Irish bishops publish pastoral message encouraging return to Sunday Mass

Bishop Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, launched Why Sunday Matters at the 10.30 Mass in the Cathedral of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, Carlow on Sunday.

Bishop Nulty said: "31 August has that sense of finality; while some schools re-open now around the 20th of the month, we can be guaranteed that all will have re-opened by tomorrow. For many there is that sense of new beginnings.

"This time of new beginnings offers us all an opportunity to take stock, and in doing so on behalf of the Bishops I invite you to reflect on your keeping of Sunday as the Lord's Day. Today I launch a Pastoral message titled Why Sunday Matters. Sunday Mass offers us the rhythm for the week that follows. From the very beginning of our Christian faith, Sunday has been central to the life of the Church and remains the heart of Christian practice.

"If perhaps your practice has slipped and other things have taken priority; if perhaps you have become accustomed to the webcam; if perhaps since the Covid pandemic you have simply 'gotten out of the habit', I encourage you to return, know that you are missed and know that you will be welcome.

"In the knowledge of the nourishment that Sunday Mass offers, nourishment we don't always appreciate, we pray:

Is tusa Tobar na Trócaire - you are the wellspring of mercy: A Thiarna, déan trócaire
Is tusa Slí na Fírinne - you are the way of Truth: A Chríost, déan trócaire
Bí linn i gcónaí, ós ár gcomhair amach - be with us always, showing us the way. A Thiarna, déan Trócaire."

Homily

This Pastoral Message arrives to all parishes this weekend. On the eve of the Season of Creation, we are all now very conscious of the need to produce less hard copies but still manage to stimulate rich conversation at Sunday brunch or lunch tables, or at Parish Pastoral Council or Parish Team meetings. The questions that might spark such conversation come at the end of the Pastoral.

But let's begin at the beginning: why did we as Bishops feel there was a need for such a discussion? And while this may be a Bishops' Pastoral Message, its compilation is the work of many individuals and groups who contributed much to the discussion that has gone on for nearly two years. Indeed it was our own Kildare and Leighlin Diocesan Commission for Liturgical Formation who kickstarted the request for such a Pastoral. It is accepted that a Pastoral Message is never enough. There always will be a need for more, and while more resources are on the Catholic Bishops' website, more will follow once those conversations begin around the tables in homes and parishes.

Last Monday Pope Leo met with a group of French Altar Servers on the occasion of their National Pilgrimage to Rome in this Jubilee Year. He reminded them: "the Eucharist is the Treasure of the Church, the Treasure of Treasures. From the first day of its existence, and then for centuries, the Church has celebrated Mass, Sunday after Sunday to remember what her Lord has done for her". I have no idea how many Masses I have celebrated or attended before or after my ordination. I think of the Mass earlier this month with a million young people in Tor Vergata on the outskirts of Rome, at the conclusion of the Jubilee of Youth celebration; I think of the Mass around the kitchen table with my late parents; I think of the Mass by the sickbed of a priest. From Cathedrals to Churches, from Basilicas to Holy Wells, from sacramental moments like Marriages and Requiems, it's the same Mass, the same celebration, the same sacrifice.

Today's Pastoral was born out of the experience of the Covid Pandemic. We never wish to return to those times, yet its experience was in a sense, a grace in itself. The Eucharist, the Sunday Mass was removed from its worst enemy, which as the Capuchin Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa described as "being turned into just a routine habit, into something we take for granted, or reduced to no more than a pious practice". The Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 2012 had the theme 'Communion with Christ and Communion with One Another'. This is what we missed most during those pandemic days. Sunday worship was disrupted, the sacramental life of the parish was put on hold. Some have not returned to worship and some had never connected. Today across the island, in every diocese, in every parish, all are encouraged to return.

Sunday Mass is our way of affirming that life has meaning. Sunday Mass is where God's story and ours meet. In opening ourselves and listening to His story, our own in a very broken and wounded world makes sense. Mass is a reenactment of the death and resurrection of Jesus, first celebrated at the Last Supper, this we participate in on the Lord's Day, that's why we call it 'Keeping Holy the Lord's Day' or 'Keeping Holy the Sabbath'. Just ask yourself what has replaced your Sunday worship? What has allowed it to slip? How might it be re-prioritised?

Returning to Pope Leo and his encounter with those Parisian Altar Servers, he reminded them "the celebration of Mass saves us today. It saves the world today! It is the most important event in the life of a Christian and in the life of the Church, because it is the rendezvous where God gives himself to us out of love, again and again". Sunday Mass is the most important moment of our week, because Sunday matters.

Sometimes I will be asked about the obligation and I think that is dealt with well in the Pastoral. We don't go to Mass out of duty, but because we absolutely need to. We all need the life of God, who gives himself without return. Catechetical tools such as 'Sunday Mass - Digging Deeper' on the Catholic Bishops' website have much to offer.

Using the lens of Synodality - Communion, Participation and Mission - the Pastoral seeks to remind us that the Eucharist is not just a personal encounter with Christ, but also a communal experience which unites us as the People of God. Just as the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, those who receive them become a living Eucharist, become the body of Christ. We become what we receive! And this is why Sunday Matters!

Bishop Nulty is Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin.

Watch a film of the Mass here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ-QZV51t5k&t=1s