Argentine bishop recalls importance of Sunday Mass

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sep 25, 2005 / 22:00 pm

During a Mass commemorating the diocese’s feast day, Bishop Luis Stöckler of Quilmes, Argentina, said participation in Sunday Mass is important because “without the Sunday celebration we would lose our identity.”  

Bishop Stöckler recalled that the coming of the Holy Spirit occurred on a Sunday, fifty days after the Resurrection.  “Since then never in her 2,000 year history has the Church failed to celebrate the memorial of the Resurrection,” he said.

“Sunday has assumed a symbolic value that expresses the newness of the Christian mystery.  In truth, without the Sunday celebration we would lose our identity,” he continued.

The Sunday celebration, the bishop warned, should not get lost in the context of the weekend.  While the weekend is a time of rest that is “certainly necessary and beneficial,” for Christians Sunday is “a true sanctification of the Lord’s day.”

He also warned that those who “deliberately miss Sunday Mass without a serious reason should be aware that they are committing a very serious sin of omission.”

On the other hand, Bishop Stöckler noted that the right to rest implies the right to work, and therefore he said those who are unemployed and thus “are forced to spend the workweek in inactivity” should not be forgotten.

He also called on the faithful to strive “for a society in which everyone has a place,” as “it is very difficult to enjoy Sunday without having earned a living through hard work.”