Can the Saturday Mass become your Sunday Mass

[muskieman]

The question here is not that you can go to Saturday evening Mass for your Sunday obligation but can a person make it(Saturday evening) their normal routinely attended Sunday Mass just so they don’t have to get up on Sunday morning? If you can show Church documents that said it is okay or that it is not okay. Thanks, this discussion has come up and some say it can always be substituted for Sunday.

 

[SMHW]

The question here is not that you can go to Saturday evening Mass for your Sunday obligation but can a person make it(Saturday evening) their normal routinely attended Sunday Mass just so they don’t have to get up on Sunday morning? If you can show Church documents that said it is okay or that it is not okay. Thanks, this discussion has come up and some say it can always be substituted for Sunday.

From the Catechism where it references Canon 1248:

The Sunday obligation
2180 The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass."117 "The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day."118

(Note that Sunday is a holy day.)

It seems that it was once the intention that Saturday evening was supposed to be for the benefit of those who could not attend Mass on Sunday proper. But there are no such insinuations in the current code of canon law. That means that one is free to make the Saturday evening anticipated Mass one’s usual Mass.

 

[Elizium23]

We can, but this does not release us from the obligation to keep the Sabbath holy, because Sunday starts liturgically with Evening Prayer on Saturday. So we are still bound to refrain from unnecessary servile work on Sunday and try to observe it by reading Scripture or spending time in prayer as a family or something else.

 

[Skeptic92]

The question here is not that you can go to Saturday evening Mass for your Sunday obligation but can a person make it(Saturday evening) their normal routinely attended Sunday Mass just so they don’t have to get up on Sunday morning? If you can show Church documents that said it is okay or that it is not okay. Thanks, this discussion has come up and some say it can always be substituted for Sunday.

I can’t quote you a Church document on this but Canonically we follow the Jewish reasoning on when the day starts- at Sunset the previous day. In a perfect world the Vigil Mass would always be after Sunset however practically this can’t be the case, but this means that the Saturday Evening Mass IS a Sunday Mass, not just that it can be substituted for the Sunday.

 

[Julia_Mae]

The question here is not that you can go to Saturday evening Mass for your Sunday obligation but can a person make it(Saturday evening) their normal routinely attended Sunday Mass just so they don’t have to get up on Sunday morning?

Or for any other reason. Saturday night is my Mass.

 

[WingsOfEagles]

Yes, I can’t site the exact document, but I know it is okay to attend Saturday evening on a weekly basis.

 

[Elizium23]

I can’t quote you a Church document on this but Canonically we follow the Jewish reasoning on when the day starts- at Sunset the previous day. In a perfect world the Vigil Mass would always be after Sunset however practically this can’t be the case, but this means that the Saturday Evening Mass IS a Sunday Mass, not just that it can be substituted for the Sunday.

Canonically, we only do this on Sundays. The other days start liturgically and canonically at midnight.

It depends on your own diocese when Sunday starts exactly, but typically it is after Evening Prayer, not sunset. So in my home diocese this is 4pm.

 

[maryjk]

Yes, I can’t site the exact document, but I know it is okay to attend Saturday evening on a weekly basis.

And I do. And my pastor knows, because I sit in front and receive a low gluten Host from him.

I also work at the parish on Sunday, so he knows I don’t go then.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

The Sunday obligation
2180 The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass."117 "The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day."118

Here is the Church document. Just as you don’t have to have an excuse to attend the 10AM Mass rather than the 7AM Mass, you don’t need an excuse to attend Mass regularly on Saturday evening (or Sunday evening) rather than Sunday morning.

My parish has a Saturday evening Mass, 4 Sunday morning Masses (including the one that starts at noon) and a Sunday evening Mass. All of them are well attended and no one has ever been quizzed about why they choose to attend one rather than another.

 

[garn9173]

The question here is not that you can go to Saturday evening Mass for your Sunday obligation but can a person make it(Saturday evening) their normal routinely attended Sunday Mass just so they don’t have to get up on Sunday morning? If you can show Church documents that said it is okay or that it is not okay. Thanks, this discussion has come up and some say it can always be substituted for Sunday.

Why wouldn’t it? In many rural areas were a Priest covers several Parishes, in some towns, Saturday evening Mass is the only Mass of the weekend.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

The question here is not that you can go to Saturday evening Mass for your Sunday obligation but can a person make it(Saturday evening) their normal routinely attended Sunday Mass just so they don’t have to get up on Sunday morning?

Yes!

If you can show Church documents that said it is okay or that it is not okay. Thanks, this discussion has come up and some say it can always be substituted for Sunday.

Rather than seek evidence to prove that you can fulfil your Sunday obligation regularly on a Saturday evening I would suggest that you think about this from an alternative perspective. Firstly, you might not be able to find firm evidence. Secondly, to look at this from another angle: where does the Church teach that you can fulfil your Sunday obligation on Saturday evening if …? To the best of my knowledge there are no conditions attached to fulfilling your Sunday obligation on Saturday evening.

 

[TrueLight]

I’m hoping someone can help me understand something I have been wondering about.

Considering that the anticipated Sunday Mass seems to be something that is relatively new in Church history (within the last 50 years or so), can someone comment on how long liturgical Sunday was considered to begin Saturday evening?

Second question: for those who choose to always go to Church on Saturdays (not due to work or other obligations and not due scarcity of a Sunday Mass), do you observe Calendar Sunday as a Holy Day and a day of rest?

Thanks.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

Considering that the anticipated Sunday Mass seems to be something that is relatively new in Church history (within the last 50 years or so), can someone comment on how long liturgical Sunday was considered to begin Saturday evening?

That notion is bibical, in the sense that the “day” of the Genesis account begins with evening darkness.

[BIBLEDRB]Gen 1:5[/BIBLEDRB]

In Judaism, the Sabbath begins at sundown for this reason. We also observe this same principle in the daily cycle of worship. Vespers incorporates the celebration of the feasts and commemorations noted on the next calendar day. This thinking is not limited to Sunday. Each daily cycle of worship begins at sundown.

As we Byzantines chant in a hymn of evening vespers, “now that we have reached the setting of the sun, and see the evening light, we sing to God …”.

 

[Corki]

I’m hoping someone can help me understand something I have been wondering about.

Considering that the anticipated Sunday Mass seems to be something that is relatively new in Church history (within the last 50 years or so), can someone comment on how long liturgical Sunday was considered to begin Saturday evening?

Second question: for those who choose to always go to Church on Saturdays (not due to work or other obligations and not due scarcity of a Sunday Mass), do you observe Calendar Sunday as a Holy Day and a day of rest?

Thanks.

There has been a concept of a liturgical day starting the night before for a very long time. The Easter Vigil Mass existed long before Vatican II. The concept just got extended to other Sundays.

As for the second question, our parish does not have Saturday Mass but where I used to live, I was a reader at the Saturday evening Mass so that was my “regular” Mass. And yes, Sunday was still Sunday to me in all other ways.

 

[dixieagle]

I’m hoping someone can help me understand something I have been wondering about.

Considering that the anticipated Sunday Mass seems to be something that is relatively new in Church history (within the last 50 years or so), can someone comment on how long liturgical Sunday was considered to begin Saturday evening?

Second question: for those who choose to always go to Church on Saturdays (not due to work or other obligations and not due scarcity of a Sunday Mass), do you observe Calendar Sunday as a Holy Day and a day of rest?

Thanks.

We usually attend the Saturday evening 5:30 Mass; it simply works well with our schedule, as we are not and never have been, “morning people”. (DH works until 10 pm M-F.)

Sunday is always a relaxed, slow, quiet day for us, reserved for family, reading, naps, etc. We try to avoid shopping, unnecessary chores, etc.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

The Easter Vigil Mass existed long before Vatican II.

The Easter Vigil Mass held a very special place, as it was the first opportunity to officially celebrate the Resurrection with Mass, as the new liturgical day of Resurrection begins.

 

[TrueLight]

Sunday is always a relaxed, slow, quiet day for us, reserved for family, reading, naps, etc. We try to avoid shopping, unnecessary chores, etc.

Cool.

 

[TimothyH]

Sunday is always a relaxed, slow, quiet day for us, reserved for family, reading, naps, etc. We try to avoid shopping, unnecessary chores, etc.
TrueLight;9741054:

Cool.

Yea, I usually work out on Sunday. You know, lift weights and pump iron.

“Hey fellas, throw a couple of extra plates on the squat rack, will ya? It’s Sunday after all!”

That’s what I always say on Sunday.

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-ash2/50416_323297953891_3916804_n.jpg

-Tim-

 

[Corki]

The Easter Vigil Mass held a very special place, as it was the first opportunity to officially celebrate the Resurrection with Mass, as the new liturgical day of Resurrection begins.

Yes, I was just pointing out that having a Sunday Mass celebration on the evening before came out of existing tradition. It’s not as if no one ever did this before 50 years ago.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

Yes, I was just pointing out that having a Sunday Mass celebration on the evening before came out of existing tradition. It’s not as if no one ever did this before 50 years ago.

No worries - I had hoped to bolster your point.