Missing Sunday Mass when sick

[Tamsulosin]

I was sick coughing and feeling not good.I did not go to Mass on Sunday.
I was told it was not a sin.

Are we catholics required to spend about an hour praying to compensate not having been at Mass for being sick, otherwise it is a sin?
Just wondering if I must confess not to have done so.

 

[thistle]

I was sick coughing and feeling not good.I did not go to Mass on Sunday.
I was told it was not a sin.

Are we catholics required to spend about an hour praying to compensate not having been at Mass for being sick, otherwise it is a sin?
Just wondering if I must confess not to have done so.

If you are sick your Sunday obligation is dispensed with and missing Mass is not a sin.

No there is not a requirement to spend an hour praying in compensation for missing Mass.
However, you may do so voluntarily.

 

[Elizium23]

If you are sick your Sunday obligation is dispensed with and missing Mass is not a sin.

Not quite accurate - if you are sick, you have no obligation to attend Mass. There is no dispensation that occurs - that would need to be obtained from proper ecclesiastical authority.

 

[EasterJoy]

Can. 1248 §2. If participation in the eucharistic celebration becomes impossible because of the absence of a sacred minister or for another grave cause, it is strongly recommended that the faithful take part in a liturgy of the word if such a liturgy is celebrated in a parish church or other sacred place according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop or that they devote themselves to prayer for a suitable time alone, as a family, or, as the occasion permits, in groups of families.

IOW, canon law encourages those who are prevented from going to Mass due to inavailability to try to do what they can, but that isn’t the same as being sick. If you can access the readings for the Sunday on the internet and reflect on them, make an act of spiritual communion and so on, though, even though you’re too contagious to let yourself go out in public, that is a good thing to do. If you’re too wiped out to do so much as that, do what you can do, and try to get well soon!

Act of Spiritual Communion

My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.

(That’s not the only allowed forum, but a traditional one that is still used often.)

 

[thistle]

Not quite accurate - if you are sick, you have no obligation to attend Mass. There is no dispensation that occurs - that would need to be obtained from proper ecclesiastical authority.

In other words automatically dispensed with!!

 

[Elizium23]

In other words automatically dispensed with!!

In the colloquial sense of “Let’s dispense with the pleasantries!” I suppose you are correct, but in the language of the Church, which is important to observe in the Liturgy and Sacraments forum, the Sunday obligation is abrogated. I apologize for not finding and using the correct term in my original post.

Catholic Encyclopedia: Dispensation

Dispensation is an act whereby in a particular case a lawful superior grants relaxation from an existing law.

Dispensation differs from abrogation and derogation, inasmuch as these suppress the law totally or in part, whereas a dispensation leaves it still in vigour; and from epikeia, or a favourable interpretation of the purpose of the legislator, which supposes that he did not intend to include a particular case within the scope of his law, whereas by dispensation a superior withdraws from the power of the law a case which otherwise would fall under it.

While there is such a thing in law as automatic excommunication, there is no analogue in automatic dispensation. A dispensation is simply something that must be handed out by a person with authority.

 

[garn9173]

I was sick coughing and feeling not good.I did not go to Mass on Sunday.
I was told it was not a sin.

Are we catholics required to spend about an hour praying to compensate not having been at Mass for being sick, otherwise it is a sin?
Just wondering if I must confess not to have done so.

Next time it happens, watch Sunday Mass on EWTN and arrange to have Communion bought to you. My Mom is the primary care giver of my Maternal Grandma, both are Catholic and watch Mass on TV and have Communion bought to them every Sunday.

 

[adrift]

In the colloquial sense of “Let’s dispense with the pleasantries!” I suppose you are correct, but in the language of the Church, which is important to observe in the Liturgy and Sacraments forum, the Sunday obligation is abrogated. I apologize for not finding and using the correct term in my original post.

Catholic Encyclopedia: Dispensation

While there is such a thing in law as automatic excommunication, there is no analogue in automatic dispensation. A dispensation is simply something that must be handed out by a person with authority.

Nice to learn something new.

 

[maryjk]

Next time it happens, watch Sunday Mass on EWTN and arrange to have Communion bought to you. My Mom is the primary care giver of my Maternal Grandma, both are Catholic and watch Mass on TV and have Communion bought to them every Sunday.

But you are not required to do anything. You are not required to watch the Mass on TV, say extra prayers, read through the readings or call the priest to bring out Communion. (Many people don’t EWTN, it isn’t broadcasted in our local hospital.)

You can, and you most likely will if you are really sick, simply sleep through the day.