No Homily at Christmas Day Mass

[jessicaj]

Hello,
This Christmas I attended Mass in England, as I was visiting my relatives there at the time. During the Mass, the priest did not give a homily, but skipped straight to the Creed after the Gospel reading. Was this an error, or is a homily not often given at this Mass? I am a relatively new Catholic, plus I usually go to the Midnight Mass, so I’m not too sure what’s going on here. Thanks!

 

[Phemie]

Hello,
This Christmas I attended Mass in England, as I was visiting my relatives there at the time. During the Mass, the priest did not give a homily, but skipped straight to the Creed after the Gospel reading. Was this an error, or is a homily not often given at this Mass? I am a relatively new Catholic, plus I usually go to the Midnight Mass, so I’m not too sure what’s going on here. Thanks!

There’s supposed to be a Homily but some priests choose not to give one.

Our former pastor used the same line each year: “Listen closely to what I am going to say. Merry Christmas”, then he’d start the Creed. I always figured he was too lazy to write a homily. This year, the visiting priest gave a beautiful homily, catechizing as he went along.

I think when you have some people in attendance who only come to Mass at Christmas you have a duty to give them more than “Merry Christmas” as a joke.

 

[paperwight66]

I don’t think it’s anything to do with it being in England. IME, there’s always a homily at that Mass at any parish I’ve attended, (but generally quite short).

 

[Matthew_Holford]

Hello,
This Christmas I attended Mass in England, as I was visiting my relatives there at the time. During the Mass, the priest did not give a homily, but skipped straight to the Creed after the Gospel reading. Was this an error, or is a homily not often given at this Mass? I am a relatively new Catholic, plus I usually go to the Midnight Mass, so I’m not too sure what’s going on here. Thanks!

The GIRM (latest version authorised for use in England and Wales) at #66 says (emphasis bold and underlining is mine):

There is to be a Homily on Sundays and holy days of obligation at all Masses that are celebrated with the participation of a congregation; it may not be omitted without a serious reason. It is recommended on other days, especially on the weekdays of Advent, Lent, and the Easter Season, as well as on other festive days and occasions when the people come to church in greater numbers.

.
There should have been a homily. It needn’t have been long but there should have been one, assuming there was no “serious reason”.

 

[Frosty]

Or, just maybe, the priest was simply exhausted. You didn’t say what Mass you attended on Christmas Day. The pastor at my parish had three Masses on Christmas Eve plus two on Christmas morning. In addition to that [by itself an exhausting schedule for one man] he’d had a funeral the morning of Christmas Eve as well as four other funerals in that week not to mention the regularly scheduled Daily Masses. Plus he had taken the entire day on the Wednesday to hear Confessions from 9am until 8pm with only a half hour break for lunch! Not to mention performing all the other duties he has as a pastor. This priest always gives a homily at Mass at least a ten minute one] and the ones at Daily Mass are often as long as the ones on Sunday.
All the Christmas Masses were celebrated as though they were a high Mass so he chanted all the prayers and used Eucharistic Prayer 1. By the time the last Mass was finished on Christmas morning he could barely speak, his throat was so raw, and the exhaustion on his face was very evident. He had a terrible time at the Sunday Masses chanting the prayers and during the homily his voice was nothing more than a croak for which he apologized several times. Even at the Masses this past weekend his voice wasn’t anywhere near back to normal. I really doubt that anyone at my parish would have faulted him if he had indeed left out the homily!
Some would contend that my pastor is an exception to the rule but the truth is that he isn’t. At least not in the area where I live. I personally know many of the priests in the diocese and quite honestly, I don’t know how they are able to keep up with the heavy schedules they have without literally collapsing from exhaustion.
To the OP, I understand that you are merely asking as question and being new to the Church aren’t sure as to what normally happens at the different Masses and I am not trying to fault you for asking. It’s just that I get so tired of hearing people on these forums constantly railing at the priests for oftentimes the slightest irregularity which is not done with any wrongful intent by the priest but simply because he is human and there are underlying factors that we, the parishoners. have no knowledge of.

 

[Lancer]

quote=Frosty;7422747]
All the Christmas Masses were celebrated as though they were a high Mass so he chanted all the prayers and used Eucharistic Prayer 1. By the time the last Mass was finished on Christmas morning he could barely speak, his throat was so raw, and the exhaustion on his face was very evident. He had a terrible time at the Sunday Masses chanting the prayers and during the homily his voice was nothing more than a croak for which he apologized several times. Even at the Masses this past weekend his voice wasn’t anywhere near back to normal. I really doubt that anyone at my parish would have faulted him if he had indeed left out the homily!
Some would contend that my pastor is an exception to the rule but the truth is that he isn’t. At least not in the area where I live. I personally know many of the priests in the diocese and quite honestly, I don’t know how they are able to keep up with the heavy schedules they have without literally collapsing from exhaustion.
To the OP, I understand that you are merely asking as question and being new to the Church aren’t sure as to what normally happens at the different Masses and I am not trying to fault you for asking.** It’s just that I get so tired of hearing people on these forums constantly railing at the priests for oftentimes the slightest irregularity which is not done with any wrongful intent by the priest but simply because he is human and there are underlying factors that we, the parishoners. have no knowledge of.**

For Your Consideration.
Pax Christi

Redemptionis Sacramentum

This Instruction, prepared by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by mandate of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II in collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was approved by the same Pontiff on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, 19 March 2004, and he ordered it to be published and to be observed immediately by all concerned.

From the offices of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Rome, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, 25 March 2004.

Francis Card. ARINZE
Prefect

+Domenico SORRENTINO
Archbishop Secretary

On certain matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist

4. Overview of the Instruction.
…Priests have also made solemn promises to exercise with fidelity their ministry, as have Deacons. They are expected to live up to their sacred responsibilities. …
​

11. The Mystery of the Eucharist “is too great for anyone to permit himself to treat it according to his own whim, so that its sacredness and its universal ordering would be obscured.”27 On the contrary, anyone who acts thus by giving free reign to his own inclinations, even if he is a Priest, injures the substantial unity of the Roman Rite, which ought to be vigorously preserved,28 and becomes responsible for actions that are in no way consistent with the hunger and thirst for the living God that is experienced by the people today. Nor do such actions serve authentic pastoral care or proper liturgical renewal; instead, they deprive Christ’s faithful of their patrimony and their heritage. For arbitrary actions are not conducive to true renewal,29 but are detrimental to the right of Christ’s faithful to a liturgical celebration that is an expression of the Church’s life in accordance with her tradition and discipline. In the end, they introduce elements of distortion and disharmony into the very celebration of the Eucharist, which is oriented in its own lofty way and by its very nature to signifying and wondrously bringing about the communion of divine life and the unity of the People of God.30 The result is uncertainty in matters of doctrine, perplexity and scandal on the part of the People of God, and, almost as a necessary consequence, vigorous opposition, all of which greatly confuse and sadden many of Christ’s faithful in this age of ours when Christian life is often particularly difficult on account of the inroads of “secularization” as well.31

12. On the contrary, it is the right of all of Christ’s faithful that the Liturgy, and in particular the celebration of Holy Mass, should truly be as the Church wishes, according to her stipulations as prescribed in the liturgical books and in the other laws and norms. Likewise, the Catholic people have the right that the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass should be celebrated for them in an integral manner, according to the entire doctrine of the Church’s Magisterium. Finally, it is the Catholic community’s right that the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist should be carried out for it in such a manner that it truly stands out as a sacrament of unity, to the exclusion of all blemishes and actions that might engender divisions and factions in the Church.32
​

​

usccb.org/liturgy/documents/instructioneng.shtml#3

 

[Matthew_Holford]

Or, just maybe, the priest was simply exhausted. You didn’t say what Mass you attended on Christmas Day. The pastor at my parish had three Masses on Christmas Eve plus two on Christmas morning. In addition to that [by itself an exhausting schedule for one man] he’d had a funeral the morning of Christmas Eve as well as four other funerals in that week not to mention the regularly scheduled Daily Masses. Plus he had taken the entire day on the Wednesday to hear Confessions from 9am until 8pm with only a half hour break for lunch! Not to mention performing all the other duties he has as a pastor. This priest always gives a homily at Mass at least a ten minute one] and the ones at Daily Mass are often as long as the ones on Sunday.
All the Christmas Masses were celebrated as though they were a high Mass so he chanted all the prayers and used Eucharistic Prayer 1. By the time the last Mass was finished on Christmas morning he could barely speak, his throat was so raw, and the exhaustion on his face was very evident. He had a terrible time at the Sunday Masses chanting the prayers and during the homily his voice was nothing more than a croak for which he apologized several times. Even at the Masses this past weekend his voice wasn’t anywhere near back to normal. I really doubt that anyone at my parish would have faulted him if he had indeed left out the homily!
Some would contend that my pastor is an exception to the rule but the truth is that he isn’t. At least not in the area where I live. I personally know many of the priests in the diocese and quite honestly, I don’t know how they are able to keep up with the heavy schedules they have without literally collapsing from exhaustion.
To the OP, I understand that you are merely asking as question and being new to the Church aren’t sure as to what normally happens at the different Masses and I am not trying to fault you for asking. It’s just that I get so tired of hearing people on these forums constantly railing at the priests for oftentimes the slightest irregularity which is not done with any wrongful intent by the priest but simply because he is human and there are underlying factors that we, the parishoners. have no knowledge of.

We all get tired. Many people have jobs for which they have to work long hours. I am afraid that I do not buy into this “the priest is too tired”. He should be honoured that he has the privilege of celebrating the Mass.

Why did your priest hear confessions for so long. I cannot see why he would need to. Was he kept busy for the entire time?

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

Hello,
This Christmas I attended Mass in England, as I was visiting my relatives there at the time. During the Mass, the priest did not give a homily, but skipped straight to the Creed after the Gospel reading. Was this an error, or is a homily not often given at this Mass? I am a relatively new Catholic, plus I usually go to the Midnight Mass, so I’m not too sure what’s going on here. Thanks!

Maybe he wasn’t feeling well or had a sore throat…

 

[pinctor]

Well, we had no readings nor a homily. The children presented a nativity tableau, and very beautiful it was, with the carols supporting the action.
The celebrant said, "Well that says it all, and with the children’s innocence far better than we adults can
The mass continued…

:clapping::harp:.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

Well, we had no readings nor a homily. The children presented a nativity tableau, and very beautiful it was, with the carols supporting the action.
The celebrant said, "Well that says it all, and with the children’s innocence far better than we adults can
The mass continued…

:clapping::harp:.

If priests want to change the liturgy based on their whim I wonder why they do not become Protestant ministers.

 

[Cathryn]

Or, just maybe, the priest was simply exhausted. You didn’t say what Mass you attended on Christmas Day. The pastor at my parish had three Masses on Christmas Eve plus two on Christmas morning. In addition to that [by itself an exhausting schedule for one man] he’d had a funeral the morning of Christmas Eve as well as four other funerals in that week not to mention the regularly scheduled Daily Masses. Plus he had taken the entire day on the Wednesday to hear Confessions from 9am until 8pm with only a half hour break for lunch! Not to mention performing all the other duties he has as a pastor. This priest always gives a homily at Mass at least a ten minute one] and the ones at Daily Mass are often as long as the ones on Sunday.
All the Christmas Masses were celebrated as though they were a high Mass so he chanted all the prayers and used Eucharistic Prayer 1. By the time the last Mass was finished on Christmas morning he could barely speak, his throat was so raw, and the exhaustion on his face was very evident. He had a terrible time at the Sunday Masses chanting the prayers and during the homily his voice was nothing more than a croak for which he apologized several times. Even at the Masses this past weekend his voice wasn’t anywhere near back to normal. I really doubt that anyone at my parish would have faulted him if he had indeed left out the homily!
Some would contend that my pastor is an exception to the rule but the truth is that he isn’t. At least not in the area where I live. I personally know many of the priests in the diocese and quite honestly, I don’t know how they are able to keep up with the heavy schedules they have without literally collapsing from exhaustion.
To the OP, I understand that you are merely asking as question and being new to the Church aren’t sure as to what normally happens at the different Masses and I am not trying to fault you for asking. It’s just that I get so tired of hearing people on these forums constantly railing at the priests for oftentimes the slightest irregularity which is not done with any wrongful intent by the priest but simply because he is human and there are underlying factors that we, the parishoners. have no knowledge of.

Frosty:

My pastor had a schedule like your pastor. He lost his voice also. It is incredibly difficult when a pastor has no associate pastor. This priest may have just done the best he could do.

 

[pinctor]

If priests want to change the liturgy based on their whim I wonder why they do not become Protestant ministers.

Meeeeoooooww!

 

[Frosty]

We all get tired. Many people have jobs for which they have to work long hours. I am afraid that I do not buy into this “the priest is too tired”. He should be honoured that he has the privilege of celebrating the Mass.

Why did your priest hear confessions for so long. I cannot see why he would need to. Was he kept busy for the entire time?

With all due respect, I don’t care whether or not you buy into the fact that paticularly at Christmastime [and during Holy Week] the majority of parish priests have a backbreaking schedule, that includes a myriad of duties, not only the liturgies they celebrate. They are not automatons nor androids, just frail humans like the rest of us, and sometimes they really do wear down and mistakes happen or things get left out. I’m not making excuses for deliberate abuses but if you ever actually go and ask a priest after a liturgy during one of those times of the year why he left out a certain part or mispoke certain words, he is likely to tell you that he was basicaly running on auto-pilot and either truly forgot or his mind went blank for a few moments. Also, I have never known a priest who does not feel more than priviledged to say the Mass and for most of them, the Mass is what they live for, the basis of their faith.

My pastor hears confessions for as long as he did the Wednesday before Christmas because that is what he does. Along with the regular confession schedule, he picks one day every five weeks and hears confessions all day long for at least six hours. Last year during Lent, our Bishop instituted what he called " A Day of Grace" . On that day, every single priest in the diocese, the Bishop included. was available from right after the morning Masses until 8pm. In a good many parishes, priests stayed several hours later or until they were sure absolutely no one was still waiting. The day was sucessful beyond the Bishop’s wildest dreams and since then, many priests, my pastor being one of the leaders behind the initiative, have made themselves available on a more or less regullar basis for all day long confessions. All nine of the parishes within an eight minute drive from my house do so. And yes, at least in my parish, Father is kept busy the whole time. Honestly, when so many posters are constanly complaining that priests aren’t available for confessions enough to suit them. I can’t imagine why you would even ask such a question!

 

[jessicaj]

To the OP, I understand that you are merely asking as question and being new to the Church aren’t sure as to what normally happens at the different Masses and I am not trying to fault you for asking. It’s just that I get so tired of hearing people on these forums constantly railing at the priests for oftentimes the slightest irregularity which is not done with any wrongful intent by the priest but simply because he is human and there are underlying factors that we, the parishoners. have no knowledge of.

I’m sorry to hear that other people rail at priests for tiny little irregularities, but I assure you that wasn’t my intention. I don’t hold it against him in any way, I don’t think he was being lazy or anything like that. I was just trying to understand what happened **not **in order to criticize, but to have a greater understanding of the Liturgy.
And, to answer your question, there was a Midnight Mass the night before, and one Mass before the one I went to Christmas morning.

 

[jessicaj]

I think when you have some people in attendance who only come to Mass at Christmas you have a duty to give them more than “Merry Christmas” as a joke.

I certainly agree. A little humor is fine here and there, but Christmas is a big opportunity to catechize and possibly draw people back to the church. I don’t mean to be critical to a priest, especially one whom I do not know, but it seems irresponsible.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

With all due respect, I don’t care whether or not you buy into the fact that paticularly at Christmastime [and during Holy Week] the majority of parish priests have a backbreaking schedule, that includes a myriad of duties, not only the liturgies they celebrate. They are not automatons nor androids, just frail humans like the rest of us, and sometimes they really do wear down and mistakes happen or things get left out. I’m not making excuses for deliberate abuses but if you ever actually go and ask a priest after a liturgy during one of those times of the year why he left out a certain part or mispoke certain words, he is likely to tell you that he was basicaly running on auto-pilot and either truly forgot or his mind went blank for a few moments. Also, I have never known a priest who does not feel more than priviledged to say the Mass and for most of them, the Mass is what they live for, the basis of their faith.

My pastor hears confessions for as long as he did the Wednesday before Christmas because that is what he does. Along with the regular confession schedule, he picks one day every five weeks and hears confessions all day long for at least six hours. Last year during Lent, our Bishop instituted what he called " A Day of Grace" . On that day, every single priest in the diocese, the Bishop included. was available from right after the morning Masses until 8pm. In a good many parishes, priests stayed several hours later or until they were sure absolutely no one was still waiting. The day was sucessful beyond the Bishop’s wildest dreams and since then, many priests, my pastor being one of the leaders behind the initiative, have made themselves available on a more or less regullar basis for all day long confessions. All nine of the parishes within an eight minute drive from my house do so. And yes, at least in my parish, Father is kept busy the whole time. Honestly, when so many posters are constanly complaining that priests aren’t available for confessions enough to suit them. I can’t imagine why you would even ask such a question!

I did not say that priests do not have a heavy schedule. What is this post about? It’s about omitting the homily from Mass on days when it is required. I do no see how adding another five or ten minutes to a Mass is going to make that much difference.

Many priests do work hard but they are not alone. That’s why I don’t accept that we just put down mistakes to tiredness. I wonder how forgiving you would be towards a doctor who made a mistake because he was tired.