For several years now, I have been a Catholic, having been baptized on Easter Vigil of 2022. I left the Mormon church officially in 2023. I only stayed on the books to keep the wife happy, but at some point, one needs to do what’s right and the right thing was to formally and forever cut ties with the church that was not founded by Christ like the Catholic Church is, but a fraud of a man with a criminal record.
Before Mormonism, I was born into the Seventh-day Adventist faith. Though I attended a private SDA academy for first and second grades, I was never actually baptized and that was at my polite but firm insistence. I was being prepped for baptism when I turned seven, but I declined to go through with it as a lot of things bothered me about that faith.
Sure, the SDA people are, for the most part, decent people, albeit decent but misguided people. I mean first off, the church was founded by a woman, not Jesus Christ. Given that Jesus has never had any involvement with the SDA religion just like He distances Himself from Mormonism, the SDA faith is formed on a foundation of lies and misinformation.
The one thing about being in the Seventh-day Adventist faith was that I was forbidden to play outside with friends on Saturdays as that is the Sabbath day to them. Most of my friends were members of other faiths and their Sabbath was on Sundays and they likewise could not come out and play. That left me alone, except for one girl my age down the street.
She was Jewish so on Sundays, it was either play by ourselves or play with each other (giggity). She was an okay kid, just very weird. But then again, most Jews are odd ducks. I mean seriously, they don’t even believe that Christ is our Savior. They also play the victim a lot, whining about a holocaust that was never really a holocaust, but a simple war and no one is exempt from the horrors of wars, not even them.
But that’s another article for another day.
The purpose of this article is to point out that being Catholic has its perks. Yes, Sunday is our official Sabbath day, but most parishes offer a Saturday Vigil, or Saturday Mass. As long as Mass occurs at or after 4:00 pm local time, it counts as your obligation. Why is it that way? Apparently, some genius decided that 4:00 counts as the evening.
Yes, we are obligated to attend Mass every weekend. If we don’t, then that’s a mortal sin and must be resolved with the priest at Confession.
Missing Mass without one hell of a good reason is a horrible sin within the Catholic faith. We are the only faith that correctly teaches that missing services is a serious thing indeed. Some Catholics take it very seriously. Today, for example, I noticed that the offering box already had offerings in at. As an usher, it’s one of my duties to ensure that the bag is collected and marked as to which Mass it was for. Our parish offers a 9:00 a.m. Mass on the first Saturday of the month.
Two other ushers saw me handling the offering early and asked what I was doing. When I pointed out the special Mass, one said, “I didn’t know that. I guess I’m going to Hell!” He meant it as a joke, but that is a reality. Failing to go to Mass and then refusing to confess will likely put one in Hell.
Going to Mass is quite easy. Doing so requires but only an hour of one’s time and there is always a good message within. Well…usually. Occasionally, a priest will pull a homily out of his ass and it shows. For the most part, however, the homilies are worth listening to, at least a little bit.
Yes, there are some Saturdays where I don’t want to go. However, I want to satisfy my obligation, so I complain and grumble, but I do it. Of course, there are some times where I just don’t get out of bed and what happens there is that I then go to Confession the following week.
Sometimes, the penance is worth an extra day of weekend freedom. Say a few Hail Marys, pray the rosary and you’re typically good to go.
Today’s message from the visiting priest, and he deviated from his pre-written homily, was one about redemption and forgiveness. He spoke of his time serving as a volunteer minister to prison inmates who were nearing their release dates. We’re not talking county jail here. We’re talking state prison, where the worst of the worst goes.
Doing something to wind up in jail is bad enough, but prison time means someone did something horrible, usually violent. To me, that person is beyond redemption and should be treated accordingly.
He spoke of seeing prisoners reformed and ready to re-enter society. It’s my opinion that once you go to prison, you should stay there as your prison sentence means that you’re likely violent and are therefore dangerous to decent society. But it is what it is, folks. People go in and people go out, even though they shouldn’t.
Anyway, I’m rambling. The point of this article is to point out that while of course Mass obviously takes place on Sundays, I like the option to attend Saturday Mass and get my obligation over and done with. Not only that, but Masses like the one today are considerably lesser-attended than Sunday Masses. That’s a nice perk.
At my parish, I like being involved, which is why I am an usher and I also help wherever else I may be needed. That gives me a sense of purpose as opposed to just sitting there, doing nothing. Yes, I much prefer going to Mass today over tomorrow. Tomorrow is Mike time. I can’t have Mike time if I have to go to Mass.
In parting, I don’t know who needs to read this, but to quote that same visiting priest, God loves you and there’s nothing you can do about it!