How sick is "too sick" to attend Mass?

[wheatenlover]

I’m a cradle Catholic who has recently returned to the Church after about 35 years. Growing up, attending Mass was so important in my family that if I felt too sick to go, I was automatically “too sick” to do anything else that Sunday, except stay in bed! And I’d better have a fever, too!

Currently, I have a chronic pain condition called fibromyalgia. Some days are okay, and others find me in so much pain and fatigue that going anywhere is overwhelming. (I’m 72 and age has exacerbated the condition.) Recently, we were camping with kids and grandkids. I did not search out a nearby church on Sunday but, on the way home, remembered that there was a 5 PM Mass at my local parish. However, I was so exhausted by the time we reached home that I just couldn’t pull it off!

This type of situation arises from time to time. I’m not contagious, I have no fever, but I do feel as if I have a massive case of the flu. My mind tells me it’s okay to miss Mass under those conditions but that old “Catholic guilt” can drive me crazy! Some guidance, please?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

I’m a cradle Catholic who has recently returned to the Church after about 35 years. Growing up, attending Mass was so important in my family that if I felt too sick to go, I was automatically “too sick” to do anything else that Sunday, except stay in bed! And I’d better have a fever, too!

When I was a newbie Catholic confused about this issue, a confessor gave me a helpful rule of thumb: If you are sick enough that you would take a sick day from work, then you are sick enough to stay home from Mass. Such a rule does not depend on fever or a need to stay in bed all day, but upon the need to stay home due to illness of any type.

wheatenlover:

Currently, I have a chronic pain condition called fibromyalgia. Some days are okay, and others find me in so much pain and fatigue that going anywhere is overwhelming. (I’m 72 and age has exacerbated the condition.) Recently, we were camping with kids and grandkids. I did not search out a nearby church on Sunday but, on the way home, remembered that there was a 5 PM Mass at my local parish. However, I was so exhausted by the time we reached home that I just couldn’t pull it off!

It should be remembered that Catholics have a responsibility to order their lives around attending Mass, and not the other way around (i.e., ordering attendance at Mass around their lives). That means that you should have planned for Mass attendance when you were planning your weekend camping trip. Had you done so, you might have found a Mass available at a time when you were less likely to be exhausted (e.g., Saturday evening or first thing Sunday morning, rather than the end of the day on Sunday). If you had done your best to go to Mass at a time when you were more likely to be well and you still ended up too ill to go, there would have been just reason to miss Mass. As it is, you did not sin by not going at the end of the day on Sunday when you were fatigued, but I can only recommend that you examine your conscience to determine if you sinned by possibly not treating Mass attendance as something important enough to plan for as carefully as you did a pleasure trip.

wheatenlover:

This type of situation arises from time to time. I’m not contagious, I have no fever, but I do feel as if I have a massive case of the flu. My mind tells me it’s okay to miss Mass under those conditions but that old “Catholic guilt” can drive me crazy! Some guidance, please?

“Catholic guilt” can be a good thing. At its best, it reminds us when we are not treating the things of God with the reverence and importance they deserve. It is possible to be too scrupulous, certainly; but, in my experience, Mass attendance is something over which many Catholics in our society don’t scruple enough.