Question about weekly Mass attendance

[mlz]

I am looking at the Catholic faith and have a question. Somewhere I read that it is a mortal sin not to go to Sunday Mass. But what if you go to Mass during the week, even more than once during the week. Is that acceptable? Wondering about this…

Thanks,
mlz

 

[jmcrae]

I am looking at the Catholic faith and have a question. Somewhere I read that it is a mortal sin not to go to Sunday Mass. But what if you go to Mass during the week, even more than once during the week. Is that acceptable? Wondering about this…

Thanks,
mlz

Sunday Mass is required, and weekday Masses (including Saturdays during the day) are optional.

We are still required to go to Sunday Mass even if we attend Masses during the week, because Sunday is our official day of worship. The Saturday vigil Mass “counts” for Sunday, however, and typically has the same readings and prayers as the Sunday Mass. (Exceptions include Easter Vigil and Christmas Eve, but these Masses still “count” towards their respective obligations.)

Once you develop the habit of attending Mass on Sundays, it will become simply routine to fulfill it weekly.

One way to help yourself with the transition into this good habit is to tell yourself, “I get to go to Mass on Sundays,” instead of “I have to go to Mass on Sundays.” It’s only a way of wording it, but even so, it really does help. After you’ve been going for about a year or so, you will even forget that you ever had anything else to do on Sunday mornings; it will have become an ingrained part of your life.

 

[Trishie]

I hope you’ll find these web pages helpful.
Trishie

vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c1a3.htm

catholicdoors.com/courses/sunday.htm

 

[Trishie]

Sorry, links now corrected

 

[FrDavid96]

I am looking at the Catholic faith and have a question. Somewhere I read that it is a mortal sin not to go to Sunday Mass. But what if you go to Mass during the week, even more than once during the week. Is that acceptable? Wondering about this…

Thanks,
mlz

You certainly may attend Mass during the week, even every day, but no amount of daily Masses can ever substitute for the obligation to attend Mass every Sunday unless you are physically or morally prevented from doing so. As Christians, we have an obligation to keep the Lord’s day, and we do this in the way which Christ Himself gave us, and commanded us to do–by attending Mass.

It’s a mortal sin to miss Sunday Mass, but only if it is otherwise possible for you to attend. In other words, one has to either decide not to go, or fail to do what’s necessary to attend, for it to be a sin.

God’s blessings on your journey to the Church!

 

[Holly3278]

You are required to go to Mass either on Sunday or Saturday vigil. A Mass during the week day is not an appropriate or acceptable substitute.

**2192 **“Sunday . . . is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church” (CIC, can. 1246 § 1). “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass” (CIC, can. 1247).

 

[DebChris]

Sunday Mass is required, and weekday Masses (including Saturdays during the day) are optional.

We are still required to go to Sunday Mass even if we attend Masses during the week, because Sunday is our official day of worship. The Saturday vigil Mass “counts” for Sunday, however, and typically has the same readings and prayers as the Sunday Mass. (Exceptions include Easter Vigil and Christmas Eve, but these Masses still “count” towards their respective obligations.)

Once you develop the habit of attending Mass on Sundays, it will become simply routine to fulfill it weekly.

One way to help yourself with the transition into this good habit is to tell yourself, “I get to go to Mass on Sundays,” instead of “I have to go to Mass on Sundays.” It’s only a way of wording it, but even so, it really does help. After you’ve been going for about a year or so, you will even forget that you ever had anything else to do on Sunday mornings; it will have become an ingrained part of your life.

Very often you will hear about the Sunday obligation. As a friend pointed out, going to Mass is as much a privilege as it is a requirement. It is our time to spend in communal prayer. At Sunday Mass, we recite the Nicene Creed, a prayer not included in daily Mass. Readings at Sunday Mass include not only the OT reading and psalm along with the Gospel, but also a reading from the Epistles.
Mass during the week supplements, it does not replace, the communal celebration on Sunday.

 

[Sr_Sally]

You may go to Mass every day of the week, many people do. But you MUST go to Mass on Sundays (Saturday evening through Sunday night). Going to Mass during the week does not dispense us from our Sunday obligation. In most areas, you will have more than one parish to choose from and more than one Sunday Mass at a parish, so you will be able to find a Mass time to suit your needs.