Confession: Missing a Holy day of obligation

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If you didn’t have a good reason not to attend, do you refrain from receiving communion until you confess this mortal sin? Or do you “create” excuses why you didn’t attend?

Do you continue to skip Mass until you are able to confess?

Do you receive communion, then add it to your confession when you’re finally able to confess?
 
You don’t have to receive Holy Communion at Mass. Receiving in mortal sin and skipping Mass on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation are sins.
 
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Go to Mass still. It is required to go every Sunday (or Saturday Evening). Refrain from Communion since you can’t recieve it in the state of mortal sin. Confess your sins as soon as possibe. Missing Holy Days of Obligation is a mortal sin, but still go to Mass. Only if your in a state of grace (no unconfessed mortal sin) can you recieve Communion.
 
Receiving in a state of mortal sin
Catechism
1415 Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance.
 
Cjbhoward said:
If you didn’t have a good reason not to attend, do you refrain from receiving communion until you confess this mortal sin? Or do you “create” excuses why you didn’t attend?

Do you continue to skip Mass until you are able to confess?

Do you receive communion, then add it to your confession when you’re finally able to confess?
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I skipped All Saints Day and confessed because I wanted to receive, and receive with a clean soul.
 
Also if you’re in a state of mortal sin, you can do a spiritual Communion prayer.
 
Ok. So we know what we should/shouldn’t do.

My question is what do you do?

Hope1960, thank you for your response.
 
TTLE127 said:
Missing Holy Days of Obligation is a mortal sin, but still go to Mass.
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If you have a good excuse for not attending it is not a mortal sin. I believe the catechism is a little vague on what constitutes a “good reason”

That’s why I ask if you “justify” with excuses or do you judge yourself in mortal sin?
 
@Cjbhoward Correct, I was just assuming they missed it just because they did not want to go.
 
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Socrates92 said:
And the reason for this question would be what, exactly?
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Conversation.

My intention is to go to confession. I’ve only recently come to understand the Church’s teaching on the subject & this is the first time… well, that’s not true.

The last time this happened, I’ve skipped going to Mass until I could confess. But I had only skipped weekday Masses. This week I managed to make it to Thursday night, as it was a day of obligation. I also attended Saturday, which I’m trying to make a regular thing. I attended Mass this morning & it was the first Sunday I attended & refrained from communion.

So anyway Thursday is traditionally the day my parish offers reconciliation. But because of the day of obligation there was no confession.

Saturday I had family obligations & couldn’t make confession.

I plan to attend Mass Tuesday morning but won’t be able to make confession until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest (a nearby parish).

No, I’m not very well catechised but I now understand the Church’s position. But I don’t understand. For the last several months I’m trying to get in the habit of attending Mass several times a week. Last week I actually went to Mass Tuesdays, Thursday, & Saturday morning but missed Sunday so I’m in a state of mortal sin.

That doesn’t make sense to me right now… but it is what it is & I’m sure I’ll understand when He decides I should.

So I figured I’m not the only one who misses Sunday Mass & thought I’d ask how others handle the situation.
 
Cjbhoward said:
So I figured I’m not the only one who misses Sunday Mass & thought I’d ask how others handle the situation.
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Around CAF you’re probably not gonna find a whole lot of people who casually miss Sunday mass.

Most of the time if someone happens to mention such a thing, they miss Sunday mass because of illness, or travel (being on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean on a Sunday), or taking care of an ill family member, or not having a way to get to mass and not being physically able to walk there… things like that. In those cases, there is no sin in missing mass, so one does not need to refrain from receiving Holy Communion or confess having missed Sunday mass.

In short, you’re not going to find people on CAF who just make excuses for not following Church teaching. The Church says we go to mass on Sundays, so we go on Sundays. End of discussion.
 
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Try not to get too worked up about all of this. Your goal should be to make the Sunday masses, and the Holy Days of Obligation. The rest of the days are certainly recommended, but burning yourself out is a very bad idea. Say an Act of Contrition, mean it, confess on Wednesday, and go to mass on Sunday. The rest will follow.
 
I always have a valid reason when missing Mass.

I’ve only refrained from receiving the Eucharist once. And it wasn’t due to sin but rather, a promise I made.

One can receive if they intend to go to Confession as soon as possible afterwards. Where I attend, Confession is held after Mass. So I say an Act of Contrition, receive and then go to Confession immediately after.
 
lilypadrees said:
One can receive if they intend to go to Confession as soon as possible afterwards.
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That is not correct unless it will be a long time before you can get to Confession and you have perfect contrition.
 
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My priest disagrees with you. I do what my priest says to do.
 
Thank you all for the replies. I think it was a good discussion. Before I didn’t know how you address the situation. Now I do.
 
You can only go to communion with the intent to confess as soon as possible if it is a grave situation. This does not apply to an average Catholic in most week-to-week or day-to-day situations. If it’s not a grave situation, a Catholic must still confess any mortal sins before receiving communion again.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law indicates that the same requirement applies today. “A person who is conscious of a grave sin is not to . . . receive the body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession unless a grave reason is present and there is no opportunity of confessing; in this case the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible” (CIC 916).
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The requirement for sacramental confession can be dispensed if four conditions are fulfilled: (1) there must be a grave reason to receive Communion (for example, danger of death), (2) it must be physically or morally impossible to go to confession first, (3) the person must already be in a state of grace through perfect contrition, and (4) he must resolve to go to confession as soon as possible.
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So… I understand the Church’s teaching. Missing Mass on Sunday is a Mortal sin.

Even if I participated in Mass every other day of the week (excluding the Saturday vigil). Just doesn’t seem right.
 
As has been said missing Sunday mass without a good reason is a mortal sin. If you go every other day why would you not go on Sunday without a good reason?
 
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