written by Father Pisut for the Pastor's Corner in the July 9, 2009, edition of the Chariton Newspaper.
This past weekend we celebrated our nation’s birthday. The reason that we celebrate the Fourth of July is because we cherish the freedom that we as Americans have, not just freedom but the right of religious freedom, or freedom from religion if one so chooses. Out of respect for religion and each person’s own human dignity and right to come to know God our Founding Fathers stated in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This is a right that we should never take for granted and we must remember that there are many people in the world today that are denied this right. Yet it is important to remember that freedom, while ostensibly protected by the United States Constitution, does not stem from the Constitution itself. We are free because that is how God made us. Our Founding Fathers recognized this when they proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence our “Creator” as the source of our “unalienable rights” of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Freedom is a double edged sword because the freedom to choose always comes with the responsibility to make the right choice. Yet we as modern Americans greatly misunderstand our God given freedom because we see it as a right given to us by the Constitution. If we see freedom as stemming from the Constitution and not from God then we can decide what that freedom entails. As a result we too often understand freedom not as responsible behavior but rather as license, the ability to do whatever we want regardless of the consequences, or if we even dare to think in such terms, regardless of the morality of the act. Often, however, the question of morality never enters into the equation but rather the emphasis is on the freedom to make some morally neutral choice. So because we as modern Americans are largely shaped by a contemporary secular understanding of freedom we have to a great degree lost a sense of the very real and authentic understanding of sin and the proper understanding of freedom with its concomitant responsibility.
As human beings, we have the freedom to choose between good and evil, that is the gift of free will. Because God loves us he lets us choose to follow him. Likewise, that also means that we have the choice not to follow him. Therefore, every time we choose God we choose what is good. Every time we don’t choose God we choose evil and therefore we sin. As should be no big surprise the topic of sin is not a popular topic. I suspect the topic of sin never was truly popular but at least it was acceptable to talk about. For the most part people are loathe to talk about sin today not only because it is unpopular but because it is also to many persons unacceptable. The notion of sin clashes with a secular understanding of freedom. For many people to say that sin exists is tantamount to saying that their personal decisions, decisions protected by the freedom of the U. S. Constitution, are somehow wrong. How dare someone question my right to do whatever I want? Again, if our freedom comes from the law we can define what it is and the options are limitless. Such freedom in the past was the ability to hold black persons as slaves and to legally classify them as less than human. Today it is the freedom to call another class of persons as less than human and even non-human and to kill them in their mothers’ wombs. Yet if our freedom comes from God it is true freedom because it is not a choice of arbitrary morally neutral options but is rather a freedom among real choices, the freedom to choose good or the freedom to choose evil.
One of the choices that people make with their God given and Constitution protected religious freedom is the choice to attend Church on Sundays. For Catholics this is attendance at Sunday Mass (or Saturday evening). Yet many Catholics do not realize that there is both a moral and a legal obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy days of obligation. This may seem foreign to many Protestants (and sadly many Catholics) since while it is definitely considered laudable to attend Church on Sunday most Protestants most likely don’t have an obligation of Sunday attendance in the strict sense that Catholics do.
So where does this obligation come from? The third commandment admonishes us, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.” “Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ’ Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truths of the Jewish sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest in God....The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship ‘as a sign of his universal beneficence to all.’ Sunday worship fulfills the moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of his people.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] 2175-2176)
Now at this time of year, summertime, people are even less likely to hold fast to this obligation. We must remember, however, that we are not told to keep the Sabbath holy some times of the year and not others. While we can have vacation time from work we can never take a vacation from our faith, we can never take a vacation from God. God gave us the Sabbath to keep it holy year round. With our Lord’s triumph over death Sunday has fulfilled the role of the Jewish Sabbath. Therefore, in order to understand the obligation for Catholics it is important to consider our identity. We say that we believe in the Ten Commandments which includes keeping holy the Sabbath. We believe that Christ said at the Last Supper this is my body and this is my blood, eat and drink this in memory of me and that we do this every time that we come to Mass. We believe Christ died for our sins and that we participate in that same sacrifice every time that we go to Mass. We believe that Christ rose from the dead in triumph over death on Sunday. This is the Catholic identity and so there is a disconnect when we say that is what we believe and that is how our life is ordered when in fact our life is not so ordered when we don’t see the importance of attending Mass on Sundays and other holy days of obligation. What many do not realize is that it is so serious that one should not receive Holy Communion without first going to confession. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason 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.” (CCC 2181)
Some have difficulty with the concept that missing Mass without a good reason or a proper dispensation is a grave sin. After all murder is a grave sin so how can missing Mass be the same thing. But again it should be remembered that God should be the center of our lives and he tells us to keep holy the Sabbath. Therefore, if we as Catholics do not see it as serious the problem is not with the obligation but rather our understanding of our relationship with God and the role of the Mass in the community of faith. The more we properly understand our relationship with God the more we will see the value of our Sunday obligation. It does not always means that it will be easy to get ourselves to Mass or that we will be totally focused and fulfilled each time that we go to Mass. However, we will realize the value of it and do it because it is the right thing to do, just as we do so many other things in life, not because they are always self-fulfilling but because they are right and just. It is just and right to give praise and glory to God. While Sunday Mass attendance is a legal and moral obligation binding on Catholics it is good for all Christians to see Church attendance on Sundays as morally obligatory. While Protestants do not share the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist and the Mass we do share a shared belief in the Ten Commandments and our Lord’s passion and death leading to his resurrection on Sunday. If we say that this is our belief than it should translate into a life of faith.
So as we celebrate the independence of our country every year rejoice in the freedoms that we have, especially the gift of religious freedom. Rejoice in the freedom that we have to come together and publicly worship, a freedom that does not exist in many places in the world. Yet it is important to remember that our freedoms come from God and are only protected by this great country. It is a freedom that we need to make sure to continue to protect. Pray that this country will be faithful to protecting the true freedom that God gives us and use that freedom wisely and give him just praise on Sunday, the Lord’s Day.
