Want to Change the Country? Go to Mass!

Everyday these days it seems as though someone is taking a stand. People are screaming from the tops of their lungs about something--health care reform, tax reform, fraud, the environment, racism. But is anyone doing this:

"These persons, being Christians, have held an assembly for the Mass, contrary to the edict of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian." So read the charges brought forth against a congregation in Abitina in North Africa, in AD 304.
"What is your rank?" asked the proconsul Anulinus of the first prisoner brought to him.
"I'm a senator," replied Davitus.
"Were you there in the assembly?"
"I am a Christian and I was there in the assembly."
Immediate the proconsul ordered him to be suspended on the rack and his body torn by barbed hooks...
Then Saturninus, the priest, was called forward for combat.
The proconsul asked, "Did you, contrary to the orders of the emperors, arrange for these persons to hold an assembly?"
Saturninus replied, "Certainly. We celebrated the Mass."
"Why?"
"Because we cannot live without the Mass."
As soon as he said this, the proconsul ordered him to be immediately put on the rack with Davitus.

~Acts of the Martyrs of Abitina

Americans are in the midst of the battle. We are fighting hard for what we believe in. But none of us are facing the battles the early Christians faced. I wish I had that much zeal for the Mass. These early Christian suffered torture and death just to celebrate the Mass. They sacrificed everything for it! And me, I'm unwilling to sacrifice sleep to go to Mass daily. These early Christians understood the Mass far more than I have ever understood it.

Dr. Scott Hahn, in a talk I went to last year, said that the best thing we can do for our country is go to Mass. If we want to be agents of change in this country, in this world, then we need to get down on our knees and pray. We need to get into church to celebrate and receive the Eucharist. It is the source and summit of our faith. All of the petty issues we deal with every day will fade away with a deep understanding of the Mass and the Eucharist. I pray that I can be more like those martyrs of the early Church.