SPLIT: How late is too late for Mass?

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DORIS_HARTSOCK

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i arrived late for mass last sunday.the deacon was already reading the gospel.i’m a senior citizen and it seems that i was told many years ago if you miss the gospel reading you shoudn’t receive holy communion.is tha true :confused:::
 
can anyone answer my e-mail?i posted a a couple of days ago and ask if i was late for mass and the deacon was already started to read the gospel.would it be o.k. to receive holy communion.i’m a senior citizen and it seems i was told if you don’t hear the gospel reading it’s like you haven’t been to mass. or am i to scrupulous ?:confused:
 
DORIS_HARTSOCK said:
can anyone answer my e-mail?i posted a a couple of days ago and ask if i was late for mass and the deacon was already started to read the gospel.would it be o.k. to receive holy communion.i’m a senior citizen and it seems i was told if you don’t hear the gospel reading it’s like you haven’t been to mass. or am i to scrupulous ?:confused:
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Hi Doris and welcome to the forums! Sometimes when people post off topic in a thread it does not get answered but simply there is no requirement to be able to receive other than to be in a state of grace. You could even walk in just as Father is starting to give out communion and join the line.

Generally speaking, if you intentionally miss most of the Mass it would not fulfill your Sunday Mass obligation, however that depends on why you were late (for example, if you miss the first half of Mass because you stopped to help someone in distress on the road, that would be a valid reason to be late). Bottom line: As long as you are in a state of grace, go receive.
 
DORIS_HARTSOCK said:
can anyone answer my e-mail?i posted a a couple of days ago and ask if i was late for mass and the deacon was already started to read the gospel.would it be o.k. to receive holy communion.i’m a senior citizen and it seems i was told if you don’t hear the gospel reading it’s like you haven’t been to mass. or am i to scrupulous ?:confused:
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[edited] perhaps your priest meant to say that you can’t swing in late on purpose and recieve communion. (Because this would be sinful and then you wouldn’t be in a state of grace) Some people do this, but it sound like you meant to be there on time.
 
DORIS_HARTSOCK said:
i arrived late for mass last sunday.the deacon was already reading the gospel.i’m a senior citizen and it seems that i was told many years ago if you miss the gospel reading you shoudn’t receive holy communion.is tha true :confused:::
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There is no hard and fast rule issued by the Church. The problem is, if the Church said that you had to be present at Mass from X to Y some people would only come for those parts of the Mass and say “well I fulfilled my obligation”.

We should, of course, all strive to be there before Mass starts and remain until it’s over. None of us are perfect and from time to time we fail in this.

I think it’s OK to receive Communion if you intended to be there on time, you’re not in a state of mortal sin, and you’re properly disposed to receive.

If this does overly concern you may want to discuss it with your priest.
 
While I agree that one should not be late for Mass without a good reason, I still think delineating is a good idea rather than a bad one so that one can clearly know whether or not one has sufficiently met the obligation.

The old guideline, which should still be good today, was that if you made at least Offertory, Consecration, and Communion of the priest, you sufficiently met your obligation.
 
I read in a Catechism some time ago (Not the CCC, I forgot which) that missing the Liturgy of the Word (Beginning of Mass-“Lord Hear our Prayer”) on Sundays/HDOs is a venial sin while missing the Liturgy of the Eucharist (“Blessed are you Lord God of all creation”-End of Mass) on Sundays/HDOs is a grave sin.

This rule was based on the fact that in the Old Mass, after the priest read the Offertory - a short antiphon from scripture - he would take the pall off the chalice. This point, the beginning of what used to be called the Mass of the Faithful and what is now called the Liturgy of the Eucharist, was the point from which Mass attendance was obligatory. In fact, I hear that in some churches in the pre-Vatican II days some people would just waltz right into the Church at the Offertory, intentionally missing the beginning of the Mass. :eek:
 
Welcome to the forum! 🙂

I would imagine that most people strive to arrive on time. Logistics sometimes interfere with that. My understanding, like some of the other posters, is that as long as you are present for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, you have fulfilled your Sunday obligation.

Peace be with you…
 
Early on I was taught that for a Mass to be valid it must include the Offertory, Consecration, and Communion.
That said, it stands to reason that if your arrival is after the Offertory prayer, you have not attended Mass.
This is not to say that you should arrive this late to Mass, except for a very good reason.
 
roadsend said:
Early on I was taught that for a Mass to be valid it must include the Offertory, Consecration, and Communion.
That said, it stands to reason that if your arrival is after the Offertory prayer, you have not attended Mass.
This is not to say that you should arrive this late to Mass, except for a very good reason.
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I use this rule. If I am late to mass for a reason beyond my control, traffic, helping someone etc. then if I feel obligated I can then attend another Mass. My parish offers 7 services either Saturday evening, or on Sunday. So if one is missed then I have many to choose from. I may be lucky as some parishes do not have as many masses to choose from. If you feel good about what you got out of mass I would say you met your obligation. From your post it does not lean one to think you are habitually late. I usher at my parish as well and it never ceases to amaze me how some are late to the same mass every week. In cases like that it may make one wonder if they have made there obligation.
 
There is not, as far as I know, any specified part of the mass for which if you come in after it you are not considered to have met your Sunday Obligation. The obligation is to participate at mass, so I figure that basically means the whole mass.

If I am going to be late for mass, even just a little late, and I can go to another mass instead, I simply don’t go to the mass I would have been late for and wait for the mass I can get to on time. I’ve turned around on my way to mass before because I realized I would be late.

On the other hand, if there is no other mass I could reasonably get to then I will attend however much of the mass I can attend. We are not obligated to do the impossible. If you can only get to half the mass, attend half the mass. But if you can attend an entire mass instead do so, even if it’s a little less convenient.
 
There is the disruption to consider. If you are blowing in way late and choose to walk up front to sit, you are a distraction. Trying to minimize that would be only common courtesy. We see something like that every Sunday at our parish. You could set your watch by the same people coming in quite late every Sunday and then looking for a seat in the first few rows. If it is one Sunday, maybe there was a reason, but if it happens habitually, it is a choice.

When I entered the Church, people told me the rule of thumb was that you had to be there by the Gospel reading and had to stay after the Eucharist to fulfill the obligation. I’ve since heard that isn’t quite right.

People should make an effort to be there for the procession and should be there for the end. Things sometimes prevent that, but lateness and blowing out early should be rare.
 
TheDoctor said:
Bottom line: As long as you are in a state of grace, go receive.
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So as long as you are in a state of grace, you are allowed to recieve communion even if you have not attended that particular eucharistic celebration?
 
PLAT said:
So as long as you are in a state of grace, you are allowed to recieve communion even if you have not attended that particular eucharistic celebration?
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If it is not your first Mass that day…then no. One may receive a second time (outside of viaticum) only during a Mass one participates in.

But if that is your time…and say one is walking through the Church (like for example while visiting Rome) if one is prepared etc then one may.
 
If you miss the opening blessing you have missed Mass.If you dont stay for the final blessing, you have missed Mass.We have 167 hours to prepare.If it takes you longer to get there,then leave home earlier.
 
Deckie said:
If you miss the opening blessing you have missed Mass.If you dont stay for the final blessing, you have missed Mass.We have 167 hours to prepare.If it takes you longer to get there,then leave home earlier.
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You have taken out of the equation the unexpected; for example, one of your children taking ill just as you’re about to leave for church.
 
Deckie said:
If you miss the opening blessing you have missed Mass.If you dont stay for the final blessing, you have missed Mass.We have 167 hours to prepare.If it takes you longer to get there,then leave home earlier.
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Ouch! :blackeye: I just got hit by one of the stones you were throwing.
 
Matthew_Holford said:
You have taken out of the equation the unexpected; for example, one of your children taking ill just as you’re about to leave for church.
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There was a similar thread to this one some time ago.The gist of it was that there is no fourth Commandment.It does not apply.Therefore you go to Mass once a week,not necessarily on a Sunday.So if you have a sick kid,dont go.You can go during the week.Just stop arriving late and bothering the rest of us
 
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