when we receive the Eucharist worthily, we enter into communion with God. That sounds a lot like heaven. It is heaven.

We are obligated to go to heaven every Sunday. I don’t know about you, but in my life, I’ve been obligated to do much lesser things than step into heaven and hang out with my heavenly Father.