Question for Catholics: Will you really go to hell for deliberatly missing mass?

[SPOKENWORD]

Paris Blues:

Uh-oh! I’m going to Hell then 'cause I didn’t go to Christmas Eve service Mass!!! I am not Catholic yet (as most of you know, I’m in the Inquiry class in the RCIA) though I freak out since I might convert!

The reason I didn’t go was I went to my parent’s house instead to be with them for Christmas. Plus, my mother had surgery on her arm/shoulder and wanted to see her. And, to be quite honest, I didn’t feel like going because since I’m not Catholic, I can’t take the Eucharist so why bother then? I know that’s a dumb excuse to say and such. In fact, we all didn’t go to ANY church service the 24th! Besides, I don’t think I can go to a Protestant church if I’m to convert!

Now what? I’m going to hell too then!

Hi Paris, Jesus said if you truly LOVE me you will obey me. We as christians need to ask that question? Do we really Love Jesus? The proof is in our obidience. God Bless.

 

[Lisa4Catholics]

michaelp:

Lisa, all you are saying to me is that it is not the missing of Mass that is the mortal sin, but leaving the faith. While I have issues with this, it is much easier to accept than saying is someone delibertly misses mass they have committed a moral sin and are going to hell. So, what you are saying is that the Catholic postition is that leaving the faith is the mortal sin and this is evidenced by missing mass. And anytime someone delibertly misses mass they have definitely left the faith?

This would be much easier to understand since they have committed the sin of apostacy. But if it is just missing the mass and not apostacy, this really smells of legalism.

Michael, when we don’t go to mass we are ignoring JESUS and what he has done for us we are saying we don’t care.The Mass is Christ centered and He comes to us in a very special way in the Eucharist,it would be like me saying personally to Jesus I don’t want you,I don’t care what you did for me,and I will not spend one hour with you even though you are my Lord and Savior and you died for me:crying: Have you ever attended a Mass Michael?God Bless

 

[Rara_Avis]

Paris Blues:

The reason I didn’t go was I went to my parent’s house instead to be with them for Christmas. Plus, my mother had surgery on her arm/shoulder and wanted to see her. And, to be quite honest, I didn’t feel like going because since I’m not Catholic

You don’t have to tell us your reasons for not going to Mass - God already knows them - And it is He that counts not us. Are they just in His eyes! - Well one day you will find out!

And if you can’t make it to Mass at the very least you can send your Holy Angel to hear it for you.

Holy Angel at my side go to Church for me,
kneel in my place at Holy Mass where I desire to be
at offetory in my stead take all I am and owe
and place it as a sacrifice upon the Altar Throne
At holy Consecration bow adore with cherphs love,
My Jesus hidden in the host come down from Heaven above
Then pray for those I dearly love and those that cause me grief.
That Jesus’ Blood may cleanse all hearts and suffering souls relief.
And when the priest communion takes oh bring my love to Thee. That His sweet heart may rest on mine and mine His temple be.
Pray that this sacrifice Divine made mankind, sins efface then bring me Jesus’ blessings home the pledge of every grace.

 

[Gene_C]

Hi Michael,

Belated Merry Christmas to you and a Blessed New Year!

Here is a question I’ve been asking some Christian brothers and sisters that I know, most of them of the Reformed persuation or if not Reformed, at least believe in “once saved, always saved.”

What happens to a child of God if he/she commits a sin but dies before repenting of it?

Also, if I may throw in another question since I’m pressed for time, how do you interpret James 1:13-15? What bearing does it have on the life and walk of a child of God?

Thanks,
Gene C.

 

[sparkle]

michaelp:

I was just listening to James Akin and he said something that I wonder if it represents the Catholic concensus.
He said that if a person deliberately misses mass, this person would go to Hell since he committed a mortal sin.

Dearest Michaelp:

I say use your brain here. Do you really think missing Mass will send you to H—? Come on friend!!! Of course not. The state of one’s soul --maybe-----

YOU are loved by God more than you can imagine.

God Bless You Today~~~~

 

[michaelp]

Michael, when we don’t go to mass we are ignoring JESUS and what he has done for us we are saying we don’t care.

All sin is such, not just mass.

The Mass is Christ centered and He comes to us in a very special way in the Eucharist,it would be like me saying personally to Jesus I don’t want you,I don’t care what you did for me,and I will not spend one hour with you even though you are my Lord and Savior and you died for me:crying: Have you ever attended a Mass Michael?God Bless

Lisa, I have never attended mass. I guess that I do so with full knowledge and concent. Therefore, I don’t really have a chance to make it to heaven since I commit this moral sin every week. I have never confessed it because I don’t think that it is a sin at this point. I do go to Church, but sometimes I miss.

If I still have a chance because I am not “officially” part of the Roman catholic church and therefore and invincibly ignorant, it seems best that I stay away from the Church since I would have a better chance in my ignorance than in communion with RCC. There seems to be more grace given by God for non-Catholic than Catholics.

Michael

 

[Dan-Man916]

back before i left the Church, my faith was based on negatives; do this, commit mortal sin.

I left the Church for 6 years and discovered something very interesting as I was reconciling back to Catholicism; that salvation is not the end of what we are here for.

We are not here to get saved.

We are here to be in a relationship with God in the Trinity. It is in Christ that we can come to share in His divine nature so that we may live in eternity within the self-giving love relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

That’s what this is all about, not counting good deeds vs sins on some kind of a scale.

My thinking was backwards because i looked at my faith from a negative perspective. Miss mass, commit mortal sin, can send you to hell.

that is not a loving faith within the Trinity. That is a simplistic faith.
Going to mass is important! And it is serious business to miss Mass because, like another poster said, we say no to God. We choose to be alone and separate from God.

What does it mean to love someone?
What does it mean to be in a relationship in which you are excited to be with a person, you want to give to them because your love for them is deep and passionate.
You want to be with them because it makes your heart flutter and makes you giddy inside. It makes you smile to be with them, and makes you glad to be alive because you feel so incedibly complete.

that’s what our faith and that faith relationship is all about. If we choose to turn our backs and miss mass, we are saying no to the one we love. We have turned our back on them.
Only God can really judge whether or not the sin is a mortal sin.

Missing mass is called serious sin, and is mortal if knowledge and full consent of the will are also present.

But what i’m trying to get at here, is that i don’t think it is helpful to look at faith in such a negative way.
Our faith is about realtionship. It is about love. It really is about passion.

We are receiving the Lord, Body , Blood, Soul, and Divinity. We are mysteriously standing at the foot at Calvary as the priest offers the Sacrifice. We are mysteriously in Heaven at the Lamb’s Supper at mass.
It is a pretty incredible thing that we are able to be a part of.

I know it’s sometimes hard to realize that because mass can be humdrum at times. But it is humdrum because we let it get that way.

Objectively, it is the most incredible thing we can ever experience!

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

michaelp:

Lisa, I have never attended mass. I guess that I do so with full knowledge and concent. Therefore, I don’t really have a chance to make it to heaven since I commit this moral sin every week. I have never confessed it because I don’t think that it is a sin at this point. I do go to Church, but sometimes I miss.

If I still have a chance because I am not “officially” part of the Roman catholic church and therefore and invincibly ignorant, it seems best that I stay away from the Church since I would have a better chance in my ignorance than in communion with RCC. There seems to be more grace given by God for non-Catholic than Catholics.

Michael

Actually Michael,
Seeing that you are not a Catholic I do not think this particular Mortal Sin applies.

I would suggest that you formulate a question on this adding that you are not a Catholic and ask it in the Ask an Apologist forum.

 

[Rara_Avis]

michaelp:

the best service that I can perform is to stand at the confessional booth with a gun and shoot everyone who comes out. Yes, I would go to hell, but I would just be like Paul who wishes himself accured for the sake of the brethren (Rom 9:1-2). Maybe they would have a short life, but at least they would go to heaven. What is the problem with this crazy senerio?

The problem with this crazy scenerio is that they would all go directly to heaven - having died martyrs for the faith and you would go directly to hell - I do indeed call that a problem!

We live this life for the next world not this one! And it seems to me you want someone to justify sinful living in this world … many can do that … but it will not get you to heaven

 

[Rara_Avis]

ByzCath:

Actually Michael,
Seeing that you are not a Catholic I do not think this particular Mortal Sin applies.

hmmmm I must have missed this part somewhere - yes indeed if you are not Catholic - then missing Mass is not a mortal sin for you … however your problems are a little more complicated!

And the above my friends is why Protestants don’t like Catholics lol!

 

[michaelp]

The problem with this crazy scenerio is that they would all go directly to heaven - having died martyrs for the faith and you would go directly to hell - I do indeed call that a problem!

Paul wished himself accursed for the sake of others (Rom. 9:1-2). In theory, this would be a noble thing to do since you may lose your soul, but you would save many others, Right? Heck, you might lose it anyway if you were to miss Mass.

We live this life for the next world not this one! And it seems to me you want someone to justify sinful living in this world … many can do that … but it will not get you to heaven

Come on now, there is no need to say that I am trying to justify sinful living. I am just asking a serious question. This does not help.

 

[michaelp]

You all have been of some help. I am very confused about your beliefs, but fear not, I am confused about alot of things!!

I have to go to the hospital now. My dad is having some problems. Please pray for him if you would.

Michael

 

[Lisa4Catholics]

michaelp:

All sin is such, not just mass.

Lisa, I have never attended mass. I guess that I do so with full knowledge and concent. Therefore, I don’t really have a chance to make it to heaven since I commit this moral sin every week. I have never confessed it because I don’t think that it is a sin at this point. I do go to Church, but sometimes I miss.

If I still have a chance because I am not “officially” part of the Roman catholic church and therefore and invincibly ignorant, it seems best that I stay away from the Church since I would have a better chance in my ignorance than in communion with RCC. There seems to be more grace given by God for non-Catholic than Catholics.

Michael

Michael, that is rediculous.If you have never gone to Mass you don’t know what your saying.God does not give more grace to non-catholics The graces recieved from one Mass is beyond comprehention,you are looking at it in a totally different way.You go to Mass if nothing else to gain some knowledge,I know you like to do that I read your posts all the time.Just because you attend a Mass won’t zap you into being a Catholic We love you here cheer up, if you saw the Mass in its True light you would break your neck to be there.God Bless

 

[Lisa4Catholics]

michaelp:

You all have been of some help. I am very confused about your beliefs, but fear not, I am confused about alot of things!!

I have to go to the hospital now. My dad is having some problems. Please pray for him if you would.

Michael

I will pray for your dad.God Bless

 

[Pug]

Paris,

Catholics are bound to follow the precepts of the Church. Catholics. Holy Days are a precept of the Church. I realize you are in a limbo-land right now, but if you are a regular old Protestant contemplating switching to being Catholic on Easter Vigil, you are not bound by that precept, as far as I understand. You will be after Easter Vigil.

There are other considerations possible, but relative to the precept, that is how I understand it.

 

[Paris_Blues]

Pug:

Paris,

Catholics are bound to follow the precepts of the Church. Catholics. Holy Days are a precept of the Church. I realize you are in a limbo-land right now, but if you are a regular old Protestant contemplating switching to being Catholic on Easter Vigil, you are not bound by that precept, as far as I understand. You will be after Easter Vigil.

There are other considerations possible, but relative to the precept, that is how I understand it.

Huh?

The scary part is, I think like a Catholic and a Protestant at the same time, sounds impossible I know, but I’m TRYING to change my thinking to Catholic.

Be what after Easter Vigil? Converting you mean?

 

[ppcpilot]

I think the underlying thing here, Michael, is you are equating the Mass as equal to a Sunday church service. I can see where a Protestant would think that skipping their church service is no big deal…(some singing, some scripture, some sermon…) But Mass is so very super important to true Catholics; it’s something we avoid skipping at all costs! Even if we don’t feel 100%, or if the weather is bad, etc…these are valid reasons for one to miss their Sunday obligation…but most true Catholics will go anyway because it means so much. It’s not just a praise and worship service…it’s a praise and worship service with one important element…the Eucharist! its a holy time where we join up with the heavens in the eternal feast of the Lamb!

To answer your question, Catholics believe that if you deliberately miss mass with attitude… (F-you, I don’t want to go) and don’t repent for your turning away from God, you will be in a state of mortal sin, not in a state of grace. To get to heaven, we believe one must die in a state of grace. As whether or not you go to hell, that’s for our eternal Judge to decide.

This is the kind of ‘works’ we Catholics believe merit us the Holy Kingdom. It’s not enough just to believe; you have got to obey and put into practice God’s word. I don’t believe for one minute that God would send his Son here to suffer like He did so we can just believe in him and party hardy with our lives on Earth, assured of our trip to heaven. I don’t buy it. God is Just. We must keep our covenant bond with Him. If you were/are a father, would you let your daugher or son tell you they are sorry, and then proceed to let them party and drink/drug/fornicate their life away? Is that one time event of telling you that they are sorry, and they accept your love an excuse to act that way and not worry about concequences? Sounds like a bunch of hooey to me.

Best wishes and prayers for you and your father!

 

[aridite]

Paris Blues:

Uh-oh! I’m going to Hell then 'cause I didn’t go to Christmas Eve service Mass!!! I am not Catholic yet (as most of you know, I’m in the Inquiry class in the RCIA) though I freak out since I might convert!

The reason I didn’t go was I went to my parent’s house instead to be with them for Christmas. Plus, my mother had surgery on her arm/shoulder and wanted to see her. And, to be quite honest, I didn’t feel like going because since I’m not Catholic, I can’t take the Eucharist so why bother then? I know that’s a dumb excuse to say and such. In fact, we all didn’t go to ANY church service the 24th! Besides, I don’t think I can go to a Protestant church if I’m to convert!

Now what? I’m going to hell too then!

This is something you need to discuss with a good spiritual director. Personal circumstances, intentions, knowledge, freedom cannot possibly be sorted out on a discussion board, nor should they be. Your situation is unique, and only you and someone with more knowledge and experience than any of us can help you sort it out. But it is good that you are taking you spiritual state seriously. But, then again, one can take it too seriously, to the point of being excessively guilty about non-sins. This is called scrupulosity, and for some it is a real problem.

God bless, and welcome.

 

[Paris_Blues]

ppcpilot:

It’s not just a praise and worship service…it’s a praise and worship service with one important element…the Eucharist! its a holy time where we join up with the heavens in the eternal feast of the Lamb!

Oh, so that explains why regular church service was kinda boring at the church I used to go to. Same ol’ stuff. No offense or anything. Maybe that’s why I find the Masses I attend soooooo more “real” and such. I have this deep, supernatural relationship with Christ Himself and I just didn’t seem to fit in at the other church I attended at a Protestant church…not that they are pathetic or anything. I was looking for something more…more “authentic” is the word perhaps? I don’t know! I can’t find the right word for what I feel inside!

Nicole

 

[Robert_in_SD]

Dear MichaelP;

I thought that evangelical fundamentalist christians believed that all sin falls short of God’s law, thus any sin would condemn a person to Hell but for the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ? If that is so, then for any unsaved person the tiniest of sins results in eternal punishment, correct? And if that is the case, why do you have a hard time equating missing mass with adultery? Aren’t all sins damning according to your own doctrine?

Your real issue appears to be one of the difference between Catholic and Fundamentalist understandings of “salvation.” Your “question” seems to be a disguised attack on the Catholic understanding of salvation.

To sum it up, Catholics believe that salvation can be lost, not because of any insufficiency in Jesus’ attoning sacrifice of course, but from our own human rejection of that precious God-given gift. By turning away from God, we place ourselves in mortal peril. Only by turning back to God do we again become justified by His grace (and not by any merit or work of our own).

Your understanding - if you are a fundamentalist evangelical christian - is that you are fully justified by faith in Christ Jesus alone, and even if you sin thereafter you will still enter Heaven because you have been forever “saved” by your personal act of faith.

Hmm?

Does that mean I can stand up at an altar call in your church on Sunday, “accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior” then go on a shooting spree killing every member of your church, but ultimately end up in Heaven assuming I was sincere in my acceptance of Jesus Christ as my personal savior? Seems to me that I’d be doing all of us a favor because we’d ALL end up in Heaven if your understanding is correct, right?

(FYI - I don’t mean to offend you any more than I’m sure you meant to offend me and other Catholics by your confessional scenario above, but I’m trying to make the same sort of emotional impact. My apologies if I offend any reader’s sensibilities.)

IMHO the Catholic understanding of salvation makes a lot more sense.

One last comment, it is not the act of missing mass itself that is mortal sin, because there are valid reasons for missing mass, such as health reasons. I agree with you that if missing mass for any reason were a mortal sin, that would be “legalistic.” But the mortal sin arises from the conscious decision to turn away from God. And with the mass, this is a literal as well as a figurative decision to turn away from God.

Peace,