Sunday Mass Obligation

[OraLabora]

Nothing to get defensive about. Catholics celebrate Mass on Saturday, all the asterisks does not change that. It’s not like Catholic have a monopoly on the Sabbath day.

Catholics celebrate Mass every day. We celebrate Sunday Mass on liturgical Sunday, that is, Saturday evening or Sunday. Not before, not after. Sunday and the Jewish sabbath are different days. We are not Seventh Day Adventists.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

The OP’s friend who is a marginal Catholic at best.

Please, folks, if you want to argue about keeping the Sabbath, start another thread and stop arguing on this one!

 

[Ctomlin]

My Catholic Church celebrates Mass on Saturday afternoon as well

 

[PRmerger]

And promises eternity in the fiery furnace if we don’t follow her rules. Nice.

It’s no different than your girlfriend sending you to the couch for ignoring her all day. Same principle. Just different degrees.

 

[ExCatholicGuy]

It’s no different than your girlfriend sending you to the couch for ignoring her all day. Same principle. Just different degrees.

No, it’s not the same principle at all. A better analogy would be a parent threatening to kill a child for not doing his homework or eating his vegetables.

 

[Bayoubeefmaster]

No. A child that disobeys his father needs punishment so that child can learn that what they’ve done was wrong. If that child keeps disobeying the father and all those that the father has given authority to the father will do what the child wants. That is put the child away from him because the child did not want Him.

 

[ExCatholicGuy]

No. A child that disobeys his father needs punishment so that child can learn that what they’ve done was wrong. If that child keeps disobeying the father and all those that the father has given authority to the father will do what the child wants. That is put the child away from him because the child did not want Him.

The difference is that, as has been stated repeatedly in these forums, the Mass is for our benefit, not God’s. That’s why I used the homework/veggies analogy - those things are for the child’s benefit, not for his parents’. A punishment might be needed to persuade the child to do those things, but if the punishment is so severe that it outweighs the benefit obtained from the desired behavior, it make no sense.

 

[PRmerger]

No, it’s not the same principle at all. A better analogy would be a parent threatening to kill a child for not doing his homework or eating his vegetables.

You don’t seem to be too familiar with the Scriptures, ECG. The analogy that is limned most often is that of a marriage.

 

[Adamski]

I can tell you from personal expericence that it is a really good idea to go to mass every Sunday and thier is no excuse. Within an hour drive of me there is a 5:30 Saturday, and Sunday 6am, 7am, 8am, 8:30am, 9am, 10am, 11am, noon, 5.30pm and 7pm mass. I had a slow drift away between. 18-34 and then found myself caught up in a church that mixed Christianity and new age. It was very painful
to return and still is. The “non-denominational” church I went to didn’t start of new age but once brennan manning and rob bell came to speak it go real strange

The biggest reason I am catholic is Jesus established one church that is unchanged since he started it.

Where is his church going to be in 100 years?

 

[bobbyhillisabro]

Why does the Catholic Church make not going to mass on Sunday a mortal sin?

This question may have been answer before but my search didn’t bring up an answer that I found met the problem I am running into. I have a freind who is a “sometimes” Catholic (complex story). He has what I call “simple faith”. The only things that matter are a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and LOVE. As an example, if questioned about the importance of the virgin birth his reply is “why do I need to care about it?”. He feels that The Church making not going to mass on Sunday a mortal sin is reverting back to “THE LAW” and Jesus did away with “THE LAW” and replaced it with LOVE. And if we really had a relationship with Jesus we would not need to be “FORCED” to go to mass because we would be filled with the Holy Spirit and be “perfect” in Christ and go out of LOVE. So The Church would not need to hang the sword of mortal sin over our heads and FORCE us to go to mass on Sunday. SO, why does The Church hand the sword over our heads?

Have you told him that “the law” refers to the leviticus law that the Jews followed? Even Jesus himself fulfilled it (to perfection). Jesus did not do away with the law. Matthew 5:17 states, “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them."

The law is no longer binding on us because of God’s New Covenant with us. That was the Old Covenant.

 

[Aran_Houlihan]

Canon 1247
On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass; they are also to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord’s Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body.

Canon 1248

1. The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.
2. If because of lack of a sacred minister or for other grave cause participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, it is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the liturgy of the word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families.

Since a “grave cause” is needed to excuse one from this obligation it would be a serious or mortal sin to willfully skip Mass on Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation, as the Church has always taught. Reasons such as the necessity to work to support one’s family, child care, personal sickness or the care of the sick, necessary travel etc. would excuse a person on a particular occasions. Those who have continuing reason to be excused should consult their pastor.

If a priest is not available in an area and only a Liturgy of the Word or a Communion Service is offered the Mass obligation does not “transfer” to such services. As canon 1248 notes, participation is recommended for the spiritual value, especially if Communion is distributed.