Mass as a mortal sin

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FuzzyBunny116

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Is it truely a mortal sin to miss a Mass? It seems like such a trivial thing to damn someone to Hell for all eternity for. I know decent Catholics who don’t attend Mass, but I find it hard to believe they’ll go to Hell for that. Also seems to give we Catholics a bit of a disadvantage…
 
Missing mass is a mortal sin Pope Innocent XI I formally condemend people who did not belive missing mass is a mortal sin. He called them heretics.
 
So every Catholic I know that misses Mass is damned? Thats…depressing to say the least.😦 What exactly makes it so bad? I’m still coming to grips that a murderer and a person missing Mass have the same fate.
 
I mean I’ve got friends on a regular basis who do. I don’t think they realize the gravity of it, so hopefully that count as a lack of full knowledge.
 
I think Fuzzy’s charitable assumption that people do not understand the gravity of the sin is the way to go. Unfortunately as will so much else about the faith, many have been poorly catechized.

Breaking God’s commandment to keep holy the Lord’s day is no trivial matter. Rejecting Christ’s command at the Last Supper to remember him by participation in the Eucharist is no trivial matter. Rejecting participation in Christ’s saving action is no trivial matter. Rejecting the rest of the Christian community by refusing to gather and worship with them is no trivial matter.
As my protestant BIL told me years ago, if Catholics really believed what the Church teaches about the Eucharist they would crawl on their hands and knees to receive. The heroic witness of Catholics who find ways to attend Mass against persecution and all other odds in mission countries attests that this is no trivial matter.
 
Think of it this way: say I miss Mass in order to sleep in. That means getting extra sleep is more important to me than receiveing the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. If someone puts sleeping in (or whatever lame excuse someone might have) over Christ, they deserve Hell–simple as that.
 
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FuzzyBunny116:
Also seems to give we Catholics a bit of a disadvantage…
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Yeah right! We’re blessed with the ultimate advantage! We know the fullness of the Truth so we know how to live in a manner most pleasing to God and therefore have the ability to love Him to the fullest. I feel bad for protestants who try their best to love God, but since they really don’t know how, they can’t live in the way most pleasing to Him.
 
Missing Sunday Mass (including Sat. eve) without a sufficient reason, is serious matter. It is one of the laws of the Church. For those who don’t know it’s a serious matter (invincible ignorance) it isn’t a mortal sin.

Years ago a priest told me that missing Mass is the worst sin a Catholic can commit!! He meant that it is often the start of one’s not practising the faith. If we can’t find time for Holy Mass on the weekend, our faith doesn’t mean much to us. Today I think they are rightly called cultural Catholics.

🙂 Holy Mass and the sacraments are the greatest gifts we have. This is where we meet Jesus Christ. He wants us to worship and adore him together as His people.
 
Not attending Sunday mass (not daily mass) is a mortal sin…but if you have a good excuse why you didnt attend a mass like you are sick then that is an excuse.

But who would want to miss a sunday mass? I dont want to miss a sunday mass.
 
viktor aleksndr:
Not attending Sunday mass (not daily mass) is a mortal sin…but if you have a good excuse why you didnt attend a mass like you are sick then that is an excuse.
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Clarification: this is a GRAVE sin. That is the first test of a mortal sin. To actually BE a mortal sin requires that the other two tests be met - that you know it is a grave sin, and that you exercise personal choice in committing it.

Missing mass (once) on a Holy Day of Obligation when you have every intention of going, but suddenly realized “today” was the Holy Day and you were unable to get off work on time, might not be a mortal sin. Doing it repeatedly probably would be a mortal sin, because you cross the line between unintentional forgetfulness and intentional neglect.

CCC 2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.
viktor aleksndr:
But who would want to miss a sunday mass? I dont want to miss a sunday mass.
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My elderly parents stayed home on Sunday mornings during snowstorms, because neither of them was physically capable of safely shoveling a snowy driveway. (Their kids lived out-of-state.) If the snow melted in time they attended a later mass. If it did not, they committed no sin.
 
What happens if I tell someone that missing mass on Sunday without good cause is a mortal sin and they don’t believe me and continue not to go regularily? Does the fact that they do not believe that it is a mortal sin negate it?

That doesn’t seem right? A person could convince themselves that a LOT of things are not mortal sins and honestly not believe.
 
Sir Knight:
What happens if I tell someone that missing mass on Sunday without good cause is a mortal sin and they don’t believe me and continue not to go regularily? Does the fact that they do not believe that it is a mortal sin negate it?

That doesn’t seem right? A person could convince themselves that a LOT of things are not mortal sins and honestly not believe.
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I was substitute teaching a 8th grade CCD class last year, with no time to prep, so I did a run through on confession (good idea, since as it turned out, most of them hadn’t been to confession since their first confession 😦 )

I gave them their sins to confess in practice and one sin I gave was missing Sunday mass because of a soccer tournament. The reaction was universally “what??? this is a sin???” So I walked them through the requirements that Nan S listed.

First, is it serious/grave? Well its the subject of two commandments (1st & 3rd). So that would make it serious.

Second, did you commit by intention, that is did you MISS mass (flat tire on the way to the last mass, sick in bed, snow storm) or did you SKIP it (choose something else, soccer, golf, sleeping, over mass)?

Finally, did you KNOW it was a serious sin? They all groaned “WE DO NOW!!!”

Now if I could have the same conversation with the parents!
 
This idea that a flat tire would excuse one of the obligation which I agree with, reminded me something my husband told me. A long time ago his dad was on the way to Sunday Mass and his car which probably was a junker, caught on fire. His dad got out of the car and just went ahead and walked to Church and let it burn. He was the father of 12 children and I suspect he knew he needed all the grace he could obtain.
 
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Callie:
This idea that a flat tire would excuse one of the obligation which I agree with, reminded me something my husband told me. A long time ago his dad was on the way to Sunday Mass and his car which probably was a junker, caught on fire. His dad got out of the car and just went ahead and walked to Church and let it burn. He was the father of 12 children and I suspect he knew he needed all the grace he could obtain.
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Point made… and taken…I will long remember this story!
 
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ames61:
I was substitute teaching a 8th grade CCD class last year, with no time to prep, so I did a run through on confession (good idea, since as it turned out, most of them hadn’t been to confession since their first confession 😦 ) Finally, did you KNOW it was a serious sin? They all groaned “WE DO NOW!!!”

Now if I could have the same conversation with the parents!
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No kidding. Of course, if an 8th grader has no way to get to Mass on his own, there’s not much he can do. I don’t believe he would be responsible until he is capable of getting there on his own. --KCT
 
but if you have a good excuse why you didnt attend a mass like you are sick then that is an excuse.
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But who would want to miss a sunday mass? I dont want to miss a sunday mass.
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But if your sick, your sick, no one can argue with that, you should stay home.

The others at mass don’t want to catch TB, or see someone sick with agoraphobia freak out at mass or have a panic attack.

Similarly, if you don’t have a ride as millions don’t including some of my elderly relatives, regular attendance may well be impossible. Again its just not a sin to miss.
 
Is missing Sunday Mass a mortal sin?

Don’t we believe that Mass is the re-presentation of Calvary? What did Our Lord go through at and just before Calvary? If He went through that torture for our salvation it would seem to me that we would not miss Mass unless we were just unable through no fault of our own.

Isn’t Christ present at the Mass and aren’t we able to receive Him? I read where a person of a protestant denomination said that if he believed like the Catholics that Christ was present in the Host during Mass you wouldn’t be able to keep him away.

Damned for missing Mass? Think about it.
 
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