Is it sinful to play and watch sports on Sundays?
Catechism Meditation:
The Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Day and his Eucharist is at the heart of the Church’s life. “Sunday is the day on which the paschal mystery is celebrated in light of the apostolic tradition and is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church.” ―No. 2177
REFLECTION. Catholics are encouraged to prioritize their faith and worship over sports, especially on Sundays, which are meant for communal celebration and rest. Intentionally choosing sports over Mass is considered a mortal sin, as it violates the Church’s moral teaching on the Lord’s Day. Engaging in sports should not replace the communal celebration of the Eucharist or hinder one’s obligation to attend Mass.
In his article for Crisis Magazine: Demonic Deception of Kids’ Sports, Fr. Joseph Gill writes: There was a time when Sunday morning was sacrosanct. But now good Catholics are torn. They want to worship God at Mass, but they spend an exorbitant amount of money to register their kids for sports or dance or robotics or whatever, and they think they’re committed to this, too. I absolutely believe it’s a subtle ploy of the Evil One to try to separate people from the Eucharist.
These activities are not evil in themselves, but the Evil One uses them as an unsuspected tool to convince people that the Eucharist is a “nice extra” to squeeze into a weekend that’s already jam-packed with activities. Then, when people return to Mass after missing a few weekends, the Evil One convinces them to receive Communion without Confession, as if that were fine and dandy rather than an unworthy reception of the Lord due to the mortal sin of missing Mass. Can we not see this as a diabolical ploy to separate people from the Lord? Satan will never tempt you to worship a golden calf—he will tempt you to think that the meaningless soccer game is more important than Jesus Christ.
There is, in my adopted home of Fairfield County, Connecticut, a Jewish baseball league. It was founded so that no games would occur on their Sabbath day. Why do we not insist on this for Catholics, who make up 45 percent of the population of Fairfield County? It is nothing but cowardice for Catholics to stay quiet when their sacred time is invaded with sports and activities. We don’t live for sports and robotics and gymnastics—we live for Christ, and everything else is just extra.
When I played baseball in college at Franciscan University, my coach had an unforgettable saying: “Nothing in sports is eternal.” This put it all in perspective: as good as sports are for recreation, growth in virtue, and physical exercise, the benefits are essentially this-worldly. And this is precisely where Satan wants our focus to remain: here on this earth, not in the eternity we were made for. This, then, is the diabolical effort of Satan in our modern day: to separate people from the Eucharist by convincing them that other activities can be on par with, or take precedence over, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Let us consider the consequence of our belief that Jesus Christ is truly here, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. If we really believe that here He is, the Lover of our soul, our Creator, our Destiny, our Peace, we would make this everything! Barring sickness or other legitimate emergency, we would make sure that we were here in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord every Sunday.
I close with the powerful words of St. John Bosco, who said: “Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit Him [in the Eucharist] often. Do you want Him to grant you only a few? Visit Him but seldom. Do you want the devil to attack you? Rarely visit the Blessed Sacrament. Do you want him to flee from you? Visit Jesus often!”
The Evil One knows that as soon as someone abandons the Eucharist, their soul belongs to him. The devil is much wiser these days; he does not close churches or attack the Eucharist directly. Rather, he distracts with a thousand activities that take us away from the True Presence of the Lord. It’s time we Catholics said, “I’m sorry, Coach, but we’ve got an appointment we can’t miss, and it’s with the God of the universe, who has loved us enough to give us His Body and Blood as food for everlasting life.”
PRAYER. Our Father, in the stillness of our hearts, we seek to place You at the forefront of our lives. Guide us to prioritize Your will above our own desires, that we may reflect Your love in all we do. Strengthen our faith as we lift You higher each day. Amen.
Timeless Wisdom Quote:
“We are undergoing a slight test, of dividing our loyalty between Christ and the world.” ― Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen