www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology What to do when you can't make it to DL./Mass

If you have a good reason for not attending DL/Mass (such as traveling and there's not one within reasonable distance, being sick, etc.), how is one to satisfy their Sunday obligation?

I know you should keep the Sabath holy (every Sunday), but how, exactly does one do that? (Other than not shopping, avoiding work, etc.)

I'll be traveling soon and there will not be a Catholic Church anywhere near us. What is the traditional and correct thing to do in these cases. (Don't know if it makes a difference, but I'm Ukranian Catholic.) I'd like to know what the Ukranians do specifically, or if not, what one is to do in general? What prayers do you pray, are there certain prayers from the Liturgy you pray - those kinds of things is what I'm after.

Thanks for your help!

The Sabbath Day is actually Saturday with Sunday being the Resurrection Day. Over the early centuries, the observance of Sabbath has been dropped in favor of Sunday. I wonder where you may be going that you cannot find a Catholic church nearby? I believe that if you miss Mass for a serious reason then it is not considered a sin. I would say to postpone your trip so you can make your Sunday obligation. If however this cannot be done, I would advise going to confession the following Saturday.

I am of the opinion that if there is no mass available where you will be, you can't reasonably be expected to attend one. Perhaps you could say some prayers, read some scripture, or do some act of charity instead. I seem to remember that I keep hoping those Pharisees will die out, but they tenaciously hold on through the centuries.

Mary:


Don't know what others do. We were snowed in once--the roads were impassible, there was almost three feet of snow drifted against the front and back doors of our home, there was about four feet of heavy snow on the road in front of the house (you get the picture).

I took out our Liturgy book and we took turns reading the prayers. I also had a guide to the readings for the day and my son and I took turns reading them. We read a Communion prayer that is often used when one cannot receive Our Lord. And we spent the time that we would ordinarily have spent in church.

The lesson for my children was that we set aside time for God on the Sabbath, whether we can attend the Liturgy or not. And we have only missed that one Sunday in the past 31 years, so they know that Sunday is a sacred day and we set aside everything else to spend some SPECIAL time with Our Lord. Missing the Liturgy has only a few excuses for me: my own death or such illness that I cannot get out of bed under my own power. Otherwise, we "soldier on" and get ourselves to Liturgy.

If we were going to be in a place like you describe, I'd have a little pocket Liturgy book along and a small Bible.

My $0.02.

BOB

This is all well and good, but I thought that it was the teaching of the Catholic Church that it is a sin to miss Mass when not working or extremely ill? So, the Church is Pharasaic in saying that you MUST attend Mass?

You can't attend if there's not one available. There are areas here where you might have a long drive to find a mass, assuming you even knew where they were. That's not unusual in largely Protestant areas. However, the Catholic Church is reasonable. Some eastern Christians whose canons don't bind under sin would even say that the RCs are obsessed with legalism. Now if you happen to be looking for a Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy, you are most likely out of luck. For the BCC, I think my city is the only one in the state that has a regularly scheduled Divine Liturgy. Even the Orthodox churches are relativly rare in this part of the country.

Occasionally circumstances arise. Praise and Glory to Our Loving and Forgiving God!

I think we should say our prayers and thank the Lord for giving us our longing for Him. At least we who are blessed with Mass every Sunday can pray for those who cannot attend and share in their suffering.. maybe especially pray for the Lord to give you the town you are visiting an Eastern Christian missionary/priest? Maybe you are meant to be that missionary for this weekend?

Glory to our Lord who gives us these small blessings!

Here's a simple suggestion: if you anticipate that such a problem is going to arise (for a legitimate reason, obviously), ask your priest for a blessing to be absent from the Divine Liturgy on that particular Sunday, explaining what is going to cause this absence. Having received this blessing, you may then go on about your business with a clear conscience.

By the way, a sense of "obligation" is not an adequate reason for a grown-up person to take part in the Divine Liturgy.

Fr. Serge

Very recently we had a Holy Day of Obligation--John the Baptist. We do not have a Byzantine church in my town. Our priest serves three other parishes and has to travel all over. Since it was NOT a Holy Day of Obligation for the Roman Catholics, there were no RC masses scheduled. I contacted our priest, to check--he said not to worry about it. If there's no way to have a Divine Liturgy, a God of love is not going to send you to an eternity if hell. That's not love.

I have lots of health problems and can't get to Divine Liturgy very often. Either an RC or Byzantine. My priest understands. So does God.

Father Serge is right--just contact your priest, explain what is going on and travel with a free conscience. Say some prayers. If you have a Liturgy recorded, listen to that. I spent two months in a hospital recently and had more than two Liturgies on my iPod. That helped and I listened to them each and every Sunday.

Tim

No one has mentioned that you may attend an Orthodox Church and if you happen upon one of the few that will intercommune Eastern Catholics, you may receive the Eucharist. Also not pointed out is that we are under no obligation to avoid shopping either on the Sabbath or on Sunday, though we may choose to do so.

The Latin response would be that the obligation is dismissed for just reason, which would include contagious illnesses (even if the contagious one feels up to going), other illnesses which keep a person home including mental illnesses, traveling on Sunday with dispensation from the priest, the necessary care of children or dependent adults, being in an area such as China where no Mass is available, unforeseen accidents of oneself or others which makes the person miss Mass, an honest attempt to attend Mass being unsuccessful, required work either for emergency personnel or for those without other options to care for their families' needs, and I'm sure there are more.

The Eastern response is to pray for all those people who are absent from the Liturgy with just cause and leaves the justness up to individual circumstances. I'm sure the fact that there are no Catholic Churches around is cause enough not to go to one.

The Orthodox Church would love to have you visit. You'd want to call the priest in advance to let him know of your trip. We don't have "intercommunion," so you could not receive the Eucharist, but we'd be happy to have you pray and sing with us and receive antidoron.

If there is no Orthodox Church around, either, there is always the service of Typika [orthodoxwiki.org], which can be prayed at home. One can also say a morning rule of prayer out of your prayerbook.

"Wondering" is right; the priest at Divine Liturgy always prays for "those who are absent for just cause." Let him know the situation in advance, and he may have you go to confession the following Sunday.

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Western Orthodoxy Blog [westernorthodox.blogspot.com]

Thanks to everyone for your help and answers. Thanks especially to Western Orthodox for posting the link to the Typika. That is exactly what I was looking for!

I know it's extreamly important to get to a Liturgy or Mass every Sunday. I've not missed a single Sunday since having the grace of becoming Catholic. Recieving Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist is something I don't think I could live without.

However, as some mentioned, there are litigimate situations when it is permissable not to attend Church, and there is no sin incurred. Before we go, I will get the blessing of a priest. I say a priest, because we are currently without one, and I do not currently have a regular parish, even though we do get to a mass each Sunday.

Our trip will be for a wedding (civil), which will be on a Saturday, and we will have no other choice than to travel all day Sunday until about 9:00 at night. The closest Liturgy will be an hour and a half drive, in the opposite direction we need to go. This would make the trip about 12 hours long, and I don't have a choice but to work the following Monday. Surely, with the blessing of a priest, and doing the Typika Reader service when we get home would fulfill our obligation for that Sunday, and we would have not sinned.

Blessings,
Mary

I think Masses are offered daily (at least one Mass) in all Latin parishes in the U.S, whether a weekday is a Holy Day of Obligation or not!

Can you re-check that RC Church in your neighborhood?

This came up, as I recall, not too long ago in another thread. Mary, a couple of specific citations from the Pastoral Guide, which is the Particular Law of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA:





Our UGCC, in the interest of preseverving and fostering our Greek Catholic faith, is allowing great economia for her children. If you avail yourself of the treasures always present in the Divine Praises, you need not worry. God bless.
FDRLB