Is going to Mass once a week on Thursday and not Sunday, fullfilling my sunday commitment?

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williamhyten

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Is going to Mass once a week on Thursday and not Sunday, fullfilling my sunday commitment?
 
Is there something preventing you from attending Mass on Saturday evening or Sunday?
 
No.

Going to mass on Sunday (or the evening before) fulfills your Sunday obligation. No other day fulfills your obligation.

I suggest you talk to your pastor if you are unable to attend on Sunday for serious cause such as work, etc.
 
No, it does not.

If you are physically or morally unable to meet your obligation to attend Mass, the obligation is dispensed with.
 
Why does Saturday evening fulfill Sunday obligation? Was this an arbitrary decision or is it based on some reasoning? Thanks.
 
KevinK said:
Why does Saturday evening fulfill Sunday obligation? Was this an arbitrary decision or is it based on some reasoning? Thanks.
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The reason is to allow for difficult work schedules in modern times. For history see Eucharisticum Mysterium, May 25, 1967 and the 1983 canon law shown below.

CIC (Latin Canon Law)
Can. 1247

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

Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.
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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.

§2. If participation in the eucharistic celebration becomes impossible because of the absence of a sacred minister or for another grave cause, it is strongly recommended that the faithful take part in a liturgy of the word if such a liturgy is celebrated in a parish church or other sacred place according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop or that they devote themselves to prayer for a suitable time alone, as a family, or, as the occasion permits, in groups of families.
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The Sunday celebration actually begins at sunset on Saturday; that’s why Mass at that times fulfills Sunday obligation.
 
God does not want you to have stress over this if it is impossible for you to be there Saturday night or Sunday. Please discuss this with your priest. He is there to help you find a solution.
 
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Limoncello4021 said:
The Sunday celebration actually begins at sunset on Saturday; that’s why Mass at that times fulfills Sunday obligation.
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Only because the Church currently allows it, not because the Sunday celebration inherently starts on Saturday evening (and it’s not “sunset”). Prior to the 1983 code of canon law, Sunday mass could only be celebrated from midnight to noon on Sunday.

The norms for the Sunday obligation are ecclesial laws, not divine laws, they are changeable. Overall, we have an obligation under the Third Commandment towards the Lord’s Day. The exact nature of mass obligation on Sundays and Holy Days is a law of the Church, not a law of God. That is why it is changeable, dispensable, and we can be excused for serious cause.
 
I am asking if there is reason for choosing Saturday evening as an alternative as opposed to any other time. If there is no reason, then by definition it is arbitrary.
 
KevinK said:
I am asking if there is reason for choosing Saturday evening as an alternative as opposed to any other time. If there is no reason, then by definition it is arbitrary.
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Yes, there is reason. Firstly because it is contiguous with Sunday forming a whole. Secondly, the Church historically celebrated the Vigil of feast days from the beginning of the Church-- the Vigil being the liturgy the night before a feast.
 
There are some directives, such as whether to drive on the left side or the right side of the street, which are necessary for order, but whose particulars might be prudential based on custom, or at times chosen without special reason but simply from the need to choose.

I think suh decisions might be called arbitrary, and I have no reason to believe that it would be contrary to any natural or divine order for the Church to do somethings arbitrarily, in this particular sense.

What say you 1ke?
 
KevinK said:
Why does Saturday evening fulfill Sunday obligation? Was this an arbitrary decision or is it based on some reasoning? Thanks.
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The reason is because in the biblical understanding of a day, the transition from one day to the next occurs at sunset. So, biblically, Friday begins on what we would call Thursday evening. Saturday begins on Friday evening. Sunday begins on Saturday (according to our modern clock) evening.

The Church allows a certain merger of the two different times of transition from one day to the next. We can fulfill the Sunday obligation on Saturday evening because biblically, Sunday has already begun. At the other end, the Church extends the time to the end of Sunday according to the modern clock/calendar.

On all Solemnities (which includes all Sundays), the liturgical day is actually about 1 and 1/3 of a calendar day.
 
Just curious, doesn’t 4 pm on a Saturday seem a little early to function as a Sunday mass? Also, isn’t it possible that adding a whole other Mass serves to lighten the load of the priest shortage, not having to build more parishes? I personally think that addition of the Saturday Mass makes the huge parishes seem even more like mega-churches. Just my unscientific opinion.
 
Loud-living-dogma said:
Just curious, doesn’t 4 pm on a Saturday seem a little early to function as a Sunday mass?
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Sometimes yes.

The issue here is trying to resolve the conflict between the ancient clock and the modern one. The ancient Roman clock (still used throughout history, by the way) divided the day into 12 equal hours and the night into 12 equal hours. That means an hour of day was longer in the summer than in the winter. Obviously that contrasts to our modern clock where the hours are fixed-length.

“Vespere” is the Latin word that loosely translates to “evening.” It means the end of the day, the time when the lamps were being lit (so it was getting dark, but not too dark to see).

Briefly put, Latin has words that refer to both the time-of-day and the Hour (from Liturgy of the Hours) that is prayed at that time. So “vespers” means both the time and the prayer. Same with Matins, etc.

Monastic communities especially, but also the Church generally, have come up with a system to approximate the ancient hours to the modern ones. That means Vespers corresponds to 4 PM in practice, and by longstanding custom.
Also, isn’t it possible that adding a whole other Mass serves to lighten the load of the priest shortage, not having to build more parishes? I personally think that addition of the Saturday Mass makes the huge parishes seem even more like mega-churches. Just my unscientific opinion.
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That depends on the individual parish. Every one is going to be unique and depend on a lot of different factors.
 
I’m sure it’s not a trivial matter, but is the question “I wonder if this mass counts” really that common?

Some times it seems OCD is as common as scruplosity.
 
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