Help: What do I do after missing this much Mass?

[MicholasMolotov]

So, I began to work from 9:30am-6pm every weekend and 9:30-4pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays around three weeks ago. Since then I haven’t had a chance to go. I could have gone at 7:30am, however on some Sundays I begun work at 8am and get done at 6pm.

My main question is do I need to go to Confession because of how much i missed or neglected to go to the 7:30am Masses when possible, as I slept in after the day of work before. Do I need to go to Confession because of this or no?

 

[Nelka]

 

[fan312]

What I would say is that you WOULD need to go to confession, since you missed Mass on Sunday, and therefore, the Sunday obligation isn’t fulfilled. From my knowledge, you are not sinning if you have a legitimate reason, (i.e, hospitalization), but should go to Mass as soon as possible. Sorry if this didn’t help, and/or has inaccurate information

 

[biffoqueen]

talk to your priest about this but really if there is mass you can make then you should go no excuse. the priest will be able to answer your question.

 

[St_Francis]

If you start work at 9:30, can you make the 7:30 Mass? Do you live near a college, which often has a 10pm Mass? Can you skip your lunch time and leave 1/2 hour early?

Assuming there is some good reason you can’t make it to the 7:30 Mass, you should call your priest and discuss your situation with him. I have found some priests to just shrug and say if you can’t make it, you can’t make it; others have given me a dispensation

But overall, if you can’t get to Mass because of work, the obligation is lifted. You should try to do something about the situation so you can get to Mass, but you are in no way obligated to quit your job before you find another one or anything extreme like that.

In that situation, I personally would try to get to a daily Mass when I could, just because I would want to get to Mass , but daily Mass does not “substitute” for Sunday Mass since the obligation is lifted.

If you missed the 7:30 Mass just because you didn’t feel like going at that time, that should be confessed before you receive Communion again.

 

[Dorothy]

A discussion with your priest about this can give you good direction.

 

[GEddie]

In for a penny, in for a pound.

Not being able to wake up for Mass is not **necessarily **a sin. Nor would a work schedule that precluded attendance be.

But regardless of the number of Masses that were sinfully missed, Confession would correct for it, provided you were repentant.

ICXC NIKA

 

[MicholasMolotov]

If you start work at 9:30, can you make the 7:30 Mass? Do you live near a college, which often has a 10pm Mass? Can you skip your lunch time and leave 1/2 hour early?

Assuming there is some good reason you can’t make it to the 7:30 Mass, you should call your priest and discuss your situation with him. I have found some priests to just shrug and say if you can’t make it, you can’t make it; others have given me a dispensation

But overall, if you can’t get to Mass because of work, the obligation is lifted. You should try to do something about the situation so you can get to Mass, but you are in no way obligated to quit your job before you find another one or anything extreme like that.

In that situation, I personally would try to get to a daily Mass when I could, just because I would want to get to Mass , but daily Mass does not “substitute” for Sunday Mass since the obligation is lifted.

If you missed the 7:30 Mass just because you didn’t feel like going at that time, that should be confessed before you receive Communion again.

I don’t live near the University, even then I can’t leave during the middle of the day since I work at a zoo and on rides. One of the reasons why 7:30am hasn’t been working has been the needed sleep before the long workday, but it’s only been one day that has happened and the rest I arrive at 8am.

Our Priests have been…eh. I think we’re becoming the new “15 Minute Mass” in the area since we got done 20 before the hour. Nonetheless I am going to Confession Tuesday so it should be cleared up by then

I just needed some advice about my 8am shifts and how I deal with not being able to go to Mass…

 

[josh987654321]

.

Hi MicholasMolotov,

This is one of those things, that when it comes up I often read about a black and white “yes” or “no” when it comes to whether one sinned or not by missing mass, and I believe sometimes it can turn into the way the Pharisees used to be in obeying the letter of the law but having cold hearts.

The question I believe is, do you want to go to Mass? do you hunger/thirst for it? Because If you hunger/thirst for the Mass, even if you do miss it, I believe your not sinning, if you don’t hunger/thirst for the Mass, I believe even if you do go, you will simply be paying lip service, *“These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” *(Isaiah 29:13)

Sometimes the response as to why people attend mass I believe is “Because we are obligated to”

When people miss mass for no valid reason (e.g. they didn’t feel like going), the church teaches us that this is a sin. However Christ does not want people to attend mass out of fear, guilt or by feeling forced to go. Christ wants us to attend mass because we want to, because we love him and want to receive that enormous gift where he comes down and feeds us with his body, blood, soul and divinity, because we hunger/thirst for that encounter of real love with him through the Holy Eucharist.

If you do not experience that hunger/thirst for the Mass, I believe the following short booklet may help -

The Holy Mass - loveandmercy.org/Eng-HM-Reg.pdf
(Roman Catholic Imprimatur)
Jesus to Catalina:

The Passion - loveandmercy.org/Eng-TP-Reg.pdf
(Roman Catholic Imprimatur)

**11) For love of souls, I remain a prisoner in the Holy Eucharist, so that in their sorrow and grief they are being consoled by the most tender of Hearts, by the best of Fathers, by the most loyal friend. But that Love, which is consumed for the good of mankind, is not going to be returned.

1. I live amongst sinners to be their salvation and their life, their doctor and medicine; yet they, in return, in spite of their sick nature, distance themselves from Me. They offend Me and scorn Me.
2. My children, poor sinners! Do not distance yourselves from Me. I wait for you night and day at the Tabernacle. I will not reproach you for your crimes; I will not throw your sins in your face. What I will do is to wash you with the Blood of My wounds. Do not be afraid; come to Me. You do not know how much I love you.
3. And you, dear souls, why are you cold and indifferent to My love? I know you have to attend to the needs of your family, your home, and of the world that constantly demands of you. But, can it be that you do not have a moment to come and give Me proof of your love and gratitude? Do not allow yourselves to be carried away by so many useless worries; reserve a moment of your time to visit the Prisoner of Love. If your body is sick, can you not find a few minutes to seek the Doctor who must cure you? Come to He who can restore strength and health of the soul. Give alms of love to this Divine Beggar, who calls you, wants you, and waits for you.**

Jesus to Catalina:

The Holy Mass - loveandmercy.org/Eng-HM-Reg.pdf
(Roman Catholic Imprimatur)

1. When I returned to my seat and started to kneel down, the Lord said: **“Listen…” **And a moment later, I began to hear the prayers of the lady who was seated in front of me and who had just received Communion. 74) What she was saying without opening her mouth was more or less like this: “Lord, remember that we are at the end of the month and I do not have the money to pay the rent, the car and the children’s school. You have to do something to help me… Please, make my husband stop drinking so much. I can no longer bear his drunken episodes, and my youngest son is going to be held back again this year if you do not help him. He has exams this week. And do not forget that my neighbor must move to another place. Have her do it at once because I cannot stand her any more… etc., etc…”
2. Then, His Excellency said: “Let us pray,” and obviously all the assembly stood up for the final prayer. Jesus said in a sad tone:** “Did you notice? Not once did she tell Me that she loved Me. Not once did she give thanks for My gift to her of bringing My Divinity down to her poor humanity to elevate her toward Me. Not a single time did she say: ‘Thank You Lord.’ It has been a litany of requests… and almost all of those who come to receive Me are like that. 76) “I have died for love and I am risen. For love I await each one of you, and for love I remain with you… But you do not realize that I need your love. Remember that I am the Beggar of Love in this sublime hour for the soul.” **

And when it comes to confession I believe the following may help out of St Faustina’s Diary.

Jesus to St. Fasutina -

"…when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls." (Diary, 1603).

I hope some of this has helped

God Bless You

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[St_Francis]

Ahhhh, what you say has some merit, in that it is true that God does not want a servile relationship with us, but there are times when we need that extra bit of motivation to maintain or get into a habit. Moreover, and more importantly, when we do things in obedience to God (or to appropriate authority), it is actually more meritorious than doing it because we want to.

The main point if our spiritual self is our *will, *not our feelings, or even our thoughts. When people wake up and say, I stayed out too late last night–I do not feel like going to Mass! but go anyway, they are showing they love God with their will; they love Him even when it doesn’t feel good.

Sometimes people are spiritually immature and need that knowledge of the “negative consequence” to help them develop their will so that they no longer need that crutch.

The lady your quote mentioned–well, she’s at a point where she is spiritually immature. But did Christ say she should stop going to Mass if all she was going to do was ask for stuff? No. He wants her to learn and grow so that she understands the person-ness of Christ rather than seeing Him as a mere dispenser of solutions, but she will (hopefully) learn that through following the Church’s instructions on growing in holiness, the first advice of which is to go to Mass.

Hi MicholasMolotov,

This is one of those things, that when it comes up I often read about a black and white “yes” or “no” when it comes to whether one sinned or not by missing mass, and I believe sometimes it can turn into the way the Pharisees used to be in obeying the letter of the law but having cold hearts.

The question I believe is, do you want to go to Mass? do you hunger/thirst for it? Because If you hunger/thirst for the Mass, even if you do miss it, I believe your not sinning, if you don’t hunger/thirst for the Mass, I believe even if you do go, you will simply be paying lip service, *“These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” *(Isaiah 29:13)

Sometimes the response as to why people attend mass I believe is “Because we are obligated to”

When people miss mass for no valid reason (e.g. they didn’t feel like going), the church teaches us that this is a sin. However Christ does not want people to attend mass out of fear, guilt or by feeling forced to go. Christ wants us to attend mass because we want to, because we love him and want to receive that enormous gift where he comes down and feeds us with his body, blood, soul and divinity, because we hunger/thirst for that encounter of real love with him through the Holy Eucharist.

If you do not experience that hunger/thirst for the Mass, I believe the following short booklet may help -

The Holy Mass - loveandmercy.org/Eng-HM-Reg.pdf
(Roman Catholic Imprimatur)

And when it comes to confession I believe the following may help out of St Faustina’s Diary.

Jesus to St. Fasutina -

"…when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls." (Diary, 1603).

I hope some of this has helped

God Bless You

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[josh987654321]

Ahhhh, what you say has some merit, in that it is true that God does not want a servile relationship with us, but there are times when we need that extra bit of motivation to maintain or get into a habit. Moreover, and more importantly, when we do things in obedience to God (or to appropriate authority), it is actually more meritorious than doing it because we want to.

I kind of get this and I kind of don’t. I get it in the sense that feelings can come and go, and therefore it can be necessary for a habit to be formed, kind of like the habit for virtue. I don’t get it in the example below though.

The main point if our spiritual self is our *will, *not our feelings, or even our thoughts. When people wake up and say, I stayed out too late last night–I do not feel like going to Mass! but go anyway, they are showing they love God with their will; they love Him even when it doesn’t feel good.

I disagree here, if someone stayed out too late last night and didn’t want to go to Mass, I wouldn’t suggest that they do, I would suggest that they go to confession after they have sobered up and realise the mistake that they have made.

Sometimes people are spiritually immature and need that knowledge of the “negative consequence” to help them develop their will so that they no longer need that crutch.

But that is just the thing for me, the negative consequence should never be going to Mass, Mass should never be a ‘negative’ consequence in my view, it should be missing out on Mass that is the ‘negative’ consequence I believe.

The lady your quote mentioned–well, she’s at a point where she is spiritually immature. But did Christ say she should stop going to Mass if all she was going to do was ask for stuff? No. He wants her to learn and grow so that she understands the person-ness of Christ rather than seeing Him as a mere dispenser of solutions, but she will (hopefully) learn that through following the Church’s instructions on growing in holiness, the first advice of which is to go to Mass.

True.

I will reflect on this and re-word my responses here in the future, Thank you St Francis.

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[MicholasMolotov]

Hi MicholasMolotov,

This is one of those things, that when it comes up I often read about a black and white “yes” or “no” when it comes to whether one sinned or not by missing mass, and I believe sometimes it can turn into the way the Pharisees used to be in obeying the letter of the law but having cold hearts.

The question I believe is, do you want to go to Mass? do you hunger/thirst for it? Because If you hunger/thirst for the Mass, even if you do miss it, I believe your not sinning, if you don’t hunger/thirst for the Mass, I believe even if you do go, you will simply be paying lip service, *“These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” *(Isaiah 29:13)

Sometimes the response as to why people attend mass I believe is “Because we are obligated to”

When people miss mass for no valid reason (e.g. they didn’t feel like going), the church teaches us that this is a sin. However Christ does not want people to attend mass out of fear, guilt or by feeling forced to go. Christ wants us to attend mass because we want to, because we love him and want to receive that enormous gift where he comes down and feeds us with his body, blood, soul and divinity, because we hunger/thirst for that encounter of real love with him through the Holy Eucharist.

Thanks for an answer!

As I have previously said, I have been wanting to go it just has been really inconvenient timing because of my work schedule since I begin work at 8am on some Sundays. I was wondering if it was sinful if, in wanting to go but not being able to, missing Sunday Mass due to circumstances I cannot control. Now I know it isn’t.

On days in which I begin at 9:30am i’ll go at 7:30am to fulfill that obligation because I really want to go because it’s been three weeks. I haven’t been “in tune” with Christ lately with everything, although I pray daily.

Again, thank you for an answer! God Bless

 

[josh987654321]

Thanks for an answer!

As I have previously said, I have been wanting to go it just has been really inconvenient timing because of my work schedule since I begin work at 8am on some Sundays. I was wondering if it was sinful if, in wanting to go but not being able to, missing Sunday Mass due to circumstances I cannot control. Now I know it isn’t.

On days in which I begin at 9:30am i’ll go at 7:30am to fulfill that obligation because I really want to go because it’s been three weeks. I haven’t been “in tune” with Christ lately with everything, although I pray daily.

Again, thank you for an answer! God Bless

It was my pleasure.

If you really want to go, than I believe your not sinning. Also, the Churches are usually open throughout the day where you can drop by for a visit at nearly any time.

God Bless You

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[EasterJoy]

Talk to your pastor. In the future, when you know you may not be able to go Mass or are missing for a reason that is a judgment call (rather than sickness or infirmity), ask for a dispensation in advance. If you have to make a call without being able to ask your pastor if it is OK, then do your best and ask him afterwards if you are unsure (based on previous conversations) if your judgment is OK.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

So, I began to work from 9:30am-6pm every weekend and 9:30-4pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays around three weeks ago. Since then I haven’t had a chance to go. I could have gone at 7:30am, however on some Sundays I begun work at 8am and get done at 6pm.

My main question is do I need to go to Confession because of how much i missed or neglected to go to the 7:30am Masses when possible, as I slept in after the day of work before. Do I need to go to Confession because of this or no?

I assumed Omaha because there are only about 2 zoos in the state and the other is in Lincoln But you said you were not in the same town as the University. College of St Mary has a 730 PM all year long. And it is 9 minutes from the Zoo. St Pius X has a 7pm Sunday Mass. During the School year St Johns at Creighton has an 8:30PM and a 10:30PM

Always use Masstimes.org. But call and check to make sure of the accuracy.

Usually when there is a will there is a way to meet your obligation.

 

[St_Francis]

re-arranging your post so my responses will (hopefully) make more sense.

(¶3) But that is just the thing for me, the negative consequence should never be going to Mass, Mass should never be a ‘negative’ consequence in my view, it should be missing out on Mass that is the ‘negative’ consequence I believe.

Yikes!!! I was talking about the negative consequence of spending eternity in Hell… not going to Mass! (In response to your writing, “However Christ does not want people to attend mass out of fear, guilt or by feeling forced to go.”)

(¶2) I disagree here, if someone stayed out too late last night and didn’t want to go to Mass, I wouldn’t suggest that they do, I would suggest that they go to confession after they have sobered up and realise the mistake that they have made.

Well, first of all, people can stay out late and not drink; I was trying to portray someone who had *not done anything wrong *other than staying out too late and being tired the next morning and choosing to stay in bed rather than go to Mass.

Second, your suggestion would go against what the Church teaches. The person who got drunk *should *go to Mass, unless they are too ill (from being hungover or still be too drunk) to go.

If they got very drunk, they might have seriously sinned and so should perhaps refrain from receiving Communion (also if there is any chance of their being sick to their stomach).

One should go to Mass even if one does not feel like going; this is why the Church has made it *an obligation. *

I kind of get this and I kind of don’t. I get it in the sense that feelings can come and go, and therefore it can be necessary for a habit to be formed, kind of like the habit for virtue.

Yes, feelings come and go, and there were probably times when even saints had the temptation to miss Mass, because, when you think about it, that is all that the feeling one doesn’t want to go is: a temptation to miss Mass.

I don’t get it in the example below though.

I don’t really understand what you meant here.

True.

I will reflect on this and re-word my responses here in the future, Thank you St Francis.

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh

It can be tricky sometimes to get all this balanced out.