If you can't make it to Sunday Mass

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Monica4316

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then is it alright to go to Saturday 5 pm Mass that weekend? does that fulfill the Sunday obligation?

just wondering 🙂

thanks!!
 
Monica4316 said:
then is it alright to go to Saturday 5 pm Mass that weekend? does that fulfill the Sunday obligation?

just wondering 🙂

thanks!!
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Yes of course. That’s why they have an anticipatory Mass on Saturday evening. You fulfill your Sunday (or holy day) obligation by going to Mass on that day or the evening before.
 
However, the Apostles universally introduced the custom of sanctifying Sunday as the Lord’s Day, so much so that it had become obligatory by the beginning of the second century (cf. Prummer, II, §465, p. 386).

The Commandment tells us to keep Holy the Lord’s day.

Once in awhile, if you truly can’t make it, then it’s alright to go to the Vigil (I’ve been in a couple of circumstances where it’s happened to me), but it certainly shouldn’t be a habit.

Of course that’s not Church teaching, just my :twocents:

Laus Deo
 
yes it does, that is why it’s there, have no scruple about making that your regular Mass if that works best for you, especially if that insures you will actually get to Mass each week.
 
DorianGregorian said:
However, the Apostles universally introduced the custom of sanctifying Sunday as the Lord’s Day, so much so that it had become obligatory by the beginning of the second century (cf. Prummer, II, §465, p. 386).

The Commandment tells us to keep Holy the Lord’s day.

Once in awhile, if you truly can’t make it, then it’s alright to go to the Vigil (I’ve been in a couple of circumstances where it’s happened to me), but it certainly shouldn’t be a habit.

Of course that’s not Church teaching, just my :twocents:

Laus Deo
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Yes, and being good Jews they all reckoned time in the manner unique to the Jews. They would’ve considered the Sunday to start on Saturday evening rather than Saturday midnight, and this was how they reckoned all days.

Remember they had to hurry to get Jesus down from the Cross and buried before evening on Good Friday, rather than midnight. Precisely because sundown, rather than midnight, was the start of the Sabbath.

So we retain this method of reckoning for Sundays and Holy Days, and always have done in Liturgy of the Hours, for example, where two evening prayers are listed for each.

The idea of a day starting at midnight came from other parts of the world. It would’ve been foreign to them, especially since scripture itself says, in Genesis ‘and evening and morning were the first day’ - in other words the day began with evening rather than ending with it.

Here endeth the lesson 🤓
 
LilyM said:
Yes, and being good Jews they all reckoned time in the manner unique to the Jews. They would’ve considered the Sunday to start on Saturday evening rather than Saturday midnight, and this was how they reckoned all days.
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Actually, the Celtics measured time in the same way, sundown to sundown. They added an additional twist, in that they counted nights not days ( that is why a Fortnight is 14 NIGHTS 🙂 )
 
Brendan said:
Actually, the Celtics measured time in the same way, sundown to sundown. They added an additional twist, in that they counted nights not days ( that is why a Fortnight is 14 NIGHTS 🙂 )
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Sure, however it would seem the Jews came up with the idea earlier. Perhaps the Celts came up with it independently? Can’t imagine the two peoples having much contact at all, given how exclusive Jewish culture was. 😃
 
Despite “playing around” when a day is a day, it is well established that in the 1st Century Christians had made what we call “Sunday” into their Holy Day. It would be nice if people went to Daily Mass, but now that that has fallen out of use in the West, we say “Oh, just go anyday.” again Saturday Mass is good if your in a jam, but I always try for the Sunday mass, as the Church Decrees

Precept 1/6:
To go to Mass and refrain from servile work on Sundays and holy days.

Laus Deo
 
DorianGregorian said:
Despite “playing around” when a day is a day, it is well established that in the 1st Century Christians had made what we call “Sunday” into their Holy Day. It would be nice if people went to Daily Mass, but now that that has fallen out of use in the West, we say “Oh, just go anyday.” again Saturday Mass is good if your in a jam, but I always try for the Sunday mass, as the Church Decrees

Precept 1/6:
To go to Mass and refrain from servile work on Sundays and holy days.

Laus Deo
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I was talking about when exactly that ‘Sunday’ would have been reckoned to start, not about any supposed debate that Sunday (which would’ve been reckoned to begin Saturday evening) was the day of worship. There really shouldn’t be any, Sunday worship is entirely scriptural 🤷

And no, we don’t say ‘just go any day’. A very few EXTREMELY poorly catechised Catholics may think so, but anyone with even a working knowledge of the Ten Commandments realises that it is indeed a particular day of the week (Sunday, reckoned per Jewish custom AND Canon Law to begin Saturday evening) that we are to keep holy.

And the Church, per canon law, decrees no such thing as that you need to ‘aim for Sunday’. It decrees instead that the Saturday vigil mass fulfils the precept without in any way distinguishing it from a Sunday Mass, and it has never been Church teaching that one need any special justification to go on Saturday evening.

While it is true that for most of its history the Church didn’t have Saturday evening Masses, the truth was that because of the midnight fasting rule it didn’t (apart from Christmas, Easter and the like) have ANY Masses after noon on ANY day. Had nothing to do with Saturday evening not being ‘good enough’ or ‘only for emergencies’ or any such thing.
 
SuscipeMeDomine, I don’t think you are completely correct in the following statement you made:

“Yes of course. That’s why they have an anticipatory Mass on Saturday evening. You fulfill your Sunday **(or holy day) **obligation by going to Mass on that day or the evening before.”

You may of course attend the Saturday Vigil Mass which would fulfill your Sunday obligation, but Holy Days do not generally fall on a Sunday. That means you must attend Mass on the day on which the Holy Day of Obligation falls, not the day before.

I am pretty sure I have that right. In some areas, Ascension Thursday, a Holy Day of Obligation, is moved to the Sunday which then would allow you to attend the Saturday Vigil Mass.

:amen:
 
mullenpm said:
SuscipeMeDomine, I don’t think you are completely correct in the following statement you made:

“Yes of course. That’s why they have an anticipatory Mass on Saturday evening. You fulfill your Sunday **(or holy day) **obligation by going to Mass on that day or the evening before.”

You may of course attend the Saturday Vigil Mass which would fulfill your Sunday obligation, but Holy Days do not generally fall on a Sunday. That means you must attend Mass on the day on which the Holy Day of Obligation falls, not the day before.

I am pretty sure I have that right. In some areas, Ascension Thursday, a Holy Day of Obligation, is moved to the Sunday which then would allow you to attend the Saturday Vigil Mass.

:amen:
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Yes they can - as per Canon Law:

*Can. 1247 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass …

Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.*

Note it says ‘feast day’ not ‘Sunday’, so this idea of attending Mass the evening before is not restricted to Sundays at all, but can be applied to any day which has an obligation attached. If this were not so, Christmas Vigil Mass wouldn’t fulfil the obligation (and we know it does!)

in fact those of our parishes which have Mass on the evening preceding an HDO will, as they are obliged to do, use the readings of the feast day the next day just as Sat night masses will use the Sunday readings.

The reason some feasts are moved in some places is not that anticipatory Masses aren’t possible, it’s just that being on a weekday makes it much harder for folks to attend even so, and easier if it’s moved to the nearest Sunday.
 
mullenpm said:
SuscipeMeDomine, I don’t think you are completely correct in the following statement you made:

“Yes of course. That’s why they have an anticipatory Mass on Saturday evening. You fulfill your Sunday **(or holy day) **obligation by going to Mass on that day or the evening before.”

You may of course attend the Saturday Vigil Mass which would fulfill your Sunday obligation, but Holy Days do not generally fall on a Sunday. That means you must attend Mass on the day on which the Holy Day of Obligation falls, not the day before.

I am pretty sure I have that right. In some areas, Ascension Thursday, a Holy Day of Obligation, is moved to the Sunday which then would allow you to attend the Saturday Vigil Mass.

:amen:
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No.

According to canon law:
Can. 1247 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.

The Church tries to make it as easy as possible to fulfill our obligations.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
No.

According to canon law:
Can. 1247 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.

The Church tries to make it as easy as possible to fulfill our obligations.
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Yet, Canon Law, while important and certainly important, is still man’s law. The Divine Law commands us to keep holy the Lord’s day (Sunday).

That goes to my point while it certainly is licit to go to Saturday night mass every week, it certainly does not fall into the tradition of the past 2,000 years, which was always Sunday.

In the past Saturday would be the day Confession was offered, and Sunday masses would be 7,8,9am (again because of the old rules which required fasting until Midnight, and later 3 hours, though it’s since been reduced to 1).
 
DorianGregorian said:
Yet, Canon Law, while important and certainly important, is still man’s law. The Divine Law commands us to keep holy the Lord’s day (Sunday).
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If you want to hold yourself to a stricter standard, you certainly may. But don’t hold other people to your standard. As far as the Church is concerned, the Lord’s Day starts the evening before and if people attend Mass then they have fulfilled their obligation.
 
Monica4316 said:
then is it alright to go to Saturday 5 pm Mass that weekend? does that fulfill the Sunday obligation?

just wondering 🙂

thanks!!
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Yes, the "Vigil Mass" is permitted even without “good cause” instead of Sunday.

Attending Sunday however is the prefered option.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
If you want to hold yourself to a stricter standard, you certainly may. But don’t hold other people to your standard. As far as the Church is concerned, the Lord’s Day starts the evening before and if people attend Mass then they have fulfilled their obligation.
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If you look at my first post on this thread, you’ll see I’ve never stated this as a matter of fact, but that it was solely my opinion.
 
DorianGregorian said:
Yet, Canon Law, while important and certainly important, is still man’s law. The Divine Law commands us to keep holy the Lord’s day (Sunday).
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Canon Law IS Divine Law. I refer you to …
  • Matthew 10:20 - “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”
  • Matthew 18:18 - “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
 
I did not wish to say Canon Law was not divine, but it is inferred by man under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as opposed to the ten Commandments which were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Laus Deo
 
God gives a commandment to the people VIA Moses on a mountain or God gives a commandment VIA His Church ("For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." – Matthew 10:20), is there really any difference?
 
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