Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter
What if the Catholic Church, in order to foster unity with Protestant communities of faith, relaxed the requirement of attending Sunday Eucharist? Surely many would oppose the change as an aberration to a Catholic tradition that has been practiced almost since the beginning. Others would say that there is no Scriptural mandate to attend Sunday Mass and therefore the Church precept is alterable. This question is similar to what the primitive Church confronts in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
It is hard to understate the importance of this meeting of the primitive Church. The leaders are to decide the direction of the Church in the future. Will it continue to be primarily a movement within Judaism, or will it allow Gentiles to be Gentiles while finding their salvation in the Lord Jesus? The decision seems to boil down to what James will say. Peter has already been convinced of the need to allow Gentile members eat pork. Paul and Barnabas, of course, have no objections to the idea. Opposed to the change are the so-called “Judaizers” who see Christianity as a renewal of Israel with its necessity of keeping the Law. James’ speaking in favor of the change with only a few restrictions wins the argument in favor of Gentiles keeping their dietary custom.
It probably is not a good idea to abandon the Sunday Eucharist obligation. But Catholics should be open to some non-essential changes in order to accommodate Christian unity, like the determination of the day of Easter. We should not emphasize our differences from others. Rather we should seek commonalities so that Christ may be one without diluting what he is and all that he tells us.
