The Obligation to Hear Mass

Every Catholic who has attained the use of reason, is bound under pain of p. 52mortal sin to hear Mass on Sundays and holydays of obligation.

The Holydays of Obligation or of Precept in the United States are:—

1. January 1st, Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord.

2. Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, on Thursday, the fortieth day after Easter Sunday.

3. Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15th.

4. Feast of All Saints, November 1st.

5. Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8th.

6. Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, or Christmas, December 25th.

The above-named feasts and no others are holydays of obligation, on which days one is obliged to hear Mass under pain of mortal sin, unless some grave and unavoidable reason should prevent it.

Just reasons for missing Mass on Sundays and holydays of obligation may be, for instance: Sickness, such as confines the patient to the house, or such as is not so serious, but which exposure to the weather would probably aggravate so as to render it dangerous. The necessity for someone to remain at home, to watch the house, wait on the sick, prepare the food and the like. Minding children on the part of mothers and nurses when they have no one to take their place. The husband is ordinarily obliged to mind the baby whilst the wife hears Mass, unless the child is sick or unusually cross. Great distance, that is, several miles from the church for those who are obliged to walk when the roads are bad. A great distance, likewise, for those who have to ride, when the weather and the roads are very bad, even for vehicles. Not sufficient riding-accommodation, so that some are obliged to remain at home when the others go to church; in which case, p. 53however, the members of the family are obliged to go in turns. Inability to leave off one’s occupation, with danger of losing one’s position. Great repugnance arising from modesty if one be exposed to public notice and comment under unavoidable circumstances. The lack of sufficient and decent clothing in time of great poverty.

If anyone may have missed Mass through these or other reasons, it is well to mention the fact in confession, even though the reason may have been legitimate, so that the confessor may give his approval or disapproval of the act, accordingly as the penitent may have acted conscientiously or unscrupulously.

Catholics easily get into the habit of missing Mass for insufficient and trifling reasons.

Being a stranger in a place and not knowing where the church is, is not of itself a sufficient reason for missing Mass. We are obliged to make inquiries and efforts to find a Catholic church when in a strange place.

Neither is it a sufficient reason to miss Mass if the church at hand should be for the use of another nationality, the language of which we do not understand. The Mass itself is in the Latin tongue; attendance at it is binding upon all nationalities alike under pain of mortal sin.

Those who are prevented from attending Mass on a Sunday or holyday of obligation, through any legitimate cause, do well to say the Mass-prayers at home at the time of the Mass, if convenient, or perform some other devotion instead.

Don’t come late to Mass! It is a sin not only to miss Mass altogether, but also to come late to it through one’s own fault.

It is a grievous sin, however, to miss the principal parts of the Mass by coming late through one’s own fault.

The principal parts of the Mass are: the Offertory, the Consecration or Elevation, and the Communion.

Whoever, therefore, has missed the Offertory by coming late through his own fault, and does not hear another Mass, is guilty of a grievous sin.

Hearing Mass according to the precept of the Church, means not only coming to Mass and being present at it during its course; it means also actually attending to it by following the action of the Priest, and performing some devotion at the same time.

Don’t remain in the rear of the Church! Those who purposely and by habit remain in the rear of the church in a great crowd of people and are consequently constantly distracted and unable to see, hear or follow the Priest properly at the principal parts of the Mass, and who at the same time perform no particular devotion, do not hear Mass according to the command and intentions of the Church, and are guilty of sin, which they are bound to confess, as though they had not gone to Mass at all.

Don’t come to Mass without a prayer-book! especially if you are in the habit of hearing Mass on Sundays and holydays only.

Devout Catholics hear Mass also on other days besides Sundays and holydays. But such days are not of precept, but of devotion, and it is not a sin to miss Mass on them. Such days are: The Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th; Candlemas Day, February 2; Ash Wednesday; St. Patrick’s Day, March 17; Feast of St. Joseph, March 19; Feast of the Annunciation, March 25; Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday; Rogation Days, April 25, and the three days before Ascension Day; the Feast of Corpus Christi; the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; All Souls’ Day, November 2; the first Friday of each month in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the days of Advent and Lent, and during the months of May and October. But no one commits a sin by not hearing Mass on these days, and it should not be made matter of confession.