From The Deanery  

The First Precept of the Church

Part 2

September 19, 2021

This precept commands that on Sundays and holydays of obligation Mass be heard and servile works be omitted.  It is a Church law based on the Third Commandment of the Decalogue, which prescribes that man set aside some time for the external worship of God, and avoid those things which distract him from that worship. 

The precept is partly affirmative, commanding what must be done (attendance at Mass), and partly prohibitive, forbidding what must not be done.  This week we will focus on what must be done.  We are commanded to participate in the greatest act of worship, the sacrifice which is a commemoration and the continuation of Christ’s own sacrifice, source of all graces.

External assistance is required.  That means we must be in the same building or place as the celebrant, and be able to see or at least hear him.  Parents who need to take their children outside or to the cry room still fulfill their obligation, so long as they can still hear the bells or choir, and can still more or less follow the Mass.  This applies only for the time necessary, and should not be used as an excuse to spend large portions of the Mass removed from the body of the church.  The obligation to attend Mass is not fulfilled by watching it on television, nor even by viewing a live stream on your computer.  Such practices can obviously be spiritually beneficial and edifying, but they are never to be used as a substitute for attendance at Mass.

Internal assistance is also required.  This means that you must intend to pay attention to the Mass with your mind.  If you go to church merely to see your friends or to hear the beautiful music, you do not fulfill your Sunday obligation.  If you fall asleep during the sermon and forget to wake up again till people are leaving at the end of Mass, you were technically not at Mass, for lack of attention.  A brief doze would not, however, even be more than venially sinful, and if involuntary, then not sinful at all.  If your thoughts are deliberately given to non-religious matters, you may fulfill your Sunday obligation, but still commit the sins of irreverence and voluntary distraction. 

You may be excused from Mass because of inability or necessity.  A two-hour drive is usually considered a reasonable excuse for missing Mass, at least now and again.  Those who would suffer grave detriment to health, honor or fortune are excused, and also those who are kept away by duties of charity or employment or office that cannot be omitted.  Not every reason constitutes an excuse!  We should not unnecessarily place ourselves in the impossibility of observing the law, for example by taking on employment that requires us to work every Sunday, moving permanently or even going on vacation to a place where there is no church.  Frivolous reasons are never enough.  If we don’t like the priest, or we don’t want to bump into so-and-so, we get upset with crying babies—these are not excuses to miss Mass!

If you really have a reasonable excuse for not attending Mass on certain Sundays, remember that you can never be excused from the divine law of keeping holy the Lord’s day.  Try to make up for not going to Mass by some extra prayers, some time given to spiritual reading, or by performing good works like visiting a sick or elderly relative.  Sunday is the Lord’s day.  Keep it holy!

Et Reliqua

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Delivered weekly by the Dean at St. Margaret Mary Chapel, Urbana, Ohio

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