Obligation

To my son Tommy,

When I was young and your grandfather would drag me out to church on a weekday, I was pretty grumpy.  I used to look at Mass as an "Only on Sunday" thing and never quite understood why it would encroach on an otherwise perfectly good weekday.  In fact I looked at my religion as a whole as an "Only on Sunday" thing and would get upset if it encroached anywhere else in my life.  I was wrong and I hope to avoid that mentality with you.  Tonight as we go to church for the Solemnity of the Assumption, I hope you will embrace Mass on a Thursday night and look at it as something exciting and special.  I hope to teach you to let your faith permeate every aspect of your life and not to compartmentalize as I did so often when I was younger.  Even if you have fallen into that trap of thinking God is only for Sunday unless it interferes with the NFL, remember your fathers example later in his life and know that it is never too late to reverse.  It may be called a holy day of obligation, but just like every day you have to live and love, it is not an obligation but a gift.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo