19 17, May, 2020 catholicweekly.com.au Are we obliged to watch an online Mass? In short - no. appropriate —words: “In this place of memories, the mind and heart and soul feel an ex- treme need for silence. Silence in which to remember. Silence in which to make some sense of the memories that come flood- ing back. Silence because there are no words strong enough to deplore the terrible tragedy of the Shoah [the Holocaust].” Some days later, I got a phone call from an Israeli friend, MenahemMilson, a for- mer soldier and distinguished scholar who had seen a lot in his life. “I just had to tell you,” he said, “that Arnona [his wife] and I cried throughout the Pope’s visit to Yad Vashem. This was wisdom, humaneness, and integrity personified. Noth- ing was missing. Nothing more needed to be said.” The second emblematic memory from that papal pil- grimage came on March 26 when John Paul walked slow- ly down the great esplanade before the Western Wall of Herod’s Temple, stopped at the Wall, bowed his head in prayer, and then— like millions of pil- grims before him— left a peti- tion in one of the Wall’s crevic- es: God of our fathers, you chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your Name to the na- tions; we are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your for- giveness we commit ourselves Obligation and Mass online 100 years since a titan’s birth A s the world and the Church mark the centenary of the birth of Pope St. John Paul II on May 18, a kaleidoscope of memories will shape my prayer and re- flection that day. John Paul II at his dinner table, insatia- bly curious and full of hu- mour; John Paul II groaning in prayer before the altar in the chapel of the papal apart- ment; John Paul II laugh- ing at me from the Pope- mobile as I trudged along a dusty road outside Cama- güey, Cuba, looking for the friends who had left me be- hind a papal Mass in Janu- ary 1998; John Paul II, his face frozen by Parkinson’s Disease, speaking silently through his eyes in October 2003, “See what’s become of me….”; John Paul II, back in good form two months later, asking about my daughter’s recent wedding and chaff- ing me about whether I was ready to be a nonno [grand- father]; John Paul II lying in state in the Sala Clementina of the Apostolic Palace, his features natural and in re- pose, wearing the battered cordovan loafers that used to drive the traditional manag- ers of popes crazy. Each of these vignettes (and the others in my memoir of the saint, Lessons in Hope ), has a particular personal res- onance. Two, I suggest, capture the essence of the man for every- one on this centenary. It was March 2000 and I was in Jerusalemwith NBC to cover the papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For weeks, a global controversy about the Pope’s impending visit to Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s Holo- caust memorial, had raged. What would he say? What should he say? What could he say? I found out two days before the event, when, on a drizzly Tuesday evening, I walked past the Old City’s New Gate to the Notre Dame Centre, where the papal party was staying. There, a friendly curial of- ficial slipped me a diskette with the texts of the Pope’s speeches and homilies during his visit. Back in my hotel room, I went immediately to the re- marks prepared for Yad Vash- em. As I read them, I felt a chill run down my spine. At Yad Vashem itself, on March 23, the sight of the oc- togenarian pope bowed in si- lent prayer over the memori- al hall’s eternal flame quickly muted the world’s pre-visit argument and speculation. And then came those unfor- gettable — and stunningly to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant. Amen. Joannes Paulus PP. II. These two episodes give us the key to understand- ing Pope St John Paul II. He could preach solidarity, embody solidarity, and call people to a deeper solidari- ty because he was a radically converted Christian disciple: one who believed in the depth of his being that salvation history — the story of God’s self-revelation to the People of Israel and ultimately in Je- sus Christ — is the deepest truth, the inner truth, of world history. John Paul II, who was likely seen in person by more people than any human be- ing in history, could move millions because the grace of God shone through him, en- nobling all whom its bright- ness and warmth touched. That was the key to the John Paul II effect: radiant, Christ-centred faith. George Weigel is the Distin- guished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Centre in Washington I n answer to your first question, when there is no Mass available in the place where we are or within a reasonable distance, the Sun- day Mass obligation ceases. No one is obliged to do something impossible. Most of the ten command- ments are phrased in negative terms – You shall not… – and these always oblige, since it is always possible not to do something. But a positive commandment like the third, to keep holy the Sabbath by attending Mass, only obliges when it is possible to fulfil it. That said, are we then obliged to watch an online Mass? No, we are not. But even to speak in terms of the obliga- tion to attend Sunday Mass or to do so online is to lose sight of what the Mass really is. It is not John Paul II could move mil- lions because the grace of God shone through him, ennobling all whom its brightness and warmth touched.” “Dear Father, Now that we cannot attendMass in our parishes, I have a fewquestions. Arewe obliged to watch aMass online or is this something optional? Also, if we watch an onlineMass, what canwe do to get more out of it and not just be passive spectators? It’s not so easy. an onerous duty imposed on us by the Church but rather an opportunity to worship God, and to do so in the most pow- erful way possible through the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, which the Mass makes present on the altar. When we consider how much God has loved us in creating the world with all its beauty, in giving us life, in re- deeming us through the death of Christ on the Cross, in giving us the Church and the sacra- ments to help us along the way to eternal life, we should be ea- ger to express our gratitude by worshipping him through the sacrifice of the Eucharist. What is more, when we think of the many blessings God gives us throughout the week, how he looks after us in his loving providence all day and every day, surely we can spend one hour a week with him in praise and thanksgiv- ing, remembering Jesus’ words to the apostles: “Could you not watch withme one hour?” (Mt 26:40) Moreover, while we attend Mass primarily to worship God and thank him for all he is and has done for us, we also ask him for so many favours through the powerful prayer that the Mass is. We pray for the Pope and the Church, for an end to the corona virus pandemic, for those who are sick and have died, for the unemployed to be able to work again, for all our personal and family intentions…And, of course, we also receive so much when we attend. We spend time in prayer along with the parish com- munity, we hear the word of God in the readings, we are helped to apply the read- ings to our daily life through the homily, and above all we receive Jesus himself in Holy Communion. In short, the Mass is a marvellous opportu- nity to be with our loving God. I have been edified in recent weeks by the effort so many people are making to attend an online Mass not only on Sundays, but every day of the week. And we have all been edified and grateful to God for the more than a million people, undoubtedly including many non-practising Catholics and non-Catholics, who watched the television coverage of the recent Good Friday service and Easter Sunday Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. In these times of crisis, peo- ple seem to be turning more than ever to God, entrusting themselves and their loved ones to him and begging him for an end to the pandemic, with all its unfortunate conse- quences. To attend these online Mass- es better many families are doing some of the following things: Rather than be dressed slop- pily or in their pyjamas, many are dressing better to honour God even by their external ap- pearance. Some families have lit candles and set up what amounts to a little shrine near the television set or computer screen to have a visual remind- er that the Mass is a sacred act of worship to God. Many people do not sim- ply remain seated through- out the Mass but rather stand, sit and kneel as they would if they were in a church. And, of course, they recite out loud the prayers and responses that cor- respond to them. At the time of Communion they say a spiritual Commu- nion, expressing their desire to receive Our Lord with love and devotion whenever this may be possible again. In this way, they truly live the Mass and God showers themwith graces.
[email protected] Father Flader Columnist George Weigel Columnist Pope John Paul II waves to well-wishers in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican in 1978. CNS PHOTO/ARTURO MARI, L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO) COMMENT