Wrong Gospel

[RLT]

Today at we had a visiting priest celebrating Mass. All was good until I realized that his homily had nothing to do with todays Gospel. It had to do with a the second reading from a couple of weeks ago. That didn’t bother me though. A pretty good homily, then it occured to me to check todays readingsl in the missalette, the 1st and second readings matched what I remebered (I usually never read along, just listen) and I’m pretty sure that he read the wrong Gospel, it was about not doing what the Pharisees said and not do.
Does this invalidate that Mass as the Sunday obligation?

I really hope not because the reason I went on Sat is because I can’t go on Sunday.

 

[palmas85]

Today at we had a visiting priest celebrating Mass. All was good until I realized that his homily had nothing to do with todays Gospel. It had to do with a the second reading from a couple of weeks ago. That didn’t bother me though. A pretty good homily, then it occured to me to check todays readingsl in the missalette, the 1st and second readings matched what I remebered (I usually never read along, just listen) and I’m pretty sure that he read the wrong Gospel, it was about not doing what the Pharisees said and not do.
Does this invalidate that Mass as the Sunday obligation?

I really hope not because the reason I went on Sat is because I can’t go on Sunday.

No it does not.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Today at we had a visiting priest celebrating Mass. All was good until I realized that his homily had nothing to do with todays Gospel. It had to do with a the second reading from a couple of weeks ago. That didn’t bother me though. A pretty good homily, then it occured to me to check todays readingsl in the missalette, the 1st and second readings matched what I remebered (I usually never read along, just listen) and I’m pretty sure that he read the wrong Gospel, it was about not doing what the Pharisees said and not do.
Does this invalidate that Mass as the Sunday obligation?

I really hope not because the reason I went on Sat is because I can’t go on Sunday.

It was not intentional. You intended to attend the Vigil Mass for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. You had no control over the fact that the Mass said even though a valid Mass was not the Vigil Mass for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. You cannot attend Mass tomorrow. It is no different than you arriving for Mass tonight and the doors being locked because the priest was sick with the flu. You have no obligation to return tomorrow if you are unable to because of work or some other valid reason.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Today at we had a visiting priest celebrating Mass. All was good until I realized that his homily had nothing to do with todays Gospel. It had to do with a the second reading from a couple of weeks ago. That didn’t bother me though. A pretty good homily, then it occured to me to check todays readingsl in the missalette, the 1st and second readings matched what I remebered (I usually never read along, just listen) and I’m pretty sure that he read the wrong Gospel, it was about not doing what the Pharisees said and not do.
Does this invalidate that Mass as the Sunday obligation?

I really hope not because the reason I went on Sat is because I can’t go on Sunday.

The wrong readings do not invalidate the mass. [It might be illicit if intentionally done, but sounds like an honest error.] Any Catholic mass between 4pm Saturday and midnight Sunday satisfies the obligation.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

We had a reader accidentally turn too far in the Lectionary and she began to read the Gospel. That was funny. When she realized what had happened (half way through) Father waved at her to continue on, then he read the 2nd Reading and life continued on.
I think it’s funny

 

[RLT]

Thanks for the responses folks.

I found this from Jimmy Akin:

**The idea that the readings of a Mass must be the same as those of the Sunday or holy day following in order to fulfill the obligation is a common idea, but it is in error. There is no doubt about this in the law.

Here is what the law says:

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 [CIC Can. 1248 §1].
Note that there is nothing in the law about there needing to be any particular readings or set of ceremonies needed to fulfill the obligation. Any Mass in any rite on the evening of the preceding day satisfied the obligation.
The fact that no readings or ceremonies are required in the law is itself proof of the fact that they are not required, but the matter is doubly proven by the fact that the law provides that a Mass “anywhere in a Catholic rite” is sufficient. The reason is that the different rites have different readings and ceremonies in their Masses. If I were to go across the street to the local Maronite parish, or a few miles one way to the local Chaldean parish, or a few miles the other direction to the local Ruthenian parish, I would hear completely different readings and observe different ceremonies. Yet their Masses would fulfill my Sunday obligation, as the above canon indicates.

So despite the popular misconception, no particular rites or ceremonies are needed, and any Mass on Saturday evening–Easter Vigil Mass included–will satisfy the obligation for Sunday.**

Worst case it was an illicit occurance, but I beleive the celebrant was sincere and made an honest mistake.
Everthig else in the Liturgy was good to go.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Thanks for the responses folks.

I found this from Jimmy Akin:

**The idea that the readings of a Mass must be the same as those of the Sunday or holy day following in order to fulfill the obligation is a common idea, but it is in error. There is no doubt about this in the law. **

Here is what the law says:

**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 [CIC Can. 1248 §1]. **
**Note that there is nothing in the law about there needing to be any particular readings or set of ceremonies needed to fulfill the obligation. Any Mass in any rite on the evening of the preceding day satisfied the obligation. **
The fact that no readings or ceremonies are required in the law is itself proof of the fact that they are not required, but the matter is doubly proven by the fact that the law provides that a Mass “anywhere in a Catholic rite” is sufficient. The reason is that the different rites have different readings and ceremonies in their Masses. If I were to go across the street to the local Maronite parish, or a few miles one way to the local Chaldean parish, or a few miles the other direction to the local Ruthenian parish, I would hear completely different readings and observe different ceremonies. Yet their Masses would fulfill my Sunday obligation, as the above canon indicates.

So despite the popular misconception, no particular rites or ceremonies are needed, and any Mass on Saturday evening–Easter Vigil Mass included–will satisfy the obligation for Sunday.

Worst case it was an illicit occurance, but I beleive the celebrant was sincere and made an honest mistake.
Everthig else in the Liturgy was good to go.

He is correct that any valid Mass in any Catholic Rite satisfies the the obligation. However there is in each Rite a norm and Order of readings for a given day. It is correct that canon law does not specify readings, they are specified in the lectionary which is the Norm for the Latin Rite. So, no it is not permitted for a pastor to simply decide that he is not going to use the proper Sunday readings for a Mass after 4pm on Saturday. The lectionary specifies what the proper readings are supposed to be and the pastor is expected to use them. If the incorrect readings are unintentionally used that is a different story. If you knowingly attend a Satueday evening or Sunday Mass where you know the priest intentionally did not used the proaper readings. You should return for a Mass to hear the proper readings if you can.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

He is correct that any valid Mass in any Catholic Rite satisfies the the obligation. However there is in each Rite a norm and Order of readings for a given day. It is correct that canon law does not specify readings, they are specified in the lectionary which is the Norm for the Latin Rite. So, no it is not permitted for a pastor to simply decide that he is not going to use the proper Sunday readings for a Mass after 4pm on Saturday. The lectionary specifies what the proper readings are supposed to be and the pastor is expected to use them. If the incorrect readings are unintentionally used that is a different story. If you knowingly attend a Satueday evening or Sunday Mass where you know the priest intentionally did not used the proaper readings. You should return for a Mass to hear the proper readings if you can.

I think that it is the celebrant’s responsibility to ensure that he says a proper mass. Better that I focus on praying and let him drive the bus.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I think that it is the celebrant’s responsibility to ensure that he says a proper mass. Better that I focus on praying and let him drive the bus.

But then we are not necessarly only along for the ride.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

But then we are not necessarly only along for the ride.

But we are not along as inspectors or liturgy police. We are there to focus on the prayer.

 

[PaixGioiaAmor]

But then we are not necessarly only along for the ride.

But we are not along as inspectors or liturgy police. We are there to focus on the prayer.

Yes and Yes.

It is true that we are not merely spectators; the liturgy is, after all, the “work of the people”. The celebrant is presiding on the behalf of all of us.

At the same time, we should not go to liturgy and arrogantly assume that we know better on everything. We are not there to police the liturgy and should allow competant authority to do their job.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Yes and Yes.

It is true that we are not merely spectators; the liturgy is, after all, the “work of the people”. The celebrant is presiding on the behalf of all of us.

At the same time, we should not go to liturgy and arrogantly assume that we know better on everything. We are not there to police the liturgy and should allow competant authority to do their job.

That’s correct, but, we have to also remember that the Faithful are also members of that competant authority. When the Liturgy documents specifically say that the faithful are aware of errors they need to bring issues of liturgical abuse to their Pastors and Bishops attention. This requires a formation in Liturgy and liturgical norms, of ALL the faithful.

We should Not be going into Mass with clipboards and check sheets. We should also not be following the accepted norms and suddenly find ourselves doing something everyone else is not doing.

 

[benedictgal]

I have a better one for you. What about when the priest doesn’t even read the Gospel, but paraphrases it and then launches into the homily? That happened two years ago in my old parish. Needless to say, we were all mystefied. I wound up gonig to Mass again because the whole episode didn’t sit well with me.