If you are still contagious, you are doing other people a favor by not attending Mass and spreading your germs, IMO. A couple of years ago a man was sitting by me in Adoration and had one heck of a cold, coughing and sneezing all over the place. He should have been home in bed. Well, about a day and a half later, guess who came down with one of the worst colds I’d had in years, and I had to miss work and ended up at the doctor’s with bronchitis, and was miserable. I knew it was from him because I had no other exposure and he was obviously very sick and spreading his droplets everywhere.
If you’re still contagious, PLEASE stay home, for the sake of all the small children, the elderly, and anyone else who might be attending Mass with a weak or compromised immune system. Missing Mass due to illness is not a sin.
Two years ago, I had the mother-in-law of all flu viruses. It was really bad and I was upset because I wanted to go to Mass. One of the priests at the priory I sometimes attend told me to stay home. As my fever was breaking, I managed to catch the live 3AM broadcast of the Closing Mass of the Synod on the Eucharist. Inasmuch as I wanted to go to Mass, I was very comforted watching the feed from Rome and listening to one of the best homilies I had ever heard.
If you are going to be out next week, call your parish and have them bring you the Eucharist. You might not think you are sick enough to have somebody bring you the Eucharist, but leave this up to your priest or deacon.no not a sin if you are ill or other good reason, and your good prudential judgement is enough, thank you for not breathing on me, I have had my flu shot and pneumonia shot, but getting bronchitis or a bad cold can lead to months of misery because I have asthma. now get a nice cup of tea with lemon, and a shot of something warmer if you are allowed, put your feet up, and rest.
Yeah, sometimes I’m very grateful for televised Masses. I was very sick on Christmas Eve 2005, so I wasn’t able to go anywhere and had to back out on a planned duet for our parish’s Midnight Mass. Unfortunate because I love Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day.
However, I did get to lay on the sofa and watch Midnight Mass live from the Vatican, which was hugely comforting.Hi Kepha. I, too, am recovering from pneumonia. I missed Mass the past 2 Sundays, and felt absolutely miserable about doing so. I felt fairly well last Sunday, but decided not to test myself so soon after being treated. It is one thing to think you have the energy to do your normal routine, but it is quite another to actually have the energy you think you do.