Mother Teresa DID NOT Say That!!
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Now that most people have (hopefully) gotten over their irrational fear of Covid-19 we need to make something very clear: Shutting down Holy Mass was diabolical and it should never be allowed to happen again.
Saint Jean-Marie Vianney said, "All Good Works together are not of equal value with the sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the works of men, and the Holy Mass is the work of God."(1) Saint Padre Pio went even further, "It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun than without the Holy Mass."(2) Saint Bernard adds, " One merits more by devoutly assisting at a Holy Mass than by distributing all of his goods to the poor and traveling all over the world on pilgrimage.” (3)
And finally, Saint Padre Pio said, "If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass."(4) (Psst! Livesteamed Mass doesn't count as Sunday Obligation, just so we're clear (5))
The Code of Canon Law states, "The Christian faithful have the right to receive assistance from the sacred pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the word of God and the sacraments." (Can. 213) And Can. 1246 §1. states that, "Sunday, on which by apostolic tradition the paschal mystery is celebrated, must be observed in the universal Church as the primordial holy day of obligation." (see also CanonLawMadeEasy.com) Finally, the former , Cardinal Raymond Burke explained clearly that, "Bishops cannot 'dispense' from Sunday Mass because this is a Divine law of which 'no human has the power to dispense from.'"(6)
Imagine all of the holy martyrs who died because of their Faith and attendance of Holy Mass! They endured the worst persecutions and danger, yet they attended Mass anyway. They were glad to die for Jesus. Can we truly say that we have the same unshaken Faith? We must begin again anew and recognize Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament as He truly is, and then perhaps if we learn to truly love Him, we may have the courage to do whatever it takes to stay by His side, whatever the storm. Just like our holy brothers and sisters in Heaven did.
Let us say, "Never again!" Let us imitate the holy saints of the Church, and live and die for the Eucharist because really, there is nothing else.
Footnotes:
(1) Quote used in Pope Benedict in "Letter Proclaiming a Year for Priests on the 150th Anniversary of the 'DIES NATALIS' of the Cure of Ars" as well as in "Jesus Our Eucharistic Love" by Fr. Stefano M. Manelli, FI, page 30
(2) "Jesus Our Eucharistic Love" by Fr. Stefano M. Manelli, FI, page 15
(3) "Jesus Our Eucharistic Love" by Fr. Stefano M. Manelli, FI, page 18
(4) Jim Dunning, "Padre Pio: The Saint Who Wore Gloves" mysticsofthechurch.com
(5) Fr. Charles Grondin "Is TV Mass as Good as the Real Thing?" catholicanswers.com and Father Robert C Pasley, KCHS, "Is TV Mass the same as the Real Thing?" NewLiturgicalMovement.com, June 19th, 2020
(6) H.E. Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, "Fatima: Heaven’s answer to a world in crisis" voiceofthefamily.com, May 20th 2020
Full quote, "The Sunday Mass obligation, for instance, participates in natural and divine law, the Third Commandment of the Decalogue, which we are obliged to observe, unless, for reasons beyond our control, we are not able to do so. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2180.) During the present crisis, it has been said that Bishops dispense the faithful from the Sunday Mass obligation, but no human has the power to dispense from divine law. If it has been impossible, during the crisis, for the faithful to assist at Holy Mass, then the obligation did not bind them, but the obligation remained."
