The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-02-05
DAILY MASS.

Do you go to daily Mass? If not,
why not?
Many persons urge that they have
not time to go to Mass every day,
writes Rev. j. Mcdonnell, S. J. I
am afraid that in the vast majority
of cases this is mere excuse. They
have time to read the newspapers,
time to visit their friends, time to
amuse themselves, to go to places of
public entertainment, to spend, per-
haps, hours together in useless or idle
conversation, and yet, they say, they
have not time to give one-haH hour
in the day to what is UNNECESSARILY
the most important occupation it
could possibly be devoted to.
Others assert, and with some show
of reason, that domestic duties render
it impossible for them to leave their
homes in order to hear Mass. No
doubt there are cases where this is
true; a mother must see after her
husband and children, and attend to
the breakfast arrangements at home.
Yet in cities, at least, might not a
little more energy and diligence in
rising secure an early Mass at a
neighboring church without even the
smallest dereliction of duty. The old
saying Where there's a will there's
way" applies here.
Again, it is common excuse to say:
well, should be only too happy to
go to Mass every day, if l could; but
really it is beyond my power. l have
to earn my bread, to support my fam
lily, and, even as it is, it is as much
as can do, by constant attention to
business, to make ends meet, without
sacrificing an hour, or half an hour,
of my day to hearing Mass" To this
I reply What about the help that
God would give you, my friend, and
the grace and blessing that would
go with your work in return for the
little sacrifice you make in going to
daily Mass? Do you think God will
allow Himself to be outdone in gem
crosby, or that He is not able, by the
blessing and success He will grant to
your efforts, to make up to you, a
hundredfold fer the hour or half hour
you give to His service? You are in
business, or in profession, or other
wise occupied; cannot, and will not,
God, in return for the homage you
do Him, by hearing Mass, make your
business or your profession or occu-
patton hundred times more success
full than your own unaided efforts,
even if you were to slave from morn
ing till night, could possibly make
it? Cannot He ward off a thousand
sources of failure?" Is He likely, in
return for your fidelity in His service,
to allow you and your family to starve
or fall into penury? Listen to His
own words on this subject: BE not
solicitous, therefore, saying, What
shall we eat or what shall we drink
or wherewith shall be be clothed. Il.
For your Father knoweth you have
need of all these things. Seek We
therefore, first, the Kingdom of God,
and His justice, and all these things
shall be added unto you" Matt. v,
31-S9).
Our one and only real business on
earth is to seek the Kingdom of God
and His justice" and we may assume
that, if we do SO, God win never al
low us to suffer, even in temporal af-
fairs; on the contrary, He will bless
us and give us a certain measure of
prosperity even in these temporal
matters. However, even granting
that you did suffer some small dimin-
ution of earthly prosperity by deYot-
ing an hour to Mass, or did gain some
advantage by the saving of time, yet
What doth it profit a man to gain
THE whole world if he suffer the loss
Of his own sonl?Y Against this awful
misfortune there is, with the excep-
ton of daily Communion, no greater
safeguard than the hearing OF daily
Mass.
Those who complain of the loss OF
time. and consequent injury to their
temporal interests occasioned by the
hearing Of daily Mass, may perhaps