We are all familiar with family reunions. Our own families may or may not have reunions. Most families who don’t have family reunions probably wish they did, since these meetings are often good ways to get to know distant relatives, hear family stories and histories, and strengthen family bonds. One may not know everyone at a large family reunion, but there is certainly a sense that even those relatives we may not know very well are still "family." It works the same way in God’s family.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Church as the People of God is also called God’s Family: "God calls together all [people], scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church." (CCC#1) The mission of Jesus is described in the Scripture and in the Teaching of the Church as gathering men and women into the kingdom and the family of God. (See CCC#542 HERE) God’s family is the Church, and more remotely all humankind. We see this in the prayer Jesus teaches us to pray: "Our Father..."
Now the Church is called by God to gather together on Sunday, as a sign or sacrament of this gathering into the kingdom and family of God. We could think of this as being called, each Sunday, and on certain holy days (of obligation), to God’s Family Reunion. God is the kind of Father who wants all his children at the Family Reunion, not just some.
Like a "natural family reunion," God’s Family Reunion on Sunday gives us an opportunity to hear the stories of our God’s family throughout history (the Scriptures and stories of the saints).
We also celebrate God’s Family Reunion each Sunday like most family reunions celebrate: gathering around a meal, in this case the Paschal Banquet of the Eucharist. It is at the Eucharist that we pray: "Listen graciously to the prayers of your family, whom you have summoned before you: in your compassion, O merciful Father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world." (Eucharistic Prayer III)
Notice this prayer mentions that God has summoned his family before him. This is a privilege and also a duty on Sunday, the First Day of the week. On this First Day we are to put God first in our week. And being summoned by God is not to be taken lightly. Something is wrong in our relationship with our own family if we are too busy, or uninterested, or don’t feel like getting together, especially when called together by the Head of the family. Let us take note and get our act together if we are not responding to God the Father’s call to gather for the Family Reunion, the Mass, on Sunday!
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