Reflection for 3rd Sunday of Lent – B

“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God”

Some students were discussing Sunday Mass in their religion class. One boy told how at one Sunday Mass, the adults of his parish had to fill out a questionnaire. When his father came to the question “Why do you go to Mass?” he wrote: “To be a good example to my kids.” The boy said, “I didn’t think that is a very good answer”.

My Dear Sisters and Brothers

Why we come to Mass each Sunday? Let’s take a look at tree major reasons why many Catholics come to Mass Sunday after Sunday.

The first reason is that lot of Catholics come to church for one thing: Not to fulfill an obligation, not to ask God for anything, not to complain to God. They come for only one thing: to give praise and glory to God.

The second reason why we come to Mass week after week is because Jesus is there. Jesus said: “Where two or three come together in my name, I am there”. Jesus is in the Liturgy of the Word. “Whoever listens to you listens to me.” He is in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. At the Last Supper, after sharing his Body and Blood with his disciples, he said, “Do this in memory of me!” And so the second way Jesus is present is in the community of believers, in the reading and explaining of Scripture, in the breaking of the bread: the Eucharist.

A third reason why we Catholics return Sunday after Sunday to celebrate Mass together is because down deep in our hearts, we feel a thirst for God. In the words of the psalmist: As a deer longs for a stream of cool water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for you. Like Jesus in today’s Gospel, a zeal for “our Father’s house” and the mystery of God’s love keep us coming back Sunday after Sunday.

And so by way of review, there are three main reasons why we Catholics go to “our Father’s house” each Sunday:

First, to give praise and glory to God. Second, to meet Jesus in the community of believers, the readings of Scripture, and the sacrificial meal of the Lord’s Supper. Third, because there is in us a spiritual hunger and thirst that only God can fill.