Does sundaymass held in a foreign language count towards my Obligation?

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Hi,
Does a sundaymass held in a language I do not understand count towards my obligation?
I will be prohibited from attending sundaymass in my native language every second Sunday due to my job, will the early mass in a different language count?

Thanks in advance for any answers:)
  • Pax Christi
 
Yes, of course it counts. Otherwise every Roman Catholic prior to Vatican II was committing mortal sin every Sunday by ‘only’ being able to go to Holy Mass in Latin! 🙂

Jesus’ sacrifice is the same everywhere an ordained priest confects the Eucharist, regardless in what language.
 
EphelDuath said:
Yes, of course it counts. Otherwise every Roman Catholic prior to Vatican II was committing mortal sin every Sunday by ‘only’ being able to go to Holy Mass in Latin! 🙂

Jesus’ sacrifice is the same everywhere an ordained priest confects the Eucharist, regardless in what language.
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Thanks for the answer, of course it does what did I think of. Haha.
It’s true the Tridentine mass was standard until the second Vatican so it wouldn’t be logical at all if not all masses counts:)

God Bless you, have a blessed Holliday:)
  • Pax Christi
 
HeadingBackHome said:
Thanks for the answer, of course it does what did I think of. Haha.
It’s true the Trinitarian mass was standard until the second Vatican so it wouldn’t be logical at all if not all masses counts:)

God Bless you, have a blessed Holliday:)
  • Pax Christi
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I think that you are referring to the Tridentine Mass?
 
I remember going to Easter Sunday Mass over at my local Parish. There was an afternoon Mass, so I decided to go to that one rather than the morning Mass.

The church was blocked to the aisles, and every person in the place looked to be South Asian, which surprised me, since I didn’t think we had a sizeable South Asian community in my parish – mostly Serbo-Croatian, Ukrainian, and Filipino.

Then the service started. The whole Mass was in Malayalam. IIRC, I found out that it was the St Thomas Syro-Malabar Mission, just using the Holy Cross church building.

I didn’t understand hardly anything of the Mass – except words like “Amen” for example – but I did know when the Lord’s Prayer was said: even though the language was totally different, the rhythm of the prayer seemed the same.

It was quite an experience. And as I could not understand what was being said, I just tried to follow along with the English OF in my head. And as for the prayers, readings, sermon etc – those things that change every week – I just sat, and tried to “experience” the Mass, to try to realize what was going on on a deeper level without necessarily knowing the words. Kind of like Zaccheus climbing the tree to see Jesus, possibly not being able to understand everything Jesus was saying because he was too far away, but determined to be there anyway.

And I must mention this – I have never had so many people smile and nod to me at Mass.
 
John_Lazarus said:
I remember going to Easter Sunday Mass over at my local Parish. There was an afternoon Mass, so I decided to go to that one rather than the morning Mass.

The church was blocked to the aisles, and every person in the place looked to be South Asian, which surprised me, since I didn’t think we had a sizeable South Asian community in my parish – mostly Serbo-Croatian, Ukrainian, and Filipino.

Then the service started. The whole Mass was in Malayalam. IIRC, I found out that it was the St Thomas Syro-Malabar Mission, just using the Holy Cross church building.

I didn’t understand hardly anything of the Mass – except words like “Amen” for example – but I did know when the Lord’s Prayer was said: even though the language was totally different, the rhythm of the prayer seemed the same.

It was quite an experience. And as I could not understand what was being said, I just tried to follow along with the English OF in my head. And as for the prayers, readings, sermon etc – those things that change every week – I just sat, and tried to “experience” the Mass, to try to realize what was going on on a deeper level without necessarily knowing the words. Kind of like Zaccheus climbing the tree to see Jesus, possibly not being able to understand everything Jesus was saying because he was too far away, but determined to be there anyway.

And I must mention this – I have never had so many people smile and nod to me at Mass.
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Thanks for sharing:)
 
When you go to Mass in a foreign country, you don’t have much choice. You may not understand all the words but you can probably follow along, especially in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Liturgy of the Word will be more of a problem. It would help to look up in advance the readings in your own language, but you would probably still not get the meaning of the homily.

I’ve been there and done that. It was quite memorable, and helped me to appreciate that our church really is “catholic” in the sense of universal.
 
HeadingBackHome said:
Hi,
Does a sundaymass held in a language I do not understand count towards my obligation?
I will be prohibited from attending sundaymass in my native language every second Sunday due to my job, will the early mass in a different language count?

Thanks in advance for any answers:)
  • Pax Christi
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Yes, by all means. I have traveled to Mexico and Canada; attending Catholic Sunday Masses celebrated in Spanish and French. The sacrifice of the Mass is the same, regardless of the language.
 
tawny said:
Yes, by all means. I have traveled to Mexico and Canada; attending Catholic Sunday Masses celebrated in Spanish and French. The sacrifice of the Mass is the same, regardless of the language.
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Except for masses in Klingon, I’m sure there’s probably painstiks involved…
 
Ah, but this is a truly beautiful thing about the Tridentine Mass. Whereas since Vatican II, if you visit a place where your native language is uncommon, you’ll most likely just have to be mute and confused while you wait for Holy Communion. Back when all Holy Masses in the Latin Church were only in Latin, you could go anywhere in the world and the only parts of the Ordo you couldn’t understand would be the processional/recessional hymns, the homily, and perhaps the readings if they’re re-read in the vernacular before the homily.
 
EphelDuath said:
Ah, but this is a truly beautiful thing about the Tridentine Mass. Whereas since Vatican II, if you visit a place where your native language is uncommon, you’ll most likely just have to be mute and confused while you wait for Holy Communion. Back when all Holy Masses in the Latin Church were only in Latin, you could go anywhere in the world and the only parts of the Ordo you couldn’t understand would be the processional/recessional hymns, the homily, and perhaps the readings if they’re re-read in the vernacular before the homily.
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O so true. The beauty of the Tridentine Mass. So glad to be fortunate to have a local chapter of the NY Latin Liturgy Assoc. in my area. I have the opportunity to attend a Tridentine Mass once a month. Sometimes, more often.
 
Simply put, prayer, worship and sacraments are not contingent upon personal cognition. That is a silly Neo-Scholastic idea and if that were the case then I would never be allowed to participate in anything.
 
Years ago my son was in the American military and stationed in Germany for 3 years – they had Mass on the post but I preferred to attend a beautiful cathedral downtown – I didn’t understand the Mass because it was in German but it was absolutely wonderful – a fabulous choir – I truly enjoyed it.
 
I know that after the 2 Vatican the Latin mass has vanished almost completely, but why don’t more priests use Latin where it’s optional?

I mean to use; Sanctus, Gloria and Agnus Dei ? Maybe Pater Noster aswell?
And I love Salve Regina:)

To use at least one or two of the ones I’ve mentioned above would make it a lot easier to follow the progression of the mass, if you catch my drift?

I’m not initiated into full communion yet and Im already rather conservative:P
 
I assume all the Masses around the world have the same readings, so why not look for a Missal in your native lenguage and carry it around so you can understan Mass even if it is on a diferent language. or look in the internet for the day Mass schedule and readings, and bring it to Mass with you.
 
I don’t see that there should be a problem. My family lived in Brazil for 10 months when I was growing up, and didn’t speak the language very well (although we did learn SOME Portuguese eventually). However, because it’s Mass, you’re always able to tell exactly what is going on. I agree with the PP’s suggestion - bring a Mass book in your native language. That’s what we did.

I worked in Nunavut for a travel nursing company at one point, and attended Mass said in Inuktitut. Father showed me that he had a Mass book written in transliterated Inuktitut (i.e. Inuktitut words written in the Roman alphabet; Inuktitut has its own alphabet) so I was able to follow in that.

The only time the Mass readings may be different is if you are attending an EF or at different rite, as they follow a different reading schedule.
 
HeadingBackHome said:
I know that after the 2 Vatican the Latin mass has vanished almost completely, but why don’t more priests use Latin where it’s optional?

I mean to use; Sanctus, Gloria and Agnus Dei ? Maybe Pater Noster aswell?
And I love Salve Regina:)

To use at least one or two of the ones I’ve mentioned above would make it a lot easier to follow the progression of the mass, if you catch my drift?

I’m not initiated into full communion yet and Im already rather conservative:P
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Good question. The documents of Vatican II tell us to do just that. Unfortunately I’ll risk a moderator’s infraction if I list some of the reasons why this isn’t true everywhere, so you will just have to suffice knowing that Latin should be used in the Holy Mass of the Roman rite, and give your praise to celebrants that do so.
DMC12 said:
I assume all the Masses around the world have the same readings, so why not look for a Missal in your native lenguage and carry it around so you can understan Mass even if it is on a diferent language. or look in the internet for the day Mass schedule and readings, and bring it to Mass with you.
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Not necessarily… there’s a lot of local saints’ days and other feasts that aren’t on the universal calendar.
His_helpmeet said:
The only time the Mass readings may be different is if you are attending an EF or at different rite, as they follow a different reading schedule.
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The Tridentine Lectionary has very few readings in common with the Ordinary Form – not even examing the three-year cycle system in the OF, there’s also the fact that the EF only has two readings and a Gradual, rather than three and usually the Responsorial Psalm. A Daily Missal for the OF would be worthless at a Tridentine Latin Mass, and vice versa.
 
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