I have some friends who go to Mass on Sundays and they think this makes them good Catholics. I try to tell them they should be doing much more than this. Am I right?
Before I answer your question, I will repeat here something of what you wrote to explain the background of your question.
You say that we have laws in Australia that are opposed to Christian values (eg. on euthanasia, same-sex marriage, abortion on demand, etc.) which call on us to speak out and not be complacent. Also, that we need to be generous in reaching out to the poor.
At the same time, you say, there have been great saints who did much more, and who should inspire us. St John of the Cross, St Francis of Assisi and Mother Teresa of Calcutta lived lives of great austerity and helped the poor.
Also, the early Christians risked imprisonment and martyrdom to enter the Church and practise their faith. In contrast, many Catholics today are content with just going to Mass on Sundays and do not see the need to do anything more. You are right. In addition to attending Mass, Catholics have a great mission to carry out in the world.
In fact, the Second Vatican Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium, n. 31, said that “by reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will”.
That is, by their special vocation, the lay faithful have a great role to play in making the world a better place. Yes, they should go to Mass on Sunday and pray, but this should inspire them to have a great interest in getting involved in the affairs of the world, in their workplace, their neighbourhood, in government, etc.
Pope Francis too, in his Apostolic Exhortation on the call to holiness Gaudete et exsultate, spoke of the mission that all Catholics are called to carry out. Indeed, he said, “Each saint is a mission, planned by the Father to reflect and embody, at a specific moment in history, a certain aspect of the Gospel” (n. 19).
In order to carry out this mission effectively, he said in the same paragraph, “A Christian cannot think of his or her mission on earth without seeing it as a path of holiness, for ‘this is the will of God, your sanctification’ (1 Thess 4:3).
So yes, Catholics cannot be content with simply attending Mass. They should see that they are called by God to a personal mission, which demands that they seek holiness, true love for God.
After all, Christ loves each one of us so much that he died on the Cross to open up heaven for us, and we should respond by loving him in return, generously, with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength (cf. Mk 12:30). And this love should be expressed in deeds, not just sweet words or feelings.
What is more, precisely because the world is in such moral and spiritual darkness, we have to be saints in order to carry out the mission of bringing the light of Christ into the world and of helping others come back to, or into, the Church.
How can we do this? We first need to grow more in love for God through attendance at Mass, on weekdays too if possible, through regular times of prayer each day, through reading of God’s word in Scripture, and yes, by denying ourselves little comforts and picking up our cross daily in the fulfilment of our duties.
All of this will give us a greater sense of mission, of having a positive influence on the world and on those around us, each in our own small way.
Pope Leo writes powerfully of this in his encyclical Magnifica humanitas, n. 211: “Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation.
“The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft-forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good. Christians see the darkness and acknowledge it for what it is, yet they do not merely gaze upon it passively, for they know the light and understand that the darkness has not overcome it and cannot defeat it” (cf. Jn 1:5).
We can all take this inspiring message to heart and pray about how we can put it into practice.
