Second Sunday of Advent vs. Immaculate Conception

[tee_eff_em]

Here is another hypothetical (Don’t worry, this one involves two Masses):

I live within a few minutes’ drive of a number of parishes and chapels with varying schedules. In particular, on any given Sunday evening, I can attend a regularly scheduled Liturgy at 18:30, at 19:45, or at 21:00 (among others).

Suppose between 23:59 Friday 5-Dec and 00:01 Tuesday 9-Dec, I assist at exactly two Masses; one at 18:30 Sunday 7-Dec and the other at 21:00 Sunday 7-Dec.

Can I, by my interior intention (or any other way), fulfill my obligation for the Immaculate Conception *before *I fulfill the obligation for II Sunday Advent? Why or why not?

tee
Who is genuinely curious, but not curious enough to register for Canon Law School at his age

 

[dans0622]

…Here’s a hypothetical: Suppose between 23:59 Friday 5-Dec and 00:01 Tuesday 9-Dec, I assist at exactly one Mass, at 18:30 on Sunday 7-Dec.

• 
  *]Which obligation have I failed to meet? How do I know?
  *]Does it matter if I heard heard readings & prayers for II Sunday of Advent or for the Immaculate Conception?
  *]What if I heard some other set of readings & prayers? What if the Mass I attended was at St Stanislaus and was conducted in Polish, which I do not understand, and so do not know what Mass was said?
  *]What if I intended to keep one obligation to the exclusion of the other? Do the readings & prayers matter now?
  
  …

• 
  Hello,
  
  Interesting questions. Answering them from the perspective that a person needs to attend two Masses to fulfill the two obligations (which I think is the stronger position but I see the rationale on the other side, too), I respond:
  1. Since the obligations are sequential, the (first) Mass you attended would apply to the one which came first (Second Sunday of Advent). You would have the second obligation remaining. That’s the normal process.
  2. It doesn’t matter.
  3. It doesn’t matter.
  4. Readings/prayers/etc. don’t matter. By default (see #1), you would fulfill the Sunday obligation so there is really no “exclusion” of the next day’s obligation. If you wanted to fulfill the obligation for Dec. 8 and exclude the one for Dec. 7: interesting idea. I suppose this is possible since we are “free” to refuse to fulfill the obligation to attend Mass on Sunday/day of obligation and the time at which you attended Mass makes it possible to fulfill the obligation for the next day.
  Since by refusing to fulfill the Sunday obligation you just committed an objectively grave sin (which would almost have to be subjectively mortal since you are well aware of what you are doing), I hope you didn’t receive Holy Communion.
  
  Regarding the possibility of intending to fulfill the second obligation before the first: I think you could. Again, the Church makes it possible for us to fulfill either (or both) obligation(s) during those evening hours of Sunday. So, if that is what you want to do, I don’t think anyone can stop you.
  
  Dan

 

[TradCatholic34]

It is regrettable, however, when legalism seems to trump liturgical propriety. It doesn’t matter, for example, what the liturgical texts are for a fulfilling an obligation…but one would imagine a point of an obligation would be to celebrate the actual feast, not to say rather legalistically that “If I go on Saturday night for Sunday and on Sunday night for Monday, it ‘counts’ and that’s the main thing” - regardless of the actual liturgy that is being celebrated.

Much of these recurrent pseudo-problems are the direct result of the trend toward anticipated/evening Masses. In the days when there were no such Masses, it was simpler: Sunday morning = Sunday, Monday morning = the feast, always, the end. Thus this system had the advantage of respecting the liturgical reality that sometimes the night before isn’t actually the Sunday or the feast; sometimes liturgically the night before = the night of the preceding day. In other words, there was a wisdom in preserving the ancient tradition that Mass comes after Terce on Sundays and feasts, i.e., after midmorning prayer.

Lastly, there will always be someone who has the seemingly impossible schedule that prevents Mass attendance. God does not demand the impossible. If you are truly impeded from available Masses on a day of obligation, you are not expected to do the impossible.

 

[Tigg]

Here is the correct understanding:

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the patronal feast of the United States, is a Holy Day of Obligation. Because this feast honoring Mary, the Mother of God, celebrates one of the most important events in salvation history, it is never abrogated, even when December 8 falls on a Saturday or a Monday.

However, if December 8 falls on a Sunday (as in, for instance, 2013), the celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is transferred to Monday, December 9, because Sundays in Advent take precedence over any other feast. When the celebration is transferred, rather than naturally falling on a Monday, the obligation to attend Mass does not transfer with it.

catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Imm_Con_Holy.htm

Since the feast occurred naturally on a Monday of this year, it IS a HD o O and your attendance at Sunday Mass has nothing to do with satisfying it.

A side note in that I believe the USCCB has made this unnecessarily complicated. One needs to look at a calendar to decide if it is obligatory to attend Mass on this Holy Day since the day the feast falls on is crucial.

 

[Tigg]

When it falls on Monday, the Sunday of Advent takes precedent, and the feast is transferred to Monday, but not the obligation. So, it’s not really the same situation.

What do you mean by “when it falls on Monday?”

Please see above link.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

A side note in that I believe the USCCB has made this unnecessarily complicated. One needs to look at a calendar to decide if it is obligatory to attend Mass on this Holy Day since the day the feast falls on is crucial.

The only thing the USCCB made complicated was to say that we observe the holy day, even when it falls on a Saturday or Monday, unlike the days where the obligation is abrogated.

It’s canon law that says you can fulfill the obligation on the day itself or the evening before (can 1248).

What do you mean by “when it falls on Monday?”

Please see above link.

She mistyped. She meant to say that when December 8 falls on Sunday, the 2nd Sunday of Advent takes precedence; the observance of the Immaculate Conception is moved to Monday but not the obligation to attend Mass.

 

[1ke]

What do you mean by “when it falls on Monday?”

Please see above link.

Typo.