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Dear Parishioners: One of my main concerns is the number of Catholics who do not have an adequate understanding of the reason we celebrate the Lord’s Day by attending Mass. This is not just a problem locally but throughout the world. On the local level, it is one of my main concerns in that the children of our Parish, both from the school and the Religious Education program, are not receiving good example in regard to Mass attendance from their families. During the summer, Pope John Paul II issued a letter addressed to all Catholics addressing this very topic. During the coming weeks, I will give quotes from the letter which might be a help to you and to your family. The Lord’s Day - as Sunday was called from apostolic times - has always been accorded special attention in the history of the church because of its close connection with the very core of the Christian mystery. In fact, in the weekly reckoning of time Sunday recalls the day of Christ’s resurrection. It is Easter which returns week by week, celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and death, the fulfillment in him of the first creation and the dawn of "the new creation". It is the day which recalls in grateful adoration the world’s first day and looks forward in active hope to "the last day", when Christ wil come in glory and all things will be made new. Rightly, then the psalmist’s cry is applied to Sunday: "This is the day which the Lord has made: Let us rejoice and be glad in it". This invitation to joy, which the Easter liturgy makes its own, reflects the astonishment which came over the women who, having seen the crucifixion of Christ, found the tomb empty when they went there "very early on the first day after the Sabbath". It is an invitation to relive in some way the experience of the two disciples of Emmaus, who felt their hearts "burn within them" as the risen one walked with them on the road, explaining the Scriptures and revealing himself in "the breaking of the bread". And it echoes the joy - at first uncertain and then overwhelming - which the apostles experienced on the evening of that same day when they were visited by the risen Jesus and received the gift of his peace and of his Spirit. The resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental event upon which Christian faith rests. It is an astonishing reality, fully grasped in the light of faith yet historically attested to by those who were privileged to see the risen Lord. It is a wondrous event which is not only absolutely unique in human history, but which lies at the very heart of the mystery of time. In fact, "all time belongs to Christ and all the ages", as the evocative liturgy of the Easter Vigil recalls in preparing the paschal candle. Therefore, in commemorating the day of Christ’s resurrection not just once a year but every Sunday, the church seeks to indicate to every generation the true fulcrum of history, to which the mystery of the world’s origin and its final destiny leads. Sincerely, |
