4 marks:
I didn’t go to the mall or anywhere for that matter. I don’t have four wheel drive. My wife went to work (she’s an essential employee). She got into an accident. Fortunately no one was injured, just the car. I made the most prudent, life affirming and loving decision that I could. It is not a mortal sin. It is not a venial sin. In fact, it is not a sin at all.
I am sorry to hear that your wife was involved in an accident and hope that she is alright and that you didn’t suffer too much of a financial loss with regards to damages to your vehicle.
I am not going to sit here and JUDGE you as to whether or not you have sinned by not going to Mass during a blizzard. First off that is not my job. Secondly, even if it was, I can not look into your heart or access the particular circumstances that you found yourself in.
However, I believe that people should place the UTMOST IMPORTANCE in trying to get too mass.
Jeremy gave a very good example …
Jeremy:
Maybe a good rule of thumb for going to Mass would be “If I found out I had a 1000 dollar lottery ticket that had to be cashed at a store next to the church, today only, would I be able to cash it?”
… I would take that example even further – suppose while sitting in front of the TV with a blizzard howling outside you see a special News report that there is an unclaimed lottery ticket out there worth mega-millions and today is the last day to claim the prize. A person needs to honestly ask themselves the question: “Would they venture out to claim those millions of dollars even though it would place themselves at risk due to road & weather conditions?” If the answer is “Yes”, then they should make the same effort for God and by failing to attempt to go to mass, they have committed a mortal sin.
In the case of the individual whose elderly father doesn’t drive due to safety issues …
Kielbasi:
My elderly 87 year old father has a touch of glacouma and cateracts, unless its light outside and dry he doesn’t get into his car. And the world is a better place because of it.
… missing Mass under those circumstances would not be a sin (
unless, of course, the individual WOULD attempt to go out those claim those FICTIONAL millions).
In your case, your wife was willing to risk her safety for the sake of her job. Shouldn’t we place our devotion to God on at LEAST an equal par with that? Again, I don’t know the particulars in your situation and I DON’T WANT TO KNOW. Maybe a “state of emergency” was declared in your area (
as was the case in some of my surrounding areas) and being on the road would have been a violation of the law unless your job was deemed to be essential. Then, attempting to go to mass would be in violation of civil law designed for the safety of the community and would be excused even though a person attempted to go to work. Or, there may be other factors involved which I am not aware of or have not considered.
Again, I don’t want to know the particulars of your situation because it is not my place to judge anyone. All I am saying ts that we should make the utmost attempt to go to Mass.
When my father (
who I was EXTREMELY close to) was on his death bed and after having spent the last four days by his side knowing that he could “go” at any moment, I still left his side so that I could attend Mass on Sunday. A couple of hours after I returned, he finally passed away but I still didn’t miss Mass on Sunday even knowing that my father could have died while I was gone because I placed my trust in the Lord that no matter what would have happened, it would have been His will. Only God can look into our hearts and know if we have sinned by not attempting to go to Mass on Sunday.
4 marks:
If the Catholic church wants to tell me it is a sin, then the Bishops should also publicly and formally excommunicate Frances Kissling and all Catholic politicians and public figures that support legalized abortion in America. Support for legalized abortion is a mortal sin if ever there was one!
You’re mixing apples and oranges here. While I agree that Catholics who publicly support abortion (
whether they be politicians or not), should be formally excommunicate, the fact that they have not been has no bearing on whether or not it is sinful for a person to miss Mass on Sunday during a blizzard. As I said above, if a person is going to, or WOULD, venture out for other reasons, then they need to place their requirement to attend Mass in perspective with that.
