When does Sunday begin?

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I do not recall suggesting that we spend all day at church on Sunday.

Obviously, I am not going to convince my fellow contributors of the importance of Sunday. Perhaps someone else’s words could achieve that better. I would encourage a read of Pope John Paul II’s apostolic letter Dies domini. Although I have a suspicion that some of you will be clambering to quote Dies domini #49.

I shall ask all the martyrs who died for the Faith and to exercise the right of the faithful to attend Mass on Sunday to intercede for you all.

My family and I shall continue to go to Mass on Sunday and in doing so we don’t claim to be perfect. We are sinners like everyone else.
 
malphono said:
This seems to me to be one of those “yes … but…” things. It strikes me that canon 1248 itself is merely a codification of a practice that was already in place. Looking at it that way, the terminology is more or less irrelevant since it is, in fact, an “anticipated” (not a “vigil”) Mass, canon 1248 notwithstanding.

The concept of the liturgical day starting at Vespers Hour is certainly not new, as is clear from the Divine Office. But, even using the biblical/Hebrew concept, certain prayers are done at certain times of the day, and so it was with Mass. It was (rightly, IMO) the case that Mass should normally not be offered before dawn (and not after noon). (One major exception was Christmas, where the First Mass was (and still even in the OF) called in nocte, the Second Mass in aurora, and the Third Mass in die, but still all after midnight. The OF adds a Mass for Christmas (in vigilia) which must not begin before the Verspers Hour. The other major exception (at least in modern times, since 1955) was/is the Easter Vigil.)

In any case, (and I’m not saying I see anything intrinsically wrong with it,) as I see it, the actual practice of regularizing the practice of Mass the “evening before” is a concession to modern times begun by Pius XII, and really has nothing to do with any “renewed understanding” of the liturgical day.
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First of all, it is not an “anticipated” Mass because Sunday has already begun. We do not “anticipate” something that’s already here.

What I’m saying in my post is that before the 83 code, these Masses were anticipated Masses, and they were only permitted out of necessity. Since the 83 code, they are no longer restricted to any necessity. I’m not saying they didn’t happen, or that they did not happen often. Please read the post. It has everything to do with the renewed/restored understanding because the code of canon law itself was changed to reflect this.

There is a significant difference between looking at Saturday evening Masses as an anticipation of Sunday, and on the other hand looking at them as Sunday Masses which occur on secular-Saturday. The former is what we now have–Sunday Mass celebrated on what is Saturday in the secular calendar.
 
FrDavid96 said:
First of all, it is not an “anticipated” Mass because Sunday has already begun. We do not “anticipate” something that’s already here.

What I’m saying in my post is that before the 83 code, these Masses were anticipated Masses, and they were only permitted out of necessity. Since the 83 code, they are no longer restricted to any necessity. I’m not saying they didn’t happen, or that they did not happen often. Please read the post. It has everything to do with the renewed/restored understanding because the code of canon law itself was changed to reflect this.

There is a significant difference between looking at Saturday evening Masses as an anticipation of Sunday, and on the other hand looking at them as Sunday Masses which occur on secular-Saturday. The former is what we now have–Sunday Mass celebrated on what is Saturday in the secular calendar.
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As you wish. 🤷
 
FrDavid96 said:
However, that thinking changed. Around the 1970s/80s the Church began to restore the ancient and biblical concept that the Sabbath begins at sunset. The current 1983 Code of Canon Law reflects this restored understanding of the Sabbath. See canon 1248 vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4N.HTM

Since we now have the restored understanding that Sunday begins at sunset on Saturday, the Saturday evening Mass is not a Saturday Mass at all, but a Sunday Mass. Even though the secular calendar says “Saturday”, from a liturgical view it is Sunday, and therefore the Saturday evening Mass is not in any way different from a Mass on Sunday morning.
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Which always leave me scratching my head as to what is the standing room only Sunday evening 7:00pm Mass at my Latin parish and the 5:00 & 10:00 p.m. Sunday evening Masses at another near by parish? Sat. evening is Sunday, but Sunday evening is also Sunday…🤷
 
FrDavid96 said:
There is a significant difference between looking at Saturday evening Masses as an anticipation of Sunday, and on the other hand looking at them as Sunday Masses which occur on secular-Saturday. The former is what we now have–Sunday Mass celebrated on what is Saturday in the secular calendar.
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I think you meant to say the latter is what we have now.
 
To back up what FrDavid96 is saying (hopefully I will get this right). In the Latin (or Roman) Catholic Church we celebrate most liturgical days within the confines of a calendar day, i.e. midnight to midnight. For example, next Tuesday (24th August 2010) is St Bartholomew. It is a feast. St Bartholomew’s day will begin at 12 midnight (or in the 24-hour clock 00.00) the moment Tuesday begins. As soon as Tuesday ends at 23.59 so will St Bartholomew’s day.

Some liturgical days have the privilege of having the liturgical day extended into the previous evening. These days are all Sundays; all solemnities; and, feasts of the Lord the are in the General Roman Calendar and which are celebrated on a Sunday in the Christmas season or in Ordinary Time, e.g. Holy Family, Baptism of the Lord.

So next Sunday (29th August 2010), 22nd in Ordinary Time will begin on the previous Saturday evening (28th August 2010) and will last until the end of the calendar Sunday. There’s no precise time on Saturday when Sunday begins. In a commentary on Canon Law (referring to the ‘new’ Code, 1983) that I read the canon lawyers who wrote the commentary claim that technically Sunday begins at 12 noon on Saturday. Some people argue that the ‘natural’ time to begin the Sunday celebration on Saturday is at dusk. In practical terms it really begins when the first liturgy of Sunday is celebrated. This may be the first Evening Prayer (Vespers) of Sunday. It could be the Sunday Mass.

Should we call that mass a ‘vigil’ Mass, an ‘anticipated’ Mass, or what. My diocesan Ordo says it shouldn’t be called a ‘vigil’ Mass because it isn’t a vigil. It makes no mention of the term ‘anticipated’. It simply recommends calling it the “First Mass of Sunday”.
 
5Loaves said:
Which always leave me scratching my head as to what is the standing room only Sunday evening 7:00pm Mass at my Latin parish and the 5:00 & 10:00 p.m. Sunday evening Masses at another near by parish? Sat. evening is Sunday, but Sunday evening is also Sunday…🤷
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I wish this option was available to me. I am a nurse and work in a hospital. I am required to work certain weekends, as happens at most hospitals and in many other workplaces that are necessities. I actually work 2 12-hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday of the same weekend. I don’t have a late Sunday evening Mass to attend, but would love to. Instead, I have to miss all Masses. When I had flexibility to work only 1 of the days, I was grateful to be able to attend on Saturday evening or even Sunday evening if I worked Saturday night.

Beyond the technical side of things, can’t you just be grateful that this allows those of us with no choice at work to have a choice and be able to attend Mass?
 
Very important document from Pope Benedict XVIL

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html#The_eucharistic_form_of_the_christian_life

Regarding the Lords Day…read part 3

and this little quote too brings out that fact that while first Vespers is already part of Sunday…there is a GREAT importance to the day itself…“Sunday itself”

“For the sake of these important values – while recognizing that Saturday evening, beginning with First Vespers, is already a part of Sunday and a time when the Sunday obligation can be fulfilled – we need to remember that it is Sunday itself that is meant to be kept holy, lest it end up as a day “empty of God.” (208)” 73

Of course too…the day of rest begins at Midnight of Sunday…

(so please no one scruple over their labors Saturday Evening…)

Oh and this is a a great quote from it:
  1. At the beginning of the fourth century, Christian worship was still forbidden by the imperial authorities. Some Christians in North Africa, who felt bound to celebrate the Lord’s Day, defied the prohibition. They were martyred after declaring that it was not possible for them to live without the Eucharist, the food of the Lord: sine dominico non possumus. (252) May these martyrs of Abitinae, in union with all those saints and beati who made the Eucharist the centre of their lives, intercede for us and teach us to be faithful to our encounter with the risen Christ. We too cannot live without partaking of the sacrament of our salvation; we too desire to be iuxta dominicam viventes, to reflect in our lives what we celebrate on the Lord’s Day. That day is the day of our definitive deliverance.
 
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