A Rare Breed?

Two weekends ago, me and my cousins went island hopping and I got to talk to one of them. She was actually my teacher as well as my second degree cousin back in Sacred Heart School (before it became an Ateneo). As we were talking, I mentioned to her that I heard mass every Sunday in college. She stopped my story just to ask me if I did this every week. Thinking nothing of it, I said, "Yeah! With my roommates." She smiled in response and told me I was a rare breed.

That kind of caught me off guard by this a bit as I always just assumed everyone went to mass on Sunday. She's still a teacher now and many of her own students don't go to mass anymore. Reasons range from "busy" or "don't have time" to "no one will drive me to mass." Even her own classmates (at least the male ones) when she went to ADMU were very difficult to bring to mass.

We then went on to talk about how the reasons of "no time" or "busy" or whatever other reason you have just doesn't cut it. We talked that in our respective families, mass was something you just had to do. You build your schedule around it. It's not something you add to your Sunday when you've added everything else to your Sunday. I told her than when we travel, mass on Sundays is something we just simply have to do. I'll admit though that once or twice, we did miss mass on Sunday, but it was never due to the lack of effort in making it to mass.

For me, there's just one real reason why people miss mass on Sundays. They simply don't want to go. Like the old saying goes, "Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw, maraming dahilan." I find it sad really. These kids and many of my own friends are missing out. Sunday mass is the one hour of the week where you're required to be at peace. You're "forced" to reflect on the week and look forward to the next week. Even in a non-religious context, this can only be a good idea.

After all is said and done, going to Sunday mass has since ceased to be merely an obligation and has become one of the highlights of my week. I think it could be everyone's too. I find that although the readings repeat every few years, I always get something new from them every week.