Recently, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments which oversees matters relating to liturgical practice in the church, issued an instruction titled, WITH JOY LET US RETURN TO THE EUCHARIST, which focuses on the celebration of the Liturgy during and following COVID-19. I distributed the document to our pastors, priests and deacons for use in their teaching ministry. WITH JOY LET US RETURN TO THE EUCHARIST addresses the necessity of public-communal worship in the life of the church and in the life of each Catholic. It contains a beautiful reflection on the Mystery of Faith, the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
We have learned many lessons during the recent government-imposed restrictions on group gatherings in response to the scourge of COVID-19. Among them is the absence of the public-communal Sunday Eucharist that has been a great suffering for both our faithful and our priests. Our Catholic belief is that Jesus Christ is really present, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Holy Eucharist. While live streamed Masses can be useful and helpful in certain pastoral situations, for example, for the sick and feeble at home, in hospitals, or other health care institutions, watching the Mass on a television screen does not do what the communal public worship of the Church, especially the Sunday Eucharist, does for the faithful and for the priest. There is no real substitute for in-person celebration of the Mass.
Sunday gives meaning to the rest of the week and to family and social responsibility. It should be observed differently from the other days of the week. It is a huge loss to family life and to the raising of children that too many Catholics ignore the obligation to give time to God on Sunday at Mass. As Cardinal Sarah writes, “we cannot be without the Lord’s Day.”
His instruction teaches that it is not possible to live as Christians without participating actively in the banquet of the Eucharist at which Christ feeds His people and speaks to them through His Word. Further, at the Eucharist we participate in the salvific effects of the Sacrifice of the Cross by which we have been saved and redeemed.
Cardinal Sarah also points out that “we cannot be without the Christian community, the family of the Lord, our brothers and sisters,” and “we cannot be without the house of the Lord, which is our home.” This emphasis is on the importance of the parish church, “the house of the Lord” where we pray and gather for the celebration of the other Sacraments. In the parish church when we are together for Mass we become a community of faith, “the family of the Lord, our brothers and sisters.”
He further reminds us that “as soon as circumstances permit, however, it is necessary and urgent to return to the normality of Christian life, which has the church building as its home and the celebration of the liturgy, especially the Sunday Eucharist, as “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.”
While the dispensation from the obligation to Sunday Mass continues for the time being in our diocese, it is time for those who are able to return to Sunday Mass. Our churches have been open for prayer and visitation throughout the imposition of the government imposed restrictions on the numbers permitted for gatherings. Now, when restricted numbers are permitted for gatherings they have been prepared by the hard work of our pastors and parish staffs to accommodate the allotted numbers while observing the necessary restrictions. What matters most is the Sunday celebration of Mass in the parish church. For this the Church exists.
A couple of weeks ago I visited two of our grammar schools. I repeatedly heard from the children how delighted and happy they were to be back in school. The schools are observing all sorts of protocols for the protection of the children and the staff. Our churches are doing the same.
Therefore, with joy and delight let those who are able return to the Eucharist.
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