Did I fulfill the holy day of obligation?

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Athanasius

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I am out of town over Christmas, and I went to a church which has two Christmas Eve masses, one at 5PM, and the other at 9PM.

I went to the one at 5PM, but I noticed that even though it was the earlier mass, the readings were the readings for the Midnight mass for Christmas, not the vigil Mass for Christmas. (I don’t know what readings they did for the later Mass at 9PM)

Is it acceptable for that to be done?

Also, even if they had the wrong readings, would I still have fulfilled my holy day obligation, or would I need to go again tomorrow? I would think I would have fulfilled my holy day obligation already, but…
 
Athanasius said:
I am out of town over Christmas, and I went to a church which has two Christmas Eve masses, one at 5PM, and the other at 9PM.

I went to the one at 5PM, but I noticed that even though it was the earlier mass, the readings were the readings for the Midnight mass for Christmas, not the vigil Mass for Christmas. (I don’t know what readings they did for the later Mass at 9PM)

Is it acceptable for that to be done?

Also, even if they had the wrong readings, would I still have fulfilled my holy day obligation, or would I need to go again tomorrow? I would think I would have fulfilled my holy day obligation already, but…
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Did you also attend the normal Sunday Mass?
 
Athanasius said:
I attended the Saturday evening mass last night for the Sunday obligation.
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Then you’re good!

According to my St. Joseph 2007 Sunday Missal, there are three Mass propers for Christmas: Christmas Mass at Midnight, Christmas Mass at Dawn and Christman Mass during the Day. That being the case, the anticipatory 5:00 Mass would probably use the Midniht Mass propers as the vigil, from what I know, actually used to start at midnight anyway.
 
LCMS_No_More said:
Then you’re good!

According to my St. Joseph 2007 Sunday Missal, there are three Mass propers for Christmas: Christmas Mass at Midnight, Christmas Mass at Dawn and Christman Mass during the Day. That being the case, the anticipatory 5:00 Mass would probably use the Midniht Mass propers as the vigil, from what I know, actually used to start at midnight anyway.
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Well, that’s where I am getting confused…

When I was looking at the missal in the pew, it had readings for the vigil Mass, and then afterwards it had different readings for the Midnight mass…
 
palmas85 said:
Looks to me like you’re good to go. Merry Christmas.👍
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Am I good to go even if the wrong Scripture readings were read (i.e., the Midnight mass readings instead of the vigil mass readings)? I don’t need to worry about going tomorrow?

Merry Christmas!
 
Athanasius said:
Am I good to go even if the wrong Scripture readings were read (i.e., the Midnight mass readings instead of the vigil mass readings)? I don’t need to worry about going tomorrow?

Merry Christmas!
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The Missal in the pew could have been wrong. That does happen. Sometimes they even have the wrong colors for vestments and need to change them. Do you remember what the readings were off the top of your head?

They should have been these for the Midnight Mass:
Isaiah 9:1-6 1st
Titus 2:11-14 2nd
Luke 2:1-14 Gospel
 
Yes, those are the readings I heard.

However, I did not go to the midnight Mass. I went to the earlier 5PM Mass (they had two Christmas Eve masses; one at 5PM, and the other at 9PM).

So, even if it were the wrong readings, would I have fulfilled the holy day obligation?
 
Athanasius said:
Yes, those are the readings I heard.

However, I did not go to the midnight Mass. I went to the earlier 5PM Mass (they had two Christmas Eve masses; one at 5PM, and the other at 9PM).

So, even if it were the wrong readings, would I have fulfilled the holy day obligation?
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Apparently the Mass you went to was anticipatory for the Midnight Mass. A lot of times they do that for convenience. You look good to go dude. Merry Christmas.👍 👍
 
palmas85 said:
Apparently the Mass you went to was anticipatory for the Midnight Mass. A lot of times they do that for convenience. You look good to go dude. Merry Christmas.👍 👍
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Even though it was the earlier of the two Masses (5PM instead of 9PM) it could have been an anticipatory for Midnight mass?
 
Athanasius said:
Even though it was the earlier of the two Masses (5PM instead of 9PM) it could have been an anticipatory for Midnight mass?
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Yes. As far as I know, the readings are interchangable for the Vigil and the Midnight Mass, even though both have their own. In our Missal it said that that the Midnight Mass readings could be used instead of the Vigil Mass ones.

Regardless, by showing up and participating you fulfilled your obligation. It doesn’t matter if there was a screw up in the readings. I often fulfill my Holy Day obligations at a Melkite Catholic Church, and they celebrate on an entirely different calendar and use a different set of readings from the Latin Church each week, so I know that the readings don’t make or break the Mass.

Peace and God bless, and Merry Christmas!
 
In our Missal it said that that the Midnight Mass readings could be used instead of the Vigil Mass ones.
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Was that misal for the Latin church?
 
Athanasius said:
Was that misal for the Latin church?
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Yes. The “missal” at the Melkite church doesn’t have the information for specific days, but is rather a general guide for any given Liturgy. I could have misread what the Missal said, however, so don’t take my statement about it being optionally switched as fact. It is a fact that the reading doesn’t make or break one’s attendence, however.

Peace and God bless!
 
Athanasius said:
Even though it was the earlier of the two Masses (5PM instead of 9PM) it could have been an anticipatory for Midnight mass?
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yes, but if you are truly so worried in spite of everything we’ve said either go at midnight or in the morning. Merry Christmas
 
the instructions in my missal give the priest the option of using the readings for Midnight Mass, the Mass at Dawn, or the Mass during the Day, or of “mixing and matching” the readings for any of the Christmas masses, including those on Christmas eve that fulfill the Christmas obligation according to the ordinary.
 
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