Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.

So one of the things that I hear about from a lot of people,

particularly those who have been raised Catholic, is like, I just...

I don't like going to Mass.

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Pause. I get it. When I was kid growing up, we had a rule.

The rule is of the church and of the Schmitz household was that if you are not sick,

you are going to Mass on Sunday because that's basically the rule, right?

You Mass on Sundays is a obligation.

Actually, in fact, this is serious enough to be able to note this,

to say that to intentionally skip Mass on a Sunday or a Holy Day,

it's what they call a mortal sin.

So the three requirements for a sin to be mortal are it's grave, that's grave matter.

I know it's a sin and I freely chose to do it anyways, which means that if I know that

skipping Mass on Sunday is a sin and I freely choose to do it anyways.

That's not the same thing as I tried to go, but I got stuck in a snowbank or I tried to go,

but my child got sick and I couldn't go.

Like, that's not the same thing, but I freely chose to do it anyways.

That's what you call a mortal sin.

That means I can't receive Holy Communion until I go to confession for that,

and for whatever other mortal sins there might be.

So it's that big of a deal.

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