Missed Daily Mass, feeling guilty

[EIF5A]

I don’t think Daily Mass is obligatory in the Catholic Church (unless day of obligation…right?), but I feel so terrible. I work the night shift and in my mind, I was going to make it to the 8:15 AM Mass and then go to sleep. But I was overtaken my tiredness, and now I feel this heavy burden of guilt. Certainly, I do not love God with everything because if I did, I would’ve gathered every ounce of strength to attend.

Oh, and the parish is a block away.

Feel so disappointed in myself that I could be so negligent and lazy.

I’m currently on the path to possibly converting, and I really wanted to “do right”. Every day, I ask God for forgiveness, mercy, and providence to help me in these last few months of grad school.

And what do I do? Can’t even take 30 minutes out of the day to worship and adore Him. :imsorry:

Please, please pray for me that God may look upon me with mercy and grant me a new tomorrow…

 

[Joe_5859]

You’re not even Catholic yet and you’re beating yourself up over missing daily Mass? God bless you!

I understand the feeling. When I was in school, I would go to Mass every single day. It was truly wonderful. After I graduated and the daily Mass times were not nearly so convenient with my working schedule (7:00am is so early ), I would not make it as often as I felt I should have.

Here are my thoughts. Your relationship with God is obviously of great importance. If you can swing daily Mass, it is an awesome source of grace. Take advantage of it as much as you can.

But – as you have said – there is no obligation to attend daily Mass. So you do not sin by missing it. Put this incident behind you and continue on with taking advantage of the opportunity every time you can.

And if you can, talk to your priest about finding a spiritual director. They are a great help in getting through things like this. Sometimes, in our zeal (especially towards the start of our conversion), we impose spiritual obligations upon ourselves that are not realistic for us to fulfill. Then, when we fail to meet our own high expectations, we feel guilty, become disillusioned and – in some cases – give up on all of it. A good spiritual director (or at the very least a good talk with your priest) will help you to set more realistic goals and expectations for advancing in the spiritual life.

God bless!

 

[hadulzo]

I have been going to daily mass since Lent. 6:30 every day, 8:30 on Saturday. Purpose was to condition my body and my spirit. I assumed when I changed jobs I would have to drive further, so getting up early was an “exercise” Now I love going to daily mass. The caveat is I got a new job, only three miles from my house. Downside is I start at 5:45 am. and there are no masses that early. I have to make due with the smattering of evening masses. Saturday no problem, one parish has Wednesdays at 7:00 and then of course first Friday… replace mass with Liturgy of the Hours.