I've been to mass many, many times without receiving communion. Usually when I've come back to practicing after a long gap (which has happened a couple times in my life) but wasn't ready for reconciliation - either because I felt I didn't believe or wasn't sorry or was just nervous. During these times, I still got a lot of value out of coming to mass and believe it drew me closer to God. Of course there is scripture and the homily but also just being in the church and being in the presence of the Eucharist.

Now and then, I have to skip communion more recently. Attending Sunday mass is still a requirement and skipping it would be a mortal sin. Receiving the Eucharist while not in a state of grace would also be a sin. Even if I've already committed a mortal sin, committing another mortal sin is a bad thing. So of course, I still go to mass and just step aside. In my head, sometimes I hope someone sitting near me will notice and think to themselves, "maybe I should evaluate whether I'm in a state of grace, maybe I should go to confession" (I'm in a parish with low confession rates and 99.99% of people receiving communion) - you never know.