3. As long as a person remains subject to a law he must have the will to fulfil its obligations as far as he can, so that he must not do anything with the intention of making it impossible for him to observe the law. Moreover, he must take reasonable means to be able to do what the law commands, for one who is bound to secure some end is bound to use the necessary means. And so a priest who is going to travel must take his breviary with him so as to be able to say his Office; and time must be made by all Catholics for hearing Mass, receiving the sacraments, and fulfilling other religious duties. The question as to what obstacles to the observance of a law I am bound to remove as far as I can, or whether and when I commit a sin by doing something which will make the observance of the law impossible, is one of great practical difficulty. We have already seen that it is not lawful to put obstacles in the way of observing a law with the intention of escaping the obligation. But suppose there is no such intention, does the precept of hearing Mass, e.g., forbid me to go to a seaside place where there is no Catholic church, and where I foresee that I shall not be able to satisfy the precept?
This is a type of many practical questions which occur and for which it is difficult to find a general answer. The law in question, the intention of the lawgiver, the practice of good men, and other circumstances, must be weighed in each case. The answer given by theologians to the special question proposed may be taken as a guide toward a solution in other similar cases. They say that such a precept does not oblige us to foresee and make arrangements for its observance a long time ahead; such an obligation would be a great inconvenience and seriously interfere with our liberty. So that any time within the week I may go where I like without regard to the necessity of hearing Mass on the following Sunday. However, when Sunday is practically at hand, say on Saturday evening, the precept of hearing Mass begins to be urgent, and forbids me to do anything without necessity which would make it impossible for me to fulfil the precept.
In this question, as in others, we are considering what is of strict obligation under pain of sin; a good Catholic would of course try as far as possible to have the opportunity of fulfilling his religious duties on a Sunday.
