Is not coming on time a sin?

[Pag_Hingowa]

This practice waste a lot of productive hours of the people who wait. It punishes those who are on time.

Have any thoughts?

 

[Little_One0307]

It certainly is not practicing charity to our neighbor, and it it is a Mass, then it is not practicing charity towards God. Anything that is not charitable to another and to God is a sin. Be it mortal or venial that’s another discussion for another time.

However there are some circumstances where one has to be late becuase unforseen circumstances.

God bless.

 

[ConstantineTG]

This practice waste a lot of productive hours of the people who wait. It punishes those who are on time.

Have any thoughts?

If you intentionally come late, then I would say that it is (laziness, complete disregard for other people). But if its unintentional, then its not.

 

[jsaldar]

Coming on time to where?

This is the first time I have ever heard of being late as a sin.

 

[JamestheOlder]

Not a sin unless you are late for Mass by your own fault.

Of course, if you are habitually late for various functions and your job, you will develop a reputation of being “undependable”. No sin, but hard to counteract.

 

[odile53]

If you’re referring to arriving late to Mass, if you get there too late, your attendance does not fulfill the requirement for Sunday obligation. It wouldn’t be exactly sinful: You would just have to stay for the next Mass for it to “count” as Mass attendance. If you didn’t, that would be a sin, because you would have missed Mass for that Sunday or Holy Day.

If you were deliberately late to an event that required your attendance for some reason, say, to vote on an important issue with serious ramifications, and your tardiness caused the measure to pass or fail with grave consequences, I suppose it could be a mortal sin. I actually saw this happen with someone when the town board was discussing zoning rules when the diocese was trying to build a supportive living facility for some mentally ill outpatients. The alderman in question did not show up on time, and there wasn’t a quorum. Feelings about the proposed housing ran high on both sides. The measure was defeated. It struck me as the most weasley, passive aggressive way of handling a controversial issue on the part of an elected official. These frail elderly people who had been in a state hospital for decades had to languish there even longer while the diocese found another property, got approval, and started renovations. A couple of them needlessly died (of natural causes) not being able to leave the state hospital. It was sad and totally unnecessary. They weren’t a threat to anyone.

Needless to say, I didn’t vote for him the next time elections came around, and I wouldn’t want to have to explain his style of political inaction before the Lord!

 

[SunshineZA]

Lots of people dribbling into church for Mass, as often happens in rural Africa, for the 1st half hour of Mass, causes Me to sin because I resent the shifting and shoving and climbing over one’s legs -

They may not sin, but I detest it.

Pray for me.

 

[JackVk]

Happens at my parish all the time, especially at noon Mass on Sunday. A girl from my youth group told me what her grandpa once said: “If you don’t hear the Gospel, you don’t receive communion”.

 

[marlap2]

This practice waste a lot of productive hours of the people who wait. It punishes those who are on time.

Have any thoughts?

**here’s a few thoughts …

A. MISTREATMENT OF OTHERS…**
1. Lack of punctuality is a theft of someone else’s time
a. Especially as an employee who is late for work
b. But even as friends (or brethren), where we have agreed to meet at a set time
1) “If I have made an appointment with you, I owe you punctuality, I have no right to throw away your time, if
I do my own.” - Richard Cecil
2) “Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty. You may as well borrow a
person’s money as his time.” - Horace Mann
2. Lack of punctuality is a lack of respect for others
a. E.g., our brethren whom we are to honor - Ro 12:10; Php 2:3
b. Including our Lord, Who honors us with His presence - cf. Mt 18:20
c. Most would be unlikely to be late for an appointment with someone whom they want to honor (e., the President, or a
boss at work)
d. If we honor others better than ourselves, we will make it a point to be on time when meeting with them
e. “Few things tend more to alienate friendship than a want of punctuality in our engagements. I have known the breach of a
promise to dine or sup to break up more than one intimacy.” - William Hazlitt
3. Lack of punctuality is a violation of the Golden Rule
a. We are treat others as we would want to be treated - Mt 7:12
b. Are you not bothered when others are late in meeting you?
c. Suppose you were teaching a class, and half the class was consistently late?
1) How would that make you feel about your efforts?
2) Not only during class, but the time spent in preparation?
4. Lack of punctuality is a violation of the Greatest Commandment
a. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength - Mk 12:30
b. "…when we are late for these meetings to worship God or to learn of God, it may be indicative God is not really as
important as whatever causes us to be late, be it our bodily rest, our meals, our recreation, our chores, etc. We are, of
course, not saying that all lateness for the appointed means would fall into this sin. But if we are habitually late for
the means, we must really examine our attitude towards the Lord. One who is generally on time for other appointments
but is usually late for worship or prayer is probably experiencing severe backsliding. One who is generally late
for all appointments is probably also suffering some form of tardiness in the soul. No one who genuinely loves Christ can
be late for an appointment with Him without feeling shame and embarrassment."so, I’d say… yes, it’s at least a contributor to sin at the very least.

Blessings.

 

[x1980x]

It depends. In the context of employment, if you are honest about your lateness (i.e. if you come in 2 hours late and leave on time and you actually report fewer hours on your time card, then it is a minor matter that might not be a sin at all unless your lateness would tend to put others in harm’s way (such as if you were an ambulance driver where your lateness could mean that injured people can’t be picked up). Falsifying a time card and saying you were on time when you were not is much more grave.

 

[John21652]

This practice waste a lot of productive hours of the people who wait. It punishes those who are on time.

Have any thoughts?

If not coming on time is a sin, them the question is, is not leaving on time a sin also. After all, if you left on time, barring accidents and unforseen events, you’d be on time. Here’s another question - if you leave late, but then arrive on time, is the sin of leaving late expunged? Or, what if you left late, then broke lots of speeding laws to arrive on time? Or, if you leave on time and arrive late because of unforseen events, is the sin expunged, or moral culpability lessened?

Lots of scenarios could be written with all of this. I’d just say arriving late through carelessness is bad manners and nothing more. Unless, of course, slothfullness, selfishness, or hubris, are constant habits.

 

[mdgspencer]

I live in the Philippines, where people customarily arrive late. I don’t think intrinsically it is sinful.
I would think it would be a sin in some circumstances though. For example if it is an act of contempt. And if the person is customarily late for work and still is paid for it. it could be a sin. In few circumstances would it be a mortal sin. I remember a war movie, for example, when two men in a fox hole were going to run out of ammunition, and the one who went to get more stopped for a field cup of coffee on the way.

 

[Pag_Hingowa]

I live in the Philippines, where people customarily arrive late. I don’t think intrinsically it is sinful.
I would think it would be a sin in some circumstances though. For example if it is an act of contempt. And if the person is customarily late for work and still is paid for it. it could be a sin. In few circumstances would it be a mortal sin. I remember a war movie, for example, when two men in a fox hole were going to run out of ammunition, and the one who went to get more stopped for a field cup of coffee on the way.

Such is called “Filipino time,” which is considered to be not always on time.