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Sunday obligation and dispensation
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Guest Columnist
Father Glenn LeCompte
“Beware the Ides of March,” says the soothsayer to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s play about the celebrated Emperor of Rome. The Ides (15th) of March is the day that Caesar is assassinated. Near the Ides of March 2020, our nation was facing its own foreboding situation; we were confronted with an illness that since then has had worldwide impact. At that time, Bishop Shelton J. Fabre had to make a very difficult decision to declare a diocesan-wide dispensation from the obligation of the faithful to attend and participate in Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Some of us may ask why such an obligation exists, why it was dispensed and why it is now being reinstated.
Why does such an obligation exist? The Sunday and holy day obligation is not a rule made for its own sake, rather it gives expression to an integral aspect of Christianity–the need for the Christian community to gather around the eucharistic table on the day of the Lord’s resurrection. The earliest Christian communities still conceived of themselves as Jews, therefore, they participated in Synagogue worship and observed the Sabbath rest prescribed by Deuteronomy 5:12-14. However, those who came to faith in Christ by means of the apostles’ preaching gathered together to fulfill the Lord’s command to break bread and drink of the cup of the new covenant in his blood in memory of him (1 Corinthians 11:2325). “Probably from the beginning of the second century onwards, the celebration of the Eucharist was gradually transferred to the Sunday (the day of the Lord’s resurrection) morning and combined with the Service of the Word, which from now on formed so to speak, the introduction to the eucharistic action” (T. Klauser, A Short History of the Western Liturgy, p. 8). By the time St. Justin Martyr wrote his First Apology (ca. 150 A.D.) Sunday had become a normative day of worship for Christians. The point is that, at least for the most part, Christians in the early church saw their gathering on Sunday to listen to “the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets” (Justin Martyr, First Apology, No. LXVII) and later celebrate the breaking of the bread not as something they needed to be told to do, but as something they would naturally be inclined to do. In fact, “the martyrs of Abitina, in Proconsular Africa, who replied to (those who accused them of violating the Emperor Diocletian’s ban on the Christian Eucharist): ‘Without fear of any kind we have celebrated the Lord’s Supper, because it cannot be missed; that is our law’; ‘We cannot live without the Lord’s Supper’” (Pope St. John Paul II, The Day of the Lord, no. 46).
The sainted Holy Father also explains in The Day of the Lord, no. 47, “It was only later, faced with the half-heartedness or negligence of some, that the church had to make explicit the duty to attend Sunday Mass: More often than not, this was done in the form of exhortation, but at times the church had to resort to specific canonical precepts.”
It is important that we who share a common faith in Jesus Christ gather to express our unity in faith. St. Paul tells us, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). Our gathering to partake of the Eucharist symbolizes the unity of the church, a symbol that would be lost if we did not gather for worship. This symbol is more than a statement of a truth. Our coming together in the eucharistic celebration enables us to be the one Body of Christ when we gather for the liturgy and to function as Christ’s Body in our daily living when we go forth from it. As Blessed Pope Pius XII explains, “Every impulse of the human heart, besides, expresses itself naturally through the senses; and the worship of God, being the concern not merely of individuals but of the whole community of mankind, must therefore be social as well. This obviously it cannot be unless religious activity is also organized and manifested outwardly. Exterior worship, finally, reveals and emphasizes the unity of the mystical Body ... ” (Mediator between God and Men, no. 23).
Moreover, when we gather for the Eucharist we retell the story of our salvation. It is important not only that we be individually reminded that our salvation was accomplished by the death and resurrection of Christ, but that we collectively give assent to our belief in Christ’s saving actions by our “Amen!” at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer.
Bishop Fabre’s reinstatement of the obligation of all Catholics in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux is a reassertion of the centrality and indispensability of the Eucharist in the life of the church and of every individual member a
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of it. The general dispensation up to this point in the pandemic was needed in the interest of promoting of public health, but the intention was always that as soon as possible we would again recognize the essential nature of eucharistic assembly. In the intervening months since the dispensation was declared, when it became again possible for people to join together to celebrate the Eucharist, even with limitations on the numbers we could have in churches, many people gradually resumed their pre-pandemic practice of regular participation at least in the Sunday Mass. But we are still missing many of the people who were part of the Sunday liturgy before the pandemic began. So perhaps the ending of the general dispensation will provide the spark for those who have been away to return. I say “general” dispensation, because under ordinary circumstances those who are impeded from attending Sunday Mass “because of the absence of a sacred minister or for another grave cause” (Canon 1248.2), can be dispensed individually. “Grave cause” means something serious, such as severe illness, a real chance of compromising others’ or one’s own health, the need to respond to a family emergency, etc. The point is a Catholic’s perspective should be “I will attend and participate in Mass on Sunday unless there is a truly grave reason that would prevent me from doing so.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, when we could not have congregations physically present in the church, livestreaming was a way that we could enable parishioners to stay in touch with the eucharistic celebration. Many churches have continued to livestream for the benefit of at-risk parishioners even when our gathering capacity was allowed to increase. However, it is important that we understand that watching a livestreamed or televised Mass does not make for a complete experience of Sunday worship, nor does it fulfill one’s Sunday or holy day obligation. Watching a broadcast Mass at home lacks the element of gathering with our church community for worship, and makes us passive spectators rather than participants in the Mass. The congregation’s participation by saying its parts in the dialogs, participating in the communal prayers, such as the Creed or the Lord’s Prayer, singing, listening attentively and actively to the proclamation of the Scriptures is integral to the Catholic community’s worship experience. The most significant deficit one experiences in watching a broadcast of the Mass is that the person is not able to participate in the sacrament of the holy Eucharist, to partake of the food of eternal life.
The best way to view Bishop Fabre’s lifting of the dispensation from the Sunday and holy day obligation is to see this occasion not as a reinstated regulation, but as a new beginning, a new start in our lives of faith and worship. It provides an occasion for us to come together again after the pandemic isolated us for so long. What better activity can we engage in as we re-gather communally than the celebration of the holy Eucharist. BC
LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC
