Was this an acceptable reason to miss Mass?

[utah_rose]

Hope this isn’t in the wrong category, but really need an answer. A friend called us this morning in bad straights. To make a long story short, he’s lost in a hiking area. We are both elderly not in good health to try and find him, so we called police. They’re unable to find him. We’ve tried calling him on his cell. No answer

we were hoping to attend the evening Mass tonight. But now are worried that either he or police will try contacting us while there.

We are his only friends, he’s homeless. We also wonder since he has mental problems if he’ll be arrested or if the po.i e will bring him here

Do you think it’s permissible to miss Mass under these circumstances?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Yes, you did the right thing. As Jesus said: the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27) and Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it? (Mark 3:4)

The context of Jesus’ statements about the Sabbath come from Jewish tradition. When there is an individual whose life is in danger – known in Hebrew as* pikuach nefesh* – Jewish tradition said we are commanded to “violate” any ritual law to help. This applied even if there is a doubt whether it is a life threatening situation, the mere possibility was enough to require action.

Christian tradition continues this practice. You most certainly did the right thing.