Dear Father Angelo,

Since I find myself objectively having difficulty attending Sunday Mass (in a few days I will be taking my penultimate university exam and I absolutely must focus on my studies), I would like to ask you if the conditions exist to ask a priest for a dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. Furthermore, I would like to ask you if I can contact any priest or if I must necessarily discuss this with my parish priest (who, having to manage a very large pastoral unit, is not always easily reachable and probably has no idea who I am). If possible, I would prefer to contact one of the priests I regularly go to for confession, who certainly knows me better than the one who would be my de facto parish priest.

Thanking you in advance, I assure you of my prayers and send you my warmest regards.

Luca

Priest’s answer 

Dear Luca,

1. For your benefit and that of our visitors, I hereby report what the Catechism of the Catholic Church prescribes regarding the obligation to participate in Holy Mass.

“The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass.” “The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day” (CCC 2180).

“The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.” (CCC 2181).

2. I understand your need to concentrate absolutely on studying.

Could this be a serious reason?

The examples cited by the Catechism of the Catholic Church suggest reasons that impede your attention throughout the day.

Aside from illness, which obviously forces you to stay at home, caring for an infant or a sick person—if you can’t leave them for even an hour—is a real impediment.

3. Preparing for an exam is certainly a serious reason.

However, it allows you some time to devote to physical refreshment.

Likewise, spiritual refreshment doesn’t take more than an hour.

Between the celebrations on Saturday evening and the various celebrations on Sunday, I believe it’s possible to find this break, which is also beneficial from a psychological perspective, so as not to overtax the mind while preparing for the exam.

4. If this is still not possible for you, even though you care about the sanctification of the feast, you could ask your confessor if he can dispense you.

It may be that within the so-called pastoral units, the parish priest’s collaborators have the same powers as the parish priest.

If they don’t have this, he could obtain it for you by contacting the parish priest.

5. However, beyond the various dispensations, if I were in your place, I would really want to go to Mass.

The Mass makes Christ’s sacrifice present on the altar.

This sacrifice obtains everything. Even the grace of passing the exam.

And not only because of your good preparation, but also because of the good disposition of those who will interview you. St. Thomas, patron saint of students, often referred in his writings to what is written in the book of Proverbs 21:1: “Like a stream is the king’s heart in the hand of the LORD; wherever it pleases him, he directs it.”

It is not only the heart of the king, but also the hearts of those who are to examine you.

6. Saint Luigi Orione, who already routinely went to confession every week, prepared himself with an additional confession when he had some extraordinary commitment. He wanted nothing in him to hinder the action of God’s grace.

Saint Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, when he was assistant priest in Cortemilia, a village in the Langhe region of Piedmont, urged farmers to go to Mass every morning. To their objections, who said there was little time and so much to do, he replied that “it’s a bad economy to use time when it’s taken away from the Lord.”

Saint Giuseppe Moscati, chief diagnostician at the hospital in Naples, did not visit patients unless he had received the Holy Communion that morning. He felt he had less enlightenment.

7. Therefore, for the best possible success in your exam, I invite you not to ask for a dispensation, but to turn directly to God’s help by attending Holy Mass, receiving Holy Communion, and, if possible, even a brief sacramental confession.

If your preparation is already good, with the help of grace, you can pass the exam even better.

With this wish for excellent success, I bless you and accompany you with prayers that you may be happy.

Father Angelo

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