Why Attend Mass

One of the biggest complains I used to receive from non-Catholics involved the requirement to go to Mass.  Why, after all, should be be forced to attend a church and follow someone else's rituals when we can just as easily fall on our knees in our living room and worship God for a while?  Does He not hear us either way?  Do we have to prove our love for Him by showing up, to either Him or others?

For someone already Catholic the answer is easy.  Jesus is there in the Body and Blood.  So profound and yet so simple.

I don't expect anyone who does not believe in the Real Presence to accept that as a valid reason without raising another larger set of questions, but perhaps there is an answer that ties is to it yet would make sense, something else so simple that we might have trouble remembering it ourselves.

The answer?  The love of God.  His for us, and ours for Him.  The love between the Bridegroom and His bride.  Even I know that when someone is dating, they do not choose to stay in their living room every evening professing love for each other in such a mundane location.  There are movies and dances and dinners in fancy restaurants, places specifically set aside to be in the presence of the beloved.  Someone who is in love desires more than anything to spend time with the beloved, and sets aside specific times and proper places in which to spend this time.  Who would approach the beloved only to say, "Hey, I want to spend time with you, but my living room is good enough.  I don't need to go anywhere special to prove it to you."  It may not be necessary to prove that love; but because you have that love, you want to go out and show it.

The chance to go spend time with God is never so much a demand as an invitation.  An invitation to spend time with the one we love, with one who loves us.  An invitation for us to take time out of our busy schedules for our own good and rest in a place that has been specifically set aside to build our relationship with Him.  He is asking us on a weekly date, and we should joyfully go to meet Him, eager to bask in His love for us and return our own.

For those of us who are Catholic, how much more important that we can receive the greatest gift possible - the Eucharist - whenever we show up, hearts prepared to receive His gift.  God is inviting us to somewhere special to spend an hour with Him, talking with Him, listing to Him, loving each other; why would we turn down the amazing gift He is offering us, and ever proclaim our living room "good enough?'