Should I confess missing Mass when I am sick?

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Harmony

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Sometimes I miss Mass because of my work, and sometimes because I am really tired due to terrible bouts of insomnia and not being able to take sleeping pjlls and I just fall asleep and then have to work at one of my jobs (evening job).

The insomnia may be due to food sensitivities or something like that so it is getting under control. But it made me miss Mass last week, and this week an emergency at my other job made me miss Mass this week.

My priest where I used to live used to always ask me about getting to Mass, so I feel I ought to confess it, but if it is due to sickness or having to work, then it is not sinful, so then I wouldn’t have to confess it, and sometimes priests react strongly when I confess it and then I feel confused.

So… What should I do?

Thank you!!!
 
Not confess it. These aren’t sins. But regarding work, if it’s possible to get a job where you don’t work Sundays or if you can attend a Saturday vigil you should.
 
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Harmony,

Great question! I suffer from severe depression. I’m only now beginning to recover from a bad episode which caused me to skip Mass. I thought about going to Confession, but I believe that God knows about my illness and forgives me.
 
My whole work schedule will change soon as I will be starting classes. Work hasn’t been a problem as usually I only work Sunday evenings if we are shorthanded and I don’t usually have an emergency at my other job.

ETA: I do work most Saturdays, so don’t get to vigil Masses, and confession is tricky: I go early, in my uniform, and hope the line is not too long 🙂
 
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If you’re really sick and unable to go to Mass, there’s no sin. I can’t say much about the work bit because there’s not much context. Do you have to work on Sundays? Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest so servile work is prohibited. Of course, this may be allowed depending on the circumstances eg person needs to work extra to provide for poor family. Read CCC 2186-2188
 
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just the other day in confession the priest told me not to worry if I felt sick and missed Mass, and actually encourages me to stay home if I felt sick, to avoid exposing others
 
Zynxensar said:
Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest so servile work is prohibited.
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This interests me because recently my priest told us that it’s ok to work on a Sunday if the work involves serving others. Where can I find a definitive answer to this to you think in the catechism?
 
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Hence, why I added later on that it is “depending on the circumstances.”

Yes, look at CCC 2186-2188
 
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Would you go to school or work sick? Going to Mass is the same. We don’t want your viruses or bacteria. If you are not sleeping properly and need to drive to church then we don’t want you to cause a car accident on the way because of you being tired.
 
Thanks everyone 🙂 I will stop confessing missing Mass for a valid reason!
 
I’d say when in doubt, it can’t hurt to confess. The priest can always say there’s no sin in what you did or didn’t do. It’s like telling someone you’re sorry and having them reply you have nothing to be sorry about! Right?
 
spockrates said:
I’d say when in doubt, it can’t hurt to confess. The priest can always say there’s no sin in what you did or didn’t do. It’s like telling someone you’re sorry and having them reply you have nothing to be sorry about! Right?
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The trouble is, an attitude like that devalues the Sacrament of Reconciliation into a ‘just in case’ process because someone can’t make the effort to work things out for themselves. It is infantilising in the worst sense.
 
paperwight said:
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spockrates:
I’d say when in doubt, it can’t hurt to confess. The priest can always say there’s no sin in what you did or didn’t do. It’s like telling someone you’re sorry and having them reply you have nothing to be sorry about! Right?
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The trouble is, an attitude like that devalues the Sacrament of Reconciliation into a ‘just in case’ process because someone can’t make the effort to work things out for themselves. It is infantilising in the worst sense.
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Please help me understand, as I’m learning: Is the goal of Confession to confess every known sin, or to confess only some sins, knowing that God will forgive those that aren’t confessed, too?
 
How about confessing the guilt you feel about having to miss Mass? Missing Mass on Sunday isn’t a sin if you have a valid reason. But the guilt can hinder you. So I suggest just confessing the feelings of guilt.
 
Catholics are obligated to confess every mortal sin, not every known sin.

Confession of venial sins is highly encouraged, but not obligated (and obsessing over remembering every known sin can lead to an unhealthy self-centredness and fear, rather than turning outwards to our neighbour and praising God’s goodness).
 
lilypadrees said:
How about confessing the guilt you feel about having to miss Mass? Missing Mass on Sunday isn’t a sin if you have a valid reason. But the guilt can hinder you. So I suggest just confessing the feelings of guilt.
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Feeling guilty is not a sin, so why should it be confessed? That doesn’t make sense.
 
You should confess sins. Period. I don’t mean for this to sound crass, but confession isn’t a counseling session. And we shouldn’t be in the practice of encouraging people to confess things that they “feel” are wrong, but aren’t, in fact. It leads to scrupulosity, and as a previous poster said, it actually devalues the sacrament. The point of the sacrament of Penance isn’t to simply “get out of jail” so to speak, though, to be sure, a good confession when not in a state of grace can and does save our souls. But, ultimately, the purpose of confession is to restore our relationship with God, to see Him as a loving Father who is Mercy itself. Viewing the sacrament in a merely legalistic sense of making sure that we confessed everything…dotted all of our i’s, and crossed all of our t’s so to speak, treats God as a tyrant. This is NOT to say (as sadly some do) that we should just confess a few sins, or the ones that we feel really badly about. No. We confess all mortal sins (as best we can remember) in kind and number, but not out of some legalistic obligation, but because we recognize that all of these sins have wounded our relationship with God, who loves us so much that He’s even willing to die for us.

So, don’t confess things that aren’t sins.

It’s interesting to note that the Blessed Virgin could not celebrate the sacrament of penance. As she was without sin, she had nothing to confess. Thus, there would be nothing for the priest (one of the apostles) to absolve. It would be like trying to consecrate a piece of imaginary bread and calling it Mass.
 
buc_fan33 said:
You should confess sins. Period. I don’t mean for this to sound crass, but confession isn’t a counseling session… ultimately, the purpose of confession is to restore our relationship with God, to see Him as a loving Father who is Mercy itself.
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Having said that, the Church strongly encourages confession of venial sins, as well. According to the Catechism, this “helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit.” It is not out of place to ask questions in the confessional for the sake of forming one’s conscience.

Still, sometimes it is most considerate of others there to confess to be both thorough and brief. It is also reasonable to reach out to one’s pastor about recurring problems that have prevented one from fulfilling the Sunday obligation, particularly when they are not anything of a particularly embarrassing nature.
buc_fan33 said:
It’s interesting to note that the Blessed Virgin could not celebrate the sacrament of penance. As she was without sin, she had nothing to confess. Thus, there would be nothing for the priest (one of the apostles) to absolve. It would be like trying to consecrate a piece of imaginary bread and calling it Mass.
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To try to consecrate something that cannot be consecrated by its nature is a bit different than trying to sanctify she who is already the very Ark of the Covenant. It would be more like blessing a consecrated Tabernacle in which Our Lord was in repose. She is the the Singular Vessel of Devotion, our House of Gold, the Refuge of Sinners, and Queen of Confessors herself.

Consider, however, that like Our Lord, who bid John to submit to baptizing him in the Jordan, Our Lady also submitted to the ritual of her Purification at the time of Our Lord’s Presentation at the Temple. (The two pigeons that Mary and Joseph offered were in expiation for legal impurity and for her sin. The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord has also been referred to as the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.)
 
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