Yes, it is. The faithful have an obligation to attend Mass every Sunday and every Holy Day of obligation.
That being said, if you are unable to attend through no fault of your own–you have the flu, you have to care for an infant, or an ill person, and have nobody to ‘relieve’ you for the time to get to Mass, your car breaks down miles from the nearest town–you are not held to the impossible. If there was no way that you could attend Mass without jeopardizing your own health or the health of somebody you’re responsible for, or there was no physical way you could get there, you are excused from attendance for that circumstance(s). However, if on the following Sunday you are fully recovered from the flu, your husband is watching the baby or your elderly mother, and your car is in great shape, you can’t stay home and justify it with, ‘well, I wasn’t there LAST Sunday and it was all right so since I’m tired/bored/just want ‘me’ time I’ll take off today’.
Too many people today feel that if they are ‘tired’ then they are excused under the ‘illness’ clause. Or if they don’t want to have the ‘hassle’ of getting the kids ready for church, they’re excused under the ‘caring for children’ clause. Of course, these same people will then feel perfectly justified in going out later and taking a hike or going to a movie, or taking the kids out to lunch.
And they’ll try to excuse it with, “I shouldn’t have to feel like I am being ‘forced’ into going to Church.” See, they’re attempting to argue that because the Church says they ‘have’ to go, then it really means they do not ‘have’ to go because the Church is trying to make them go for the ‘wrong’ reason. It’s poppycock and illogical, but in our very ‘me’ oriented society, it appeals to people, who really want to be ‘in charge’ and not think that they are ‘obliged’ to God for anything.
