Coming off years of COVID dispensations, many Catholics are wondering why the Church is now obligating them to return in person on Sundays. Isn’t this the kind of rule the Pharisees made and Jesus condemned? Is it a desperate ploy to bully people back into a declining Church? Neither of these is true: the Sunday obligation is rooted in Scripture and instituted for the good of all.
What Is the Sunday Obligation?
The Sunday Obligation is the requirement that all Catholics attend Mass on Sunday under pain of mortal sin unless they have a serious extenuating circumstance (illness, unavoidable travel, care of small children, etc.) or are dispensed by their pastor.
Is It in the Bible?
While the Sunday Obligation isn’t explicitly in the Bible, it is there implicitly. At the Last Supper Jesus says, “do this in memory of me,” (Lk. 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24) placing an eternal obligation on Christians to participate in Eucharistic offering. Likewise, Hebrews 10:25 condemns those who stay away from the meeting of the Church, which is recorded as being on Sundays (Acts 20:7). Put together, there is a clear New Testament expectation that believers would partake in Eucharistic worship and would not stay home on Sundays.
What Does It Have to Do with the Sabbath?
Nothing, at least originally. In the early Church, Gentile converts continued to work seven days a week like their pagan counterparts and did not rest on the Sabbath like Jews. While the need to set aside time to worship God remained, the New Covenant put an end to the need for a specific Sabbath day. The early Church read the Sabbath command as an institution specifically for the Jews and saw the Eucharist and indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a more definitive rest. Rather than a restructured Sabbath law, then, the Sunday Obligation was a development in Church law designed to increase the freedom of believers, rather than an onerous rule.
Why Was The Sunday Obligation Established?
It was originally established during the reign of Emperor Constantine when the Church realized soldiers, whose posts required seven days in the field, could not join the rest of the community in worship. By instituting the Sunday Obligation, Constantine and the Church found a way to integrate a neglected portion of the laity into the life of the Church. At the time, the Sunday obligation was seen as a great gift to soldiers who were now allowed time off. Such concessions are still made today through military ordinariates, which provide Masses to soldiers in the field so they can partake in the Eucharist. Later, the Sunday Obligation was expanded further to force landowners to give their peasants a day of rest to attend Mass. Yet again, the Church led the way in reforming society to give rights to the lowly and a spiritual home for all.
Why Should I Obey the Sunday Obligation?
The Catechism teaches that the Eucharist is the “source and summit” (CCC 1324) of the Christian life, and is nothing less than the most valuable object in the world—it is God himself made present for us. Neglecting such a great gift results not only in missing God’s grace, but actually deadens our relationship with God by spurning his gifts and abandoning the obligation to worship him written on our hearts. A Christian owes it to himself to, at least once a week, go be with God and adopt the attitude of, “you’re there, so I’ll be there.” If we knew Christ was in China, how many of us would not sell what we had to make a pilgrimage? Yet we know Christ is on the altar, and nevertheless, we don’t go. No human relationship could survive such a cold indifference, and neither can our relationship with God. Therefore, the Sunday Obligation is really a blessing to bring us closer to the Lord of Life, and should not be avoided.
Nick Letts is a former “radical atheist” who converted to Protestantism as a senior in High School, and then converted to Catholicism as a Junior in college. He studies philosophy in the Morrissey College, and loves nothing more than to curl up with a good book. He is engaged to his lovely fiancée Katherine Brown.
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