Mass and Good Friday

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MissRose73 said:
I attended the Good Friday service today. It was about 1.5 hours or so.

We had the Liturgy of the Word including the reading of the Passion from St John’s Gospel, a short homily and the prayers of the faithful.

Then we had the Veneration of the Cross. The priest and a male parishioner carried the large cross from the back to the front of the church due to its size. After they placed in the holder thing, the priest invited the congregation to venerate the cross. Most people touched it, and many did kiss it also.

Finally, we had Holy Communion after reciting the Our Father and exchanging the Sign of Peace.
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Our Good Friday service followed the missal. Thus, it included everything above with the exception of the Sign of Peace. Also, our service was conducted by our two deacons, while our two priests attended garbed in cassocks and white surplices in the pews. The priests stayed in the pews along with the rest of the congregation until it was time for Veneration of the Cross (where most people at our Church bowed before it and kissed it, though I noticed a few folks genuflected before it instead). The priests also helped distribute Holy Communion.

The distribution of the Eucharist was a part of the service on Good Friday as outlined in the missal. The altar was stripped and the church was bare, the tabernacle empty with the door standing open and the candle extinguished, because that was done at the end of Mass on Holy Thursday. Our Lord in the Eucharist was brought up from the place of repository for Holy Communion on Good Friday, accompanied by the deacon and servers carrying two candles, again as outlined in the missal. After Holy Communion, the ciboriums were returned to the repository and the tabernacle was left empty. Again, with the exceptions of the deacons conducting the service, our service followed the missal. (The missal indicated “priest” in the parts the deacons took and I think that was just fine and were acceptable exceptions that deacons took on those roles.)
 
504Katrin said:
…We don’t celebrate mass but have a prayer service where we remember his crucification and the Lords’ passion on Good Friday. …
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No Catholic Church celebrates Mass on Good Friday. It is the only day of the year when a Mass is not celebrated.
 
SwizzleStick said:
No Catholic Church celebrates Mass on Good Friday. It is the only day of the year when a Mass is not celebrated.
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When I wrote “we” I meant the Catholic church actually, but I wasn’t clear apparantly. Thanks for the hint 🙂
 
SwizzleStick said:
I’m sorry for my misunderstanding.😊
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Thanks and it’s alright I’m grateful for your hint. I’m still learning how to formulate my thoughts on these message boards, and now that I realize I wasn’t clear I can work on it some more 🙂
 
SwizzleStick said:
No Catholic Church celebrates Mass on Good Friday. It is the only day of the year when a Mass is not celebrated.
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I’ve been telling people that the Catholic Church does **not **have Mass on Holy Saturday either from a liturgical point of view. I then explain that the Easter Vigil is, liturgically speaking, really a Sunday celebration. I’d like to know if I am spreading error when I say that there is no Mass on “Holy Saturday.” Am I wrong on this??

I find it interesting because there is this oddity that occurs after 4pm each day with both the next day and the current day can overlap (liturgically - and/or canonically). So, I can see the argument that the Easter Vigil is actually on Holy Saturday (again - liturgically).
 
in_servitude said:
I’ve been telling people that the Catholic Church does **not **have Mass on Holy Saturday either from a liturgical point of view. I then explain that the Easter Vigil is, liturgically speaking, really a Sunday celebration. I’d like to know if I am spreading error when I say that there is no Mass on “Holy Saturday.” Am I wrong on this??

I find it interesting because there is this oddity that occurs after 4pm each day with both the next day and the current day can overlap (liturgically - and/or canonically). So, I can see the argument that the Easter Vigil is actually on Holy Saturday (again - liturgically).
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As far as I understand (and I could be wrong) the Easter Vigil is a true Vigil Mass, it liturgically is not the Easter Sunday Mass, although the obligation is fulfilled for Sunday by attending it. Thus, there is a Mass on Holy Saturday. The regular Masses on Saturday evenings are not vigil Masses–they are the Sunday Mass held the evening before when Sunday liturgically begins. The Propers and the readings are the same. So I don’t believe you are correct on this.

If the Easter Vigil were a Sunday Mass, the propers and readings would be the same, and it would not be called a Vigil. Parishes sometimes call the Sat. evening Masses Vigil Masses, but that is not correct, and they are not referred to as vigil Masses in the Missals.
 
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