At Midnight Christmas Mass, will they sing a Christmas song?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shasta-Rose
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Shasta-Rose

Guest
Apparently, until Christmas day, the only seasonal song we sing is O Come, O Come Emanuel. I am going to 10:00 p.m. Mass Christmas Eve. If I wait and go to a neighboring church’s Midnight Mass (which actually takes place at midnight), do you think they might sing Joy To the World or some other Christmas song?
 
Last edited:
Whether you go at 10pm or midnight (or to a family Mass at an earlier hour) you will be attending the Mass of Christmas, not Advent and you should hear Christmas music.

The solemnity begins with first vespers tonight so in a few short hours it will be Christmas.
 
Thanks, Dom! Like to go earlier, anyway, since my husband and I tend to fall asleep around midnight.
 
It’s my understanding that Christmas Day is the Holy Day of Obligation and that the Christmas Eve Masses are simply Vigil Masses like those we have on Saturdays at least in the US. While I love and participate in the Easter Vigil which ends at almost midnight, I stopped going to a midnight Christmas Mass (and yes, at my church it truly begins at midnight) several years ago because I just don’t see the point in being up til the wee hours. Christmas Day at 10 or 11 tends to be less crowded, more peaceful and more joyful at least for me. I have a friend from another country whose parents used to send the children to bed and then wake them up for Midnight Mass, and afterwards they would open presents and have a big meal. She has fond memories of that, but, as for me and my family, the preference is a family Christmas Eve at home and Mass the next morning.
 
Already been to midnight Mass, in Latin.

We sang 2 hymns,
 
Masses on Christmas Eve from around 4 pm cover the Christmas obligation. they are not ‘simply’ Vigil Masses, If by that you are implying that they are not as good as the Masses on the actual day.
 
Not implying anything other than the fact that churches are not required to have a midnight Mass. most churches around me don’t have one.
 
Last edited:
RCbkw said:
I have a friend from another country whose parents used to send the children to bed and then wake them up for Midnight Mass, and afterwards they would open presents and have a big meal. She has fond memories of that, but, as for me and my family, the preference is a family Christmas Eve at home and Mass the next morning.
Click to expand...
We always did this when I was growing up. We didn’t start taking our own kids to Midnight Mass until they were about 10. For several years they attended Christmas Eve Mass with their grandfather and hubby and I went to Midnight Mass while he babysat.

I always attend the Mass during the Night, whether it’s at midnight at my daughter’s parish or earlier in my own parish (I think this year it was at 9 p.m. because Fr. also had to celebrate Mass in another parish.
 
Last edited:
The other Holy days of obligation have vigil Masses when the fall on a weekday. The solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Dec 8 and the Assumption of Mary in August come to mind.
 
At our Midnight Mass, all the music was from the Graduale Romanum. Yes, Latin and Greek Gregorian chant… nothing else, save for the Organ at the prelude, offertory and postlude. 😉
 
Oh how I wish I’d been there instead of here. But at least I had my husband with me; a non-Catholic, it’s the one Mass he always attends with me.

And as much as I missed having my kids there (daughter and her kids were all sick, sons nowhere nearby) at least I didn’t have to have the discussion about Confession, atheism and Communion, before they attended Mass for “sentimental reasons”.
 
Last edited:
I went with my wife (Anglican) and daughter (atheist, though I suspect “searching” would be more accurate).

I’m not sure how many more years I have in me of driving the 40 km home in the mountains at night. The weather wasn’t too bad, light snow and cold, but I find driving at night less and less fun, and at 2 in the morning, it’s the least fun of all.

At least, if I stop going, the daytime Mass is just as beautiful!
 
I know the monks sometimes invite friends for a meal, is réveillon one of those times or is this just a regular, albeit holy, day for them?
 
Yes they do, and I’ve attended a few times. They also do it after the Easter Vigil. It’s lots of fun and the food is great with emphasis on the abbey’s cheeses and cider, but this year fatigue got the better of us.
 
I would love to attend after the Easter Vigil. That time is so special, with the breaking of the fast and all. Granted back in the day Reveillon was the breaking of the fast, or at least the abstinence (the rule was gone by the time I was old enough to be required to fast if such was required).

By the time Mike and I got back from Midnight Mass everyone in the household was asleep. They didn’t even hear us return. How different that was from the way it was when I was growing up and Dad returning from Midnight Mass was the beginning of the party that lasted until 3 or 4 with aunts, uncles, and cousins all present.
 
Last edited:
You’re husband’s name is Mike? So is mine (well, Michel really, but my anglophone friends call me Mike).

The Easter Vigil is a bit easier since they moved it up to 9 pm so now it ends at around midnight, unlike the Midnight Mass which starts at Midnight and finishes at around 1:30 am. As my wife and I are fond of saying to each other “we ain’t 20 no more!” (I’m 60, she’s 61). I used to love to drive at night. Now, not so much.
 
I attended the 6:00pm Christmas Eve Mass at the Cathedral. The first hymn was O Come All Ye Faithful. The last hymn was Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top