Our founder was once approached by a non-church-going believer who told him, in a sly tone, “If you tell me why I should go to Church, I’ll become Catholic.” After a quick prayer for the right answer, he replied, in a flash: “You know your Bible well; when Mary and Joseph lost Jesus in Jerusalem, where did they find Him again?” “In the temple,” our Protestant friend was quick to say. Exactly, Friar Volantino replied.
It's a reality which is simple but life-changingly profound.
Only in the Church do we find Christ substantially present – in the Catholic eucharist. (For more on that topic, check back in a few Sundays!)
This simple image of the holy family is only the beginning; there are, of course, many (many) other reasons one could give for following Christ's command to celebrate the Eucharist together (cf. Luke 22:19), “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some” (Heb 10:25) but returning again and again like the Prodigal Son to the house of the Father which, as we often point out in our community “is the Church” (1Tim 3:15)...
“Let no one make any mistake: unless a person is within the sanctuary, he is deprived of God’s bread. For if the prayer of one or two has such power, how much more has the prayer of the bishop and the whole Church.” (St. Ignatius of Anticoch [d. ca. 107], Letter to the Ephesians, in: Office of Readings, Sunday Week II O.T.)
Further Resources
An article I recently came across on Ascension, treating the topic from the perspective of the Letter to the Hebrews: here