The Ultimate Experience of our Faith

This weekend I did a half-marathon.  The in-person Cellcom event was cancelled and moved to a virtual format, which meant we had to do the race on our own.  Not being able to do the event in person, there were several things we missed out on.  There were no spectators/people to cheer, no water stations, and no post-race food, just to name a few things.  While we got t-shirts and medals, being able to run the event on the actual course, in the normal format would have been the full experience.  We can run on our own, at our own time and on our own routes but signing up to do road- races is a much different experience that offers so much more.  On a larger scale and in a more important way, it is like this in our faith.  In regard to going to mass, we often hear people say things like, “I can just pray at home.”  Of course we can pray at home.  It is good and important to pray at home, and anywhere we may be.  However, as Catholics, mass is the ultimate experience of our faith that we need.

God is the giver of all good things in our lives.  Going to mass allows us to show our gratitude for everything we have and praise Him for all of the blessings in our lives.  We can always thank God on our own time and in our own prayers.  However, we are asked to show up, once a week at a minimum, to give thanks and praise to God.  It’s the least we can do.

Going to mass allows us to pray as a community.  It is vital to pray as a community through the mass.  While we need to pray on our own and develop a strong personal prayer life, we also need a community.  If we want a strong prayer life, we need to start with the mass.  The mass fills us up and pours countless graces into our lives.  This allows us to live out our faith and grow closer to God in our daily lives.

There is no other place we can go to be closer to God than at mass.  Jesus is with us in nature, in our living rooms, and at our sporting events.  However, it is only at the mass that He is present- body, blood, soul, and divinity.  Receiving the Eucharist is as close as we can get to Christ on this side of heaven.  It is the best gift we have been given and people pass up on it as if they have more important things to do and places to be.  This is the central part of our faith.

As Catholics, it is important to pray on our own and practice our faith every day.  However, we also need to attend mass weekly, as long as we are healthy and physically able.  We are able to experience the fullness of our faith when we go to mass.  It is an experience we cannot have anywhere else.  Pray often that Catholics everywhere would make going to mass a priority and see the importance and value of worshipping God weekly.