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Make the Sunday Mass a priority in your life

  1. By Cristino Bouvette


A young woman received a gracious gift from her parents. In light of the fact that they purchased a new car for themselves, they passed onto her their previous car for her own personal use. Though it was “gently used”, it still ran well and she was delighted. Her father warned her to always keep an eye on the fluid levels and to never let anything run dry - especially the oil!


For the most part, she followed his advise; mostly because it was easy to tell when fluids ran low. When the bell dinged, she knew she needed gas. When the wipers ran dry across the windshield, she knew she needed washer fluid. The one thing she forgot about though was the oil. She got used to that little light being on and in her constant haste to get to school and work, to visit friends and go to the movies, she always told herself, “I will look after that tomorrow”. Sadly, on her first major road trip with friends, 50 km away from any town, her car over heated and the engine completely gave out. Smoke blew everywhere and there was no chance that car would start. One of her friends along for the trip popped the hood, pulled the dipstick and told her friend that it was bone dry. There was not a drop of even thick black oil to be seen. She had forgotten about the one fluid that mattered most.


    This story can in fact be seen as an allegory for our spiritual life as Catholics. If our souls are the “engines” which drive our lives, how attentive are we to keeping them in good running order? Just as the auto engine will eventually die without keeping it filled with oil, our souls will do likewise if they are not fed with spiritual nutrients. Fortunately for us Catholics, before He departed from this earth, Jesus Christ left us such spiritual nutrients as well as the power to reproduce as much of it as we ever need! This nutrient is the Holy Communion we receive at every Eucharist - the true and living Presence of our Lord which alone has the power to sustain us.

    We must not fall prey to the same temptation as the girl in the story to ignore the warning lights in our lives which tell us that spiritual juices are running low. Faced with many distractions, it is all too easy to put our routine maintenance off until tomorrow. We are never guaranteed our tomorrows. Consistent attendance at Sunday Mass, therefore, is the way to make sure that our souls are filled to the brim with the grace they need to face the next days. It is at the Eucharist where, as one family united in faith, we participate in the offering of our Lord's greatest sacrifice back to the Father. In return, God Himself is handed back to us under the appearance of bread and wine in order to help us see that as we nourish our physical bodies, so too are we nourishing our spirits.


    Perhaps your warning light has been on for some time. Perhaps the dipstick is almost as dry as the girl's in the story. That can be fixed very easily. Present yourself to our Lord at every Sunday Eucharist and, beholding the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, be glad that you are called to His Supper.

Make the Sunday Mass a priority in your life...

The late Holy Father Pope John Paul II offered the Church a beautiful reflection on the significance of Sunday in the document Dies Domini.  Click on the title of the document to read it.

A summarized version of this great document can be read here: