Permissible to miss Mass?

[smc4110]

I will be having surgery on my shoulder next wednesday. I don’t know how I’ll be feeling come the weekend and may have to miss Mass. I truly feel bad whenever I can’t make it to Mass, so I’m not trying to get out of it. But would it be alright if I didn’t make it to Mass next weekend because I would not be feeling well? And if I did miss it, do you all think that I should go confess it the next chance that I have?

 

[Newbie2]

Don’t worry about it. Come if you can, don’t if you can’t. If you’re on pain meds and can’t drive or are too uncomfortable to sit through mass, I’m sure the Lord understands. Maybe you could make it to mass later during the week or on a weekday.

I had the flu over Easter this year and couldn’t even get out of bed…first time in over 40 years that I’ve not gone.

Confess it if you feel like it…but it doesn’t sound like it would be intentionally missing mass without a good reason.

 

[LilyM]

I will be having surgery on my shoulder next wednesday. I don’t know how I’ll be feeling come the weekend and may have to miss Mass. I truly feel bad whenever I can’t make it to Mass, so I’m not trying to get out of it. But would it be alright if I didn’t make it to Mass next weekend because I would not be feeling well? And if I did miss it, do you all think that I should go confess it the next chance that I have?

I’d talk to your pastor about it beforehand (if you’ve not yet gone to your weekend Mass you can talk to him before or afterwards) - he can put your mind at ease by officially dispensing you from the obligation to attend Mass next weekend, in which case you definitely won’t be sinning to not attend.

Personally I think recuperating from surgery like that is sufficient reason not to attend - surgery is serious, it’s not like you’d be using a minor sniffle as an excuse or anything. But it sounds like it would help your peace of mind to get a dispensation.

And next Sunday he can also perhaps can come around or send an EMHC around to your home with the Eucharist so that you can still have Communion.

 

[Ron_Conte]

Priests do not have the authority to give dispensations. The provision of Canon Law referring to a ‘pastor’ dispensing from a requirement to attend Mass refers to the Bishops of the Church, whom magisterial documents often refer to as pastors, not to the priest in charge of a parish.

In any case, I think that recovery from surgery is a sufficient reason to miss Mass without any sin.