Winter Weather and the Sunday Obligation

    Here is a short note on the Sunday obligation:  how to fulfill it, when you are excused from fulfilling it, and what to do when you are excused.

   1.   How to Fulfill.  The Sunday obligation requires us to hear Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, under penalty of mortal sin. This precept can only be fulfilled in person.  "Going to Mass on TV" makes about as much sense as "going to the airport on Youtube."  If you want to catch your plane, you must go in person.  The precept cannot be fulfilled by attending protestant services, but only by going to a Mass.

   2.   When you are excused.  When it is "morally impossible" to fulfill the precept, you are excused, and there is no sin.  Winter weather is one thing that may make it morally, that is,  practically, impossible to go to Mass.  It depends on several factors, which will weigh differently for different people, including:  how bad the weather is, how dangerous the roads are, how far we have to drive, and whether by reason of age or infirmity, we are more likely to fall or more likely to be seriously injured if we fall or more likely to catch a dangerous illness.  If going out makes you a danger to yourself or others, so to speak, you are excused from the precept.

   3.   What to do when you are excused.  You are still required to fulfill the Third Commandment, to keep the Sabbath day holy.  One way of doing this is by watching a Mass on TV or livestream, if you can do so prayerfully and with attention.  If not, I recommend some other form of prayer like saying the Rosary, reading the readings of today's Mass, reading Sacred Scripture, spiritual reading, or some other form of prayer.

   Sunday Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle will never be cancelled due to weather.  I live within spitting distance of the church, and I can always find my way across the parking lot to say Mass on schedule.  If it is too dangerous for you to go out, stay home with a good conscience.  But if you decide to come, know that you will always find Sunday Mass when you get here.

Fr. Stone, January 3, 2025