Why do Catholics Go for Mass on Sunday?

There are two parts to this question. One is why Catholics go for Mass, and the other is why we go for Mass on Sunday rather than on Saturday or any other day. I’ll deal with why we go for Mass in another text, but for now I’ll address the significance of Sunday.

When you read the story of Creation in Genesis, you see that God actually blessed and hallowed the seventh day, which is Saturday. Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites observed the Sabbath on Saturday. Even Jesus and the Apostles did the same and even Jews today continue that tradition.

What changed is when Jesus entered the picture. The Christian Faith rests on the Resurrection of Christ, which happened on the third day from Good Friday, which is Sunday, the first day of the week. Some people get confused with how  the ‘third day’ numbers up to Easter Sunday, the day the Lord rose. In order to understand that, we need to put on a Jewish mindset; how did Jesus and the ancient Jews count ‘the third day’ as Easter Sunday?

For the Jews, the day of His Passion and Death was actually the “first day”, followed by the Sabbath which was the second day, and our Lord rose from the dead on the day after that, the third day. That being said, the Apostles weren’t just thinking, ‘Okay, because He rose from the dead on Sunday, and he always appeared to us after that on a Sunday, so that’s going to be our day of worship from now onwards.’ It’s much deeper than that!

In Genesis chapter 1, God separated the light from the darkness on the first day. The first Christians realised that in the Resurrection, Jesus who is the Light of the World, has triumphed over the darkness of evil, sin and death. Sunday is not just about that one time when one man happened to come back to life. It marks the beginning of a whole new Creation and the coming of the Kingdom of God, which was ushered in by the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord.

That is why the first Christians came together to celebrate the Eucharist and worship God on the first day of the week, and that is why Catholics today continue to do the same, by going for the Mass on Sunday.