1. Some of the best memories from my childhood happened on Sundays. Sunday Mass always seemed like a special beginning to a special day. Our whole family attended mass together each week. Sometimes it was the only time we were together. I feel that attendance at Sunday Mass is a good way of having a close family relationship and of keeping the whole family close to God. I am happy and proud to attend Sunday Mass. I hope that my children and the generations of my family to come will keep up this lovely celebration and tradition.

2. As a child I had to go to Mass with my parents or be punished. As I grew older, I was told that it was a mortal sin to miss Mass; so I went to avoid going to hell. But by the time I was 16 I thought there must be a better reason for going to Mass; so I decided to try out the old saying, "You only get out of Mass what you put into it." And I found that the more I looked into the prayers, songs, and readings, the more mass was really a way to share God's love with my fellow Catholics. If people would participate more at Mass, they would get more out of it.

3. I attend Mass regularly on Sunday out of habit. It is part of my life, just like brushing my teeth and cooking dinner. That's not to say I don't enjoy going to Mass, however, or that I would stop going if it were made voluntary. It just means that Mass is a part of me.

   But I also go to set an example for my children; I want them to know God and to learn how to become Christians who serve a community. In order to do this, they must have repeated experiences of Mass attendance. And I am not the only role model they have in this regard: Their friends who attend Mass and Sunday School with them also are models of what it means to be a part of the Catholic Christian community.

4. Why do I attend Sunday Mass? For the love of God! It seems such a little thing to do for all the blessings I have received.

5. There are times in one's life when Sunday Mass on a voluntary basis would have an advantage. But I'm not so sure that the church's law about mandatory Sunday Mass attendance should be dropped. We have laws in our lives that tell us to buckle up for safety as we drive; so why not a law to help save our souls?

6. I attend Sunday Mass because I think that if the Lord can give me a whole week-I can at least give him an hour! But most of all I go because he deserves to have me there, to have my love. After all, his love for me is so great that he spread his arms out wide and gave his all for me. My life is so much happier when I share it with the Lord and depend on him for all things!

7. I have very mixed feelings about Mass as an obligation. On the plus side, those who feel an obligation to attend-and attend only for that reason-may pick up something during the Mass that may change their attitude and bring them closer to God. (There have been some readings and homilies that, at times, seemed tailored to address an issue I was struggling with at the time.) On the negative side, some people who go out of a sense of obligation often go with closed hearts and may not be open to God's word.

8. To call oneself Catholic without faithful attendance at Mass is like trying to raise a bed of flowers without water, fertilizer, and light. In both cases, the essentials are missing.

9. We are teenagers and come from a strong Catholic family, and we go to Sunday Mass because:
   • it's expected

   • we don't want to let our parents down

   • we want to be an example to our younger brother and sister

   • attendance is the rule of the house as long as we live with our parents

   • sometimes it's fun.

10. As a college mathematics teacher, I am convinced of the necessity of having an attendance-and-testing policy that helps students work toward successful learning. Human nature being what it is, there is a natural tendency to take it easy and to drift along unless there are some sort of demands put upon a person. When students at least attend my classes, some knowledge is absorbed.

    In the same way I feel that our natural tendency toward laziness would work against the majority of Catholics attending Sunday Mass unless there were some sort of obligation present. We can see how true this is when a holy day falls on a Saturday or Monday and there is no obligation. We have very few people in church.

11. Making Mass voluntary would be a mistake. Oh, I agree that no one should be brought up to believe that to miss Mass-even for a good reason-would send someone to hell. But I feel there are many Catholics who, even though they come out of a sense of guilt, find in Mass their only contact with the Catholic Church all week. I can't help but feel that sometimes attendance at church gives God the opportunity to talk to people that may not allow him to do so during the week. It would be too easy for these people to become lost to the church were not Mass obligatory. Not all habits are bad!

12. Most Sundays I am up early and anxious to join with my family and fellow Catholics to praise and honor our God. But there have been mornings-cold, snowy, icy, tired mornings-when it was the church's law requiring attendance at Mass that got me out of bed rather than my own good intentions. Once I sat in church, I was happy and gratified to be there as always and thankful that firm church teachings had gotten me there at my own moments of personal weakness.

13. Sunday Mass shouldn't be an "obligation" but a responsibility. One's presence-whether convenient or inconvenient-is a responsibility one should freely choose in order to grow in his or her own faith and to help build the Body of Christ within their community.

It's disheartening to see so many complacent faces in Mass. It's a small wonder that our Sunday Eucharist is so boring or unattractive when there are so many who don't know why they're there outside of "the law".

Concluding Remarks:

Obviously, the above Catholics have found a value in the Eucharist. For these people the Mass is a Catholic Christian Value that they have internalized. It's an example of "owned faith", faith that is theirs. They go to Mass primarily because they have a personal conviction about the value of the Mass for their lives. They do not resent the obligation that the church places on us to attend church. In fact, several of them see a certain wisdom in the church's rule. A big challenge for each of us is to internalize the values and beliefs that our church teaches. This usually takes time, effort, reflection, reading, practice, prayer and sometimes dialogue with a priest or other committed Catholics. Today, you might ask yourself: To what extent is your weekly celebration of the Eucharist an internalized value for you? It if is not, are you willing to do anything concrete to come to a conviction about the Mass? If the Mass is an important value for you, how would you express the meaning it has for you? Hopefully, this column will help you to reflect more on this central. Catholic dimension of our faith.

Reflection Questions