Missing Mass on cruise ship
Q. Every summer, my husband and I go on a cruise. Not all cruise lines have a priest on board to celebrate Mass. When we travel on cruises, frequently we have missed Sunday Mass because we could not get to a Catholic church in port. Is missing Mass in such circumstances a mortal sin? (Millersville, Md.)
A. Most moral theologians, I am certain, would say that you have incurred no sin. If no priest was available, you simply had no opportunity to participate in a Sunday Mass and so the obligation does not apply.
I am aware that there might be rigorists who would say that you were not compelled to go on the trip in the first place, or that you were bound to choose a cruise line that did have Mass aboard or that you could have selected a shorter cruise that did not conflict with a day of obligation.
But those people, I believe, are being stricter than God. Recreation and relaxation are legitimate physical and mental needs, as well as gifts from God. God is reasonable, and I don’t think one cruise annually without Mass is an abuse of a privilege.
But here is what I would suggest as the safest solution, and it’s one that is envisioned by the church’s official teaching documents. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in No. 2181 says that Catholics “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.”
And the Code of Canon Law in No. 1245 allows a pastor, in individual cases, to dispense from the Mass obligation “for a just cause.” (Note that the code says “for a just cause” rather than for a “grave” or “serious” cause.)
As a pastor, I would consider a once-a-year cruise to be a “just cause.” The same provision of the code allows a pastor, when granting a dispensation, to assign some other “pious work.” It could be, for example, reflecting on the Scriptural readings for that day’s Mass or reciting the rosary.
So my recommendation is to consult your pastor next time for such a dispensation. That way, you will be fulfilling the letter of the law as well as its spirit.
Commemorating day of baptism
Q. I have heard of families remembering baptismal days through special family meals. What are some other ways to commemorate the day of one’s baptism? (Washington, D.C.)
A. Your question raises a good point. The day we were baptized marked a pivotal point in our lives, the moment when we first began to draw near to God through the power of the sacraments. Yet I think it would be safe to say that more than 90 percent of Catholics cannot tell you on what date they were baptized.
In January 2016, at a Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis gave the audience what he called their “homework”: to try to find out — by asking their parents, godparents or parish — the date of their baptism. “It is the date of our rebirth as children of God,” the pope explained.
There are various ways of marking the anniversary of that date. Loyola Press has on its website the text of a “family prayer service,” using a bowl of water, a Bible and a baptismal candle.
At the ceremony of baptism, as the baptismal candle is handed to the parents or godparents, the priest or deacon says, “This light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours … is to walk always as a child of the light.”
I usually add a few words of explanation, recommending to the parents that each year, on the anniversary of that baptism, the family might come together, light that same candle and pray for that child as he or she grows up.
Jesus after resurrection
Q. Did the resurrected Jesus have a human body? (Carrollton, Ga.)
A. It is a fundamental truth of Christianity that Jesus rose from the dead in his physical body. (This differs from the doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who hold that the post-resurrection Christ was spiritual, not physical.) Christians believe that the Jesus who appeared to more than 500 witnesses after Easter (1 Cor 15:6) was not a ghost but was actually there — walking, talking, even eating.
When Jesus showed himself to the disciples in the Upper Room on Easter Sunday night, they were at first terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. But he said to them, “Why are you troubled? … Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have” (Lk 24:38-39).
Seeing them still amazed, Jesus asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish, which he then ate in front of them (Lk 24:41-42). A week later, still bearing the wounds of the crucifixion, Jesus appeared to Thomas and said, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side” (Jn 20:27).
At the same time, though, it needs to be said that Christ’s post-resurrection body was somewhat different than his physical body on earth, since it was now glorified — incorruptible and free of suffering, a promise of what our own bodies will be like in heaven.
He could enter closed rooms, for example, even though the door was locked (Jn 20:19), and he was able to disappear, as he did when he vanished from the sight of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:31); and, of course, he was able to ascend into heaven (Acts 1:9).
