3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

1. The evangelist tells us today that Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day to worship with the people of his home town of Nazareth. He knew and obeyed the commandment of God: “Keep holy the Sabbath day.” Our Sabbath day is Sunday, the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the first day of the week, and we gather for Mass on Sundays. We too are mindful of God’s commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day. We are also responding to the Lord’s command to his apostles at the institution of the Eucharist to “do this in memory of me”. And our obedience is encouraged by the words of the Lord about the Eucharist: “Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.” So the Church today continues to follow the practice of Christ’s first disciples to gather together on a Sunday for the breaking of bread, for the Eucharist, for Mass, and this has always been and remains a serious obligation on us.

2. It is a serious obligation because in the Mass everything we believe and hold dear comes together. In the Mass the Lord gathers us together as his Church, along with Mary, the angels and saints; he speaks directly to us in his word so that each of us hear something that touches their life.  His word is then fulfilled by his presence; he nourishes us in Holy Communion with the bread of life; he strengthens us with his presence as our crucified and risen Lord, and sends us forth again renewed and refreshed for Christian life in the world. At Mass we are one in Christ, we adore the Holy Trinity, we pray for the living and the dead. The Mass is everything. To be there is so important. To miss Mass in careless or casual manner is what the Church calls serious sin because it is an offence against God and against his Church. But in a sense it is also an offence against our own spiritual good.

3. It is said that nowadays people miss Mass without giving it a second thought. It is said that some people choose go to Mass every second Sunday, or every third Sunday, rather than every Sunday. It is said that many only go rarely. And we have those who say they are Catholics but are quick to add that they only go to Mass at Christmas and Easter. I look at you here today, adults, young people, children and babes in arms, and I hope that you will not be tempted by this kind of laxity and that you will be faithful to Sunday Mass. For, as Pope Benedict out it, “Without Sunday, we cannot live”, and the centre of our Sunday is the Eucharist.

4. So on a Sunday when we read in the Gospel that Jesus worshipped in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, I want to remind us all of the vital importance of being faithful to our obligation to attend Mass on Sundays. What a difference it would make if we could increase Sunday Mass attendance even by a couple of percentage points. That would be a sign of a true evangelisation, a real growth in spiritual health, in our diocese and in our parishes. Show your children and young people that they should go to Mass on Sundays. Most importantly of all, when we do go to Mass, we should participate fully, actively and prayerfully, because in the Mass above all, Jesus Christ is there amongst us to give us his life.

St. Mirin’s Cathedral

21^st January 2007