The Third Commandment of the Decalogue requires Jews and Christians to keep the Sabbath day holy. For Christians, the Sabbath obligation is fulfilled on Sunday, in celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. As part of keeping the Sabbath, Catholics are required to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

At the beginning of the pandemic, when public Masses could not be celebrated, the people of the Archdiocese of Washington were dispensed from the obligation to attend them. Now that the pandemic has abated and government restrictions have been eased, the dispensation will be lifted on the weekend of June 26 & June 27, 2021. This means that the people of the Archdiocese will again be under the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days.

It should be noted, however, that those persons remain dispensed from the obligation who are unable, for serious reasons, to attend Mass.

Serious reasons include, but are not limited to, such things as illness, caring for others, the need to quarantine, or concern for one’s health and safety due to chronic conditions. Inclement weather, including extreme heat, can pose health risks for some, while icy conditions could be dangerous for drivers or for the elderly who are in danger of falling. The serious unavoidable requirements of one’s work can also excuse from the obligation. Examples like this could go on. But as a venerable principle of Roman Law states: “No one can be obliged to do the impossible.”

Those who have questions should consult their pastors and parish priests, who also have the power to dispense and commute the obligation in individual cases.

Yet, while the obligation to attend Mass can be excused or dispensed, there remains the divine law obligation to keep the Sabbath day holy. Those who for serious reasons cannot attend Mass are encouraged to unite themselves with the Eucharistic celebration from afar, by use of the readings and prayers from the Missal, and by use of electronic media, and especially through their desire for the Eucharist expressed in a Spiritual Communion. They should at least spend an appropriate time in prayer, whether individually or as part of a family or some other group.

We should not, however, excuse ourselves lightly from personal participation in the Mass, which should not be seen as a burden imposed by the law, but as an eagerly awaited opportunity to come together to be the Church, God’s people—a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart—celebrating together and in person the Eucharist of the Lord, “the source and the summit” of the Christian life, and receiving in Holy Communion the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ, the sacrament “that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ.”