Super Bowl Sunday; now presenting it's 49th version of what once was an important football game and now is such an incredible spectacle. Super Bowl's come and go and quite frankly, I am enjoying them less and less. Yes, I do remember February 2010 when my beloved New Orleans Saints beat the Colts and claimed that Super Bowl and the title world champs, but before that year and ever since that year, I could really care less.
This year we have two teams that I have little to no interest in. At least the Patriots have had some good LSU alumni to cheer on over the past 15 years or so and they do have one today. The Patriots though are not an easy team to love if you live outside New England. Then we have those Seattle Seahawks. Not much to like there, especially if you are a Saints fan. Don't get me wrong, these teams are very talented and have some incredible athletes, but I'm just saying: who cares?
I for one don't. So I have a sleepy, rainy Sunday and no enthusiasm for the big game. I'm sure I'll watch from time to time, catch up on the score and maybe catch a cool commercial or two, but I do so with little to no real interest.
You know the Super Bowl has become such a spectacle that no average football fan can afford to go to the game. Yet millions after millions will put everything aside this afternoon and invest a lot of time, treasure and effort, not to mention money into Super Bowl parties, intense TV watching and clinging to every play, statistic and human interest angle presented on the broadcast.
You know even many church going Christians cannot escape the allure of the Church of the NFL and will make excuses and justifications for missing Mass on Sundays. No way can I have time for God when there is a game. Think about today alone, how many folks will blow off Mass and other services because it is Super Bowl Sunday.
One would think that we would want to get our priorities right. Do the masses today see no value in giving due and proper worship to God, to praying in community and placing God truly first in their lives? If the answer is yes, than where is the witness? Today at my church parish, we were shy about 300 worshippers based on normal headcounts for the past few years. How in the world can football take priority over God?
Today indeed is Super Bowl Sunday but every Sunday, every Lord's Day is super and beyond! Being in community worship, and for us Catholics that means Mass, is something that should solicit great excitement, the likes of which would make a Super Bowl pale in comparison. At Holy Mass, each and every day and especially on Sunday, we meet Jesus up close and personal. Jesus is present in the Church; in the Word proclaimed and broken open for us, in the liturgy, on the altar, in the person of the Priest, most excellently in the Eucharist, and even in the folks who have come to Mass to worship beside us. This, for me and many I pray, is more important, more special, more exciting than football; even a Super Bowl Sunday.
It's not just football; folks conjure up all kind of reasons they can't bother to make it to Mass on Sunday; golfing, camping, running, shopping, going to this convention and that attraction. All great things right; but why at the expense of thanking God and giving worship. Then there are those who proclaim I am a Christian but do not need Sunday worship. Oh, I see, you are right and God is wrong. Cool. Nope, wrong. But God loves all the above, so do I. Yet Sunday Mass or services is something en masse we can't make time for. Even if I allocate 3 hours for Mass, including getting dressed, driving to and driving from and actually worshipping, that amount of time equates to 1.8% of your week. That's right, if you do good by God, at least in the category of Sunday worship, God leaves you with 98.2% of your week to do everything else. Incredible.
So yes, I could care less about Super Bowl Sunday, the Pats or the Seahawks. I've celebrated my Super Sunday already at Holy Mass and will do so again and again and again. Get pumped up about what's really important! Get thee to Holy Mass!
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