May I attend Mass only twice a month?

[Lefebvrist]

I attend a Tridentine Latin Mass twice a month. I would like to be able to attend each week but the bishop will not allow my priest to celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass more than twice a month.

As a Traditionalist Catholic, I am not happy with the Novus Ordo Mass. I am finding it harder and harder to attend twice a month and I come away from the Mass feeling annoyed and frustrated.

It is my wish to dedicate myself to the Tridentine Latin Mass. In other words, I wish to cease to attend the Novus Ordo Mass. My mother is not happy and she says I would commit a mortal sin.

I would like to attend a Tridentine Latin Mass each week. If the bishop will not allow this to happen, then I do not feel I would be commiting a mortal sin by attending Mass only twice a month.

This is not an issue I wish to raise with either my priest from the Tridentine Latin Mass or the priest from the Novus Ordo Mass. I feel I would receive a different answer from each of the priests.

Would I commit a mortal sin by attending Mass only twice a month?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear L,

Attending Mass is not all about us and what we like or dislike. It’s about what happened on Golgotha on Good Friday when the Son of God shed His blood for us. It’s all about HIM! At Mass, it is His body and blood that is offered on the altar—regardless of what language is spoken, what rite is used or what words are sung. Certainly, we all have our own tastes. But the light of His sacrifice must blind us to all else at such a moment.

I am not defending bad liturgy here. I am not defending a pop approach to worship. But we must focus on what the Mass essentially is—regardless of the trappings.

To miss Sunday Mass through one’s own fault is indeed a mortal sin. But to put one’s preference for liturgical style over what the Mass essentially is–is to deliberately ignore His gesture of love as He hung for three hours, preferring our good over His life and all His tastes.

The news from Rome is that the Tridentine Mass will be more and more available and there will be more Latin in the Novus Ordo Mass. Be patient—but above all, have faith!

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.