Missing Sunday Mass - Mortal Sin, Venial Sin, or no sin at all?

[Abigail]

agstockstill wrote

Rationalizations aside, when Mary stands in front of St Peter will she be comfortable with here explanation?

If I were in Mary’s place, I would say “yes.”

Mary arrives at the gate of Heaven. She loves God and wants to enter. St. Peter says, “Mary, do you remember that one Sunday back in 2009 when you didn’t go to Mass? What do you have to say about that?” And Mary says “Yes, I remember. I am SO sorry I wasn’t able to overcome my weakness. I wanted to go to Mass, I tried, and I failed. I planned to go to confession but never did – I truly thought my sin was venial. If I was wrong, I humbly beg pardon. I just didn’t know. I would never choose to separate myself from God. Whatever God decides, I accept.”

How many votes for “depart from me, ye accursed, into eternal darkness.”
How many votes for “the Good Shepherd knows His sheep, and they know Him.”

And, agstockstill, please don’t characterize my comments and questions about the nature of mortal and venial sin as “rationalizations.” I made it VERY clear that I posted this thread because I wanted to explore the differences between mortal and venial sin, and that I was NOT attempting to justify not attending Mass. :tsktsk:

 

[agstockstill]

And, agstockstill, please don’t characterize my comments and questions about the nature of mortal and venial sin as “rationalizations.” I made it VERY clear that I posted this thread because I wanted to explore the differences between mortal and venial sin, and that I was NOT attempting to justify not attending Mass. :tsktsk:

I didn’t realize I needed to meter my words. Alas I am just another “Dumb Ox” trying to keep things simple. I hope this isn’t too harsh, but I believe I will simply bow out of this one. Good luck and God bless.

 

[holy_moly]

Not to be argumentative either Abigail, but how can you say the goal posts aren’t moving when the depression issue wasn’t part of the original equation, where the only fact related to her mood was that she didn’t like the music or the chaotic atmosphere?

Given these circumstances & the fact that her conscience was informed (therefore making a missed Mass grave matter), I affirm my ’diagnosis’ of presumption, because she ‘SKIPPED’ Mass w/ the premeditated thought that she could go to confession before receiving Eucharist in the future. This by definition is presumption!

If, as you say D is not defined by whatever triggers it (which is not true by the way-it‘s called situational depression), then how could bad music trigger her desire to skip Mass? You needn’t lecture me about D as I told you in post 89 that it was possible, valid mitigating factor for missing Mass; it just wasn’t part of the original scenario & hence not a factor. Not being ‘in the mood’ is NOT the same as having a mood disorder…

 

[Abigail]

Dear all,

I think we may have reached the point where further discussion is just beating a dead horse. It’s beginning to turn into arguments based solely on personal opinion rather than any underlying principles, and to generate more heat than light. So I’ll bow out now, too.

My purpose in starting this thread was to attempt to explore the differences between mortal and venial sin in the context of our obligation to attend Mass, with “Mary’s” situation as a starting point. Maybe I wasn’t as clear about that as possible. So, I am not adding or changing facts in order to attempt to convict or exonerate Mary, but rather to facilitate discussion of how these things relate to whether a sin is “mortal, venial, or no sin at all.”

Thanks very much for the discussion!