People miss Mass on a regular basis for a variety of reasons. The following are six of them to which I give a brief response.

Reason #1. For some parents with young children getting to Mass on Sunday seems to be too much of a hassle. It is particularly difficult when one parent has little or no interest in church. It is an extra burden on the parent who tries when children say “why isn’t daddy or mommy going?’ Some parents find it too much of a challenge to keep young children quiet in church.

Response: Across this country every weekend millions of parents do get to church on a regular basis simply because it is a priority for them. Church is an important value and they make time for it. So we know it is possible. What is frequently missing for many parents is motivation and conviction about the importance of Mass. Hundreds of parents in our parish received motivation and conviction about Mass by participating in one of our Men or Women’s Retreat Weekends. For more information on our Men and Women’s Retreat weekends, see top of page 9 of this bulletin. We ALWAYS make time for what we consider important in our lives. On how to make Mass less stressful I have a suggestion--speak to parents who do attend regularly with young children and are not stressed out with the experience.

Reason #2. “I’m bored at Mass”.

Response: Mass was never intended to be entertaining or even uplifting. When Jesus presided at the first Mass in the Upper Room, he didn’t invite his Apostles to come so that he could entertain them or uplift them. He invited them so that they could participate in a ritual meal which would commemorate his dying and rising. Many Catholics and Christians have brought a ‘consumer mentality’ into church. They come ‘just to receive’ and see ‘what’s in it for them’. If only we would come to give of ourselves—to give thanks and praise to God, we would most likely receive lots and in the process be uplifted.

Reason #3. Loss of faith in the awesome gift we have in the Eucharist

Response: Many good and even praying Catholics no longer come to Mass because they have lost faith in the wonderful gift of Jesus present in the Eucharist. They may not be even aware that they have lost faith in the Eucharist but they have, it would seem, if they no longer come. Two thousand years ago when Jesus was giving a discourse on the Eucharist, Many disciples walked away (John 6:59-66). Jesus didn’t chase after them, he simply turned to the Apostles and asked: “What about you, do you want to go away too?”. Peter responded: “Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life….” (v 67-68).

Our church has always considered the Mass as the greatest gift Jesus left to us. If it is a boring experience for us, I think we need a change of heart so that we can discover this most wonderful gift. Having said that, we priests, liturgists and leaders of song and music must constantly seek to do our best to provide music, song and homilies that touch people’s minds and hearts.

Reason #4. Problems with the church. It may be some of her teachings, practices or the recent scandals.

Response: The scandals were terrible. They have now become one of the saddest chapter in the church’s history. But we shouldn’t allow the terrible sins of some (one is too many) to drive us away from the church, which Christ founded and still continues to be with. Our church (and every church) always has and always will be made up of saints and sinners. We have to learn to live with both as we try to purify the church and ourselves of sin and evil. If you have problems with some of the church’s beliefs and practices and they keep you from coming to church, please remember that lots of good church going Catholics have difficulty with some of the church’s teachings and practices, but they do not allow those difficulties to stop them from coming to church and neither should you.

Reason #5. Bad Things Happening to Good People. Recently, I visited a good woman who had more of her share of bad things happen to herself and her family. Because of these bad things, she and her husband pulled away from God and church. My guess is that this happens all the time. It probably happened to a bunch of people this fall when the hurricanes came our way.

Response: There is no easy response to the perennial problem of “bad things happening to good people”. It’s the age old problem of the mystery of suffering, which Job struggled with 3,000 years ago. I’m sure most, if not all, of us have said: “Why O Lord, why?” Perhaps we have been mad or angry at God. While there is certainly no perfect answer to the problem of suffering, the following can be offered for our reflection.

It is O.K. and even spiritually healthy for us to be disappointed or mad with God when bad things happen to us or our loved ones. God can handle our anger. He handled the anger of the prophets and psalmists who frequently got angry with God’s for his strange ways. But it is not spiritually healthy for us to stay angry with God for years. In fact, this is being very foolish. It is like “cutting off our nose to spite our face”.

My belief is that God never sends us suffering to “straighten us out”. Rather, he allows evil and bad things to happen for reasons we may never know. Of course, sometimes looking back on some events we may even be joyful that some bad event happened because it led to some great thing or growth in our lives. Of course, sometimes, it is very hard, if not impossible, to see what good could come out of some events.

When bad things happen, God is not aloof and distant. Rather, he is very close to us even if he is not ‘fixing the problem’. One great spiritual author once said: “Jesus came not so much to solve the mystery of suffering, but to fill it with his presence. Whether we recognize it or not, God is always in our suffering and not aloof or distant from it. If we don’t believe this what do we think Good Friday was all about?

It is always a loving thing to pray for people carrying a big and or whole series of crosses. Pray that they may have the faith and support of good friends to pull them through.

Reason #6. Many Catholics believe that the Church does not want them because they are divorced, divorced and remarried outside the church, have a homosexual orientation or are big sinners.

Response: Following the example of her Founder and Savior, Jesus, our church welcomes all people. To do anything less would be a betrayal of Jesus. Religious leaders in the time of Jesus complained that he “sat and ate with sinners” (Lk 15:1-3). Jesus responded by telling them three magnificent parables on God’s awesome mercy—which by the way is always bigger than our ability to sin. This is not to say that the church is soft on sin. To do so would also be a betrayal of Christ. He came to call each of us to turn from sin. Sin is spiritual cancer on the soul and we should always seek to avoid it. When it happens we should repent of it as soon as possible. So the church’s challenging task is to “Proclaim a Gospel of Hospitality” and a “Gospel of Repentance”. Both are equally important. Those of us who do attend church regularly are also sinners but we do not allow our sins to stop us from coming to our Divine Physician to receive his healing love and mercy and neither should you.

Bottom line, our church community is less than it could be because of your absence. If you are a non-churchgoer, you may doubt this, but it is true. The absence of your prayer, song and goodness diminishes the worship we give to God each Sunday. Your return to church and to the Eucharist would gladden the heart of God and bless us.