Clarification on sunday mass and vigil for days of obligation

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angell1

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the mass schedule for Christmas and New years day (mary, mother of God) was posted in our bulletin, but it was a bit confusing.

do the vigil mass for the holy days of obligation still count as sunday masses? for example, 4 pm on Christmas eve and 7 pm on new year’s eve, obviously, provided we go to a different mass on Monday for our holy day
 
Yes, you can attend the vigil mass or mass on the day of the HDO.

Since they fall on Mondays this year, mass on Sunday evening or Monday fulfills the HDO. Mass on Saturday night or Sunday fulfills the Sunday obligation.

You have two obligations, so two masses.

We are going to Saturday evening mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent and Sunday evening mass for Christmas.

In the US, Mary Mother of God is not a HDO. In Canada it is.
 
ok, just ot make sure I’ve got it, even though it’s an anticipated mass for Christmas, a sunday evening mass would fulfill the sunday obligation, correct?

what about about going to a sunday morning mass and then a sunday evening mass for christmas, would that work? (unlikely scenario, but you never know)

and I’m assuming midnight mass only counts for Christmas, right?
 
angell1 said:
even though it’s an anticipated mass for Christmas, a sunday evening mass would fulfill the sunday obligation, correct?
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Yes.
angell1 said:
what about about going to a sunday morning mass and then a sunday evening mass for christmas, would that work?
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Yes.
angell1 said:
and I’m assuming midnight mass only counts for Christmas, right?
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It’s Mass At Night. So if Mass At Night is at midnight then yes it’s Monday. If it’s at 8 or 10 pm it’s on Sunday and could technically fulfill either (but not both).
 
Yes. Though if you attend the 4pm Vigil Mass of Christmas, you are fulfilling your obligation for Christmas and not for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

Same goes with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Attending Mass on the evening of December 31 fulfills your obligation of the former, not for the Feast of the Holy Family.

(Although for those peeps in the US, since January 1 falls on a Monday, the obligation for Mary, Mother of God is lifted, thus in Masses on December 31 evening, the Mass for the Feast of the Holy Family is used.
In the Philippines, it is still an HDO and thus on December 31 evening, Mary Mother of God is used)
 
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GoGoDiego said:
Though if you attend the 4pm Vigil Mass of Christmas, you are fulfilling your obligation for Christmas and not for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
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This is not accurate.

If someone hadn’t yet been to mass for the Sunday obligation and went to Sunday evening mass it most certainly WOULD fulfill the Sunday obligation.

They would need to attend another mass to fulfill their Christmas obligation.
GoGoDiego said:
Same goes with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Attending Mass on the evening of December 31 fulfills your obligation of the former, not for the Feast of the Holy Family.
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Nope not true.
 
1ke said:
This is not accurate.

If someone hadn’t yet been to mass for the Sunday obligation and went to Sunday evening mass it most certainly WOULD fulfill the Sunday obligation.

They would need to attend another mass to fulfill their Christmas obligation.

GoGoDiego:
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Implying that the person must go to Mass in the morning (or on Saturday evening) to fulfill the 4th Sunday. Because by evening, Christmas is celebrated and not the 4th Sunday.

Take note that attending one or all four Masses of Christmas (Vigil, Night, Dawn and Day) fulfills your Xmas obligation.
 
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You are obligated to go to Mass for both the 4th Sunday of Advent either Sat evening or Sunday morning and then also for Christmas during vigils on Sunday evening or Monday. It makes sense that attending Christmas Eve masses Sunday evening wouldn’t count for Sunday obligation since it’s a different Mass being celebrated and not the 4th sunday of advent

 
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1ke said:
Nope not true.
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Only in cases where MMOG isn’t an HDO.
In the US, since the Evening Masses are that of the Holy Family, there is no obligation to go to Mass anyway for MMOG. Attending Masses on December 31 evening fulfills the obligation for Sunday.

But in Canada and the Philippines, on the evening of December 31, the Mass for MMOG is used. Attending Masses on December 31 evening fulfills the obligation for the Solemnity
 
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It fulfills the obligation for one or the either. You still have to attend Mass twice. You could attend a “Vigil of Christmas” Mass to fulfill your Sunday obligation and any other Christmas Mass to fulfill your Christmas obligation. Same for MMOG, of course it won’t be a “Vigil” but it will be the Mass of MMOG.
 
@GoGoDiego and @Blizz
It doesn’t matter what readings, prayers, or specified celebration the Mass is in terms of fulfilling obligations. @1ke is correct here, and the two of you are not quite.
 
My pastor has informed my parish that “there’s no double dipping” in his letter in our bulletin. We can go to Saturday Vigil mass or Sunday morning mass to satisfy for our Sunday obligation. Then the church will be closed until 4PM (for decorating) and then the evening masses or the Monday masses will will need to be attended to satisfy the Christmas obligation. So people can’t go to mass on Sunday morning at their normal time and have it count for their Sunday obligation as well as some type of vigil mass for Christmas. Also, going to mass (for the first time that day) on Sunday evening for Christmas vigil masses would fulfill their Sunday obligation, but they’d have to show up Monday for Christmas.
 
that’s just precisely what I wanted to clarify, wasn’t asking about only going once for both. I know we can’t do that, just wante dot get the timing down properly
 
and I will go with @1ke with pretty much anything related to this faith since she’s usually right about everything
 
Angel, you can attend Sunday evening for Christmas and Sunday evening for Mary, Mother if God.

You could attend Sunday evening for your Sunday obligation, even though the mass readings and propers are for the next day’s holy day, and then attend Monday for the holy day. It wouldnt be ideal, but it would fulfill the obligation. Diego is simply wrong here.

Mass the evening before or the day of fulfills the obligation. Any mass. A day is midnight to midnight. This comes up way too often. I don’t know why people can’t understand this.

Be at peace. Do not be scrupulous.
 
Christmas actually has a proper vigil Mass, it is not an anticipated Mass but the Christmas Vigil Mass.

And yes, it counts.
 
angell1 said:
that’s just precisely what I wanted to clarify, wasn’t asking about only going once for both. I know we can’t do that, just wante dot get the timing down properly
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As long as you attend “any Mass” on the calendar day itself or the evening before, that counts to fulfill the canonical obligation to attend Mass. The readings don’t affect this. The choice of the prayers don’t affect this.
 
OraLabora said:
Christmas actually has a proper vigil Mass, it is not an anticipated Mass but the Christmas Vigil Mass.

And yes, it counts.
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After the 1983 Code, there’s really no such thing as an “anticipated” Mass. Solemnities begin on the evening-before the calendar day. To anticipate something means to look forward to what will happen in the future. Once evening begins, the solemnity begins, the liturgical day begins. So we do not anticipate the day, we celebrate it in the present.
 
I just want to share one thing as it always comes up in relation to this question. TECHNICALLY, yes, “any Mass in any Catholic rite” satisfies the obligation. And we’re given the standard, “You could go to a funeral Mass on Sunday and it would count for your obligation.” Fine. All well and good. (As an aside, if you know a priest who has so few Masses that he has time to celebrate an additional funeral liturgy on Sunday, please, by all means, send him my way. But, I digress…)

The readings don’t matter. True enough. But, I would argue that they DO matter. They don’t matter in the sense of meeting the obligation, but our faith is more than just following a bunch of obligations and rules. It’s about following the Person of Jesus Christ, becoming His disciple, entering into the entire mystery of His life, death, and resurrection.

So, what’s the point? The point is that the faithful have an obligation to go to Mass on the 4th Sunday of Advent AND on Christmas. While technically, you could go to two Christmas Masses (say, 5:00 Sunday and 10:00 P.M. Sunday) and meet both of your obligations, such an attitude, short of absolute necessity, seems to me to reek of legalism. Such a person, however well intentioned, will simply not have entered into the mystery of the 4th Sunday of Advent. That person will have met his or her obligation, but neglected the more serious aspect of discipleship…entering into the mystery.

Go to Mass Saturday evening or Sunday morning. It isn’t going to kill you. And if it does, what a great way to go!
 
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