Am I in a state of mortal sin?

[FuzzyBunny116]

My family goes in vacation every year to a cabin in the mountains in New York. I just found out this year about the neccessity of missing Mass and it being a mortal sin. I neglected to tell my dad that we need to attend Mass during vacation (probably a combination of laziness, and it felt very weird to ask my dad). I asked him Saturday night, while we were at the cabin, and the next morning he said no due to the fact that we had company, but mostly that we have no idea where to find a Church.

Am I in mortal sin for missing Mass, since I could have told him earlier?

 

[turboEDvo]

Is there a church within a reasonable distance from the cabin? If so, I would say maybe venial, but not mortal, as your missing Mass was not a decision you made (not full consent). There goes one third of the requirement for mortal sin. I say venial because you chose not to say anything.

However, if the church wasn’t accessible from the cabin, then I don’t think that you are in a state of sin.

Eamon

 

[OhioBob]

This information is from HERE.

For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must all be met: the object must be a grave matter, it must be committed with full knowledge, and it must be committed with deliberate consent…

Q. Is it a mortal sin to miss Mass on Sundays?

The 3rd Commandment tells us to keep the Lord’s Day holy. In Old Testament times, God’s people stopped working and gathered together for worship on the Sabbath, which was Saturday. However, the early Christians rested and came together to rejoice on Sunday because Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning. Sunday is not only a day of worship but a day of joy and family closeness.

Now as to whether it is a mortal sin or not. The three criteria for determining if a sin is mortal were described under the question on mortal and venial sin. It is a grave matter to miss Mass on Sunday. If we have full knowledge that it is a sinful matter to violate one of the Ten Commandments because it violates God’s law, the second condition is met. If we realize that the 3rd Commandment requires us to gather together to worship and we know that it is a grave sinful matter to violate the Commandments, but the car won’t start and there is no other way to get to Mass, the third condition has not been met. If however, we simply miss Mass because there is something else we would rather be doing (like playing golf, going to the beach, etc.) then a deliberate act has taken place and a mortal sin has been committed. It’s like saying “I don’t love God enough to spend some of my time with Him.”

From your description, it doesn’t sound like you had much control over whether you attended mass or not (dad seemed to be deciding things) so it wouldn’t seem like you had the full consent of the will required to make the sin mortal.

But you should talk to your priest about it when you next go to confession. You will feel better.

Blessings.

 

[quasimodo]

FuzzyBunny116:

My family goes in vacation every year to a cabin in the mountains in New York. I just found out this year about the neccessity of missing Mass and it being a mortal sin. I neglected to tell my dad that we need to attend Mass during vacation (probably a combination of laziness, and it felt very weird to ask my dad). I asked him Saturday night, while we were at the cabin, and the next morning he said no due to the fact that we had company, but mostly that we have no idea where to find a Church.

Am I in mortal sin for missing Mass, since I could have told him earlier?

How old are you? Do you drive?
Would your father have taken you if he had had more warning of your desire?

There may be a lot of things that mitigate your culpability here. We cannot answer the question definitively. When in doubt confess it.

Using the internet, it is easy to find churches and times these days. Next time be prepared:

masstimes.org

 

[Della]

Everyone has given great answers! I just wanted to suggest that the next time you know you will be going to the cabin without the ability to attend Mass over the weekend that you get a dispensation from your priest, then you won’t have to worry about it.

Also, if your dad won’t take you to Mass at the cabin, why not suggest doing Morning Prayer together as a family. You can print out any part of the Liturgy of the Hours and you do not need to do all the Psalms. Just do one Psalm and the prayers to simplify it and to make it more likely that your family would want to do it, too. Or, you could find some quiet time to do it by yourself.

 

[springbreeze]

Dear friend

No you are not in mortal sin, there were circumstances beyond your control and you did not fully understand the situation before you went away.

In future if you know it will be difficult to attend Mass on Sunday, either for family reasons or due to distance to travel to a Catholic Church, next time you are going away, ask your Priest for a dispensation from your Sunday obligation to attend Mass.

Don’t worry about this again.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[BarbaraTherese]

…ask your Priest for a dispensation from your Sunday obligation to attend Mass.

Hi there Teresa…I am very interested in the above from your Post. I suffer with Bipolar Disorder and during an episode my anger is quite close to the surface (very ‘touchy’) also I suffer with claustrophobia rather badly during an episode. Consequently, I feel it is best that I dont attend Mass during an episode (I have tried to but usually need to go outside from claustrophobia)… my common sense tells me this. Am I supposed to ask a priest for a dispensation? (I had not heard of this before).

Thanks Teresa,
Regards
Barb