Posted on 12/25/2011 12:40:30 PM PST by markomalley
5. Midnight Mass is at midnight.
One of the hoariest Catholic jokes — “What time is midnight Mass?” — is no longer so funny. Midnight Mass, traditionally the first celebration of the Christmas liturgy, is also when Saint Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus is read aloud. Recently, however, many churches have moved up their celebrations — first to 10 p.m., then to 8 p.m., and now as early as 4 p.m.
Why? For one thing, churches are packed on Christmas Day. Second, the elderly and families with children may find it easier to attend services on the 24th, so as not to conflict with the following day’s festivities. As a result, some parishes are cutting back on Masses on Christmas Day.
One parent recently told me: “We like to get Mass out of the way so that we can focus on the gifts.” (So, by moving Masses further from Dec. 25, churches may be contributing to the secularization of Christmas.) This trend prompted a pastor in New Jersey to send a missive this year noting that Christmas Eve Masses would be at 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and midnight — “as in the real midnight.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It is clear that a Mass at 4, 6, or 8 PM is the vigil Mass. If you, Father, use the Midnight Mass readings there, you are committing a horrible liturgical abuse.
And why in the world are you tolerating a parent focusing on the material (gifts) as opposed to the spiritual (the birth of Christ)? Why did you not reprove that individual?
Priests like you, Father, are why orthodox Catholics want little or nothing to do with the Society of Jesus (a/k/a the Jesuits). Priests like you are the ones who make it far more difficult for actual Holy Jesuits to get anything done. St Ignatius Loyola would gladly turn you over to the Catalonian authorities for execution of sentence as a heretic for broadcasting such lies.
You, sir, are an embarrassment.
Indeed, the earlier Masses are additional to, not replacements of, Midnight Mass.
I went to my first midnight mass as a Catholic last night. Showed up at 11 to make sure I got a seat, which was totally unnecessary since apparently it was the 8:30 mass that was jammed. I got home at 2:30 a.m., got to bed at 3:15, and woke up at six (thanks, dogs! Sometimes I think those dogs aren’t really as faith-filled as they should be). So I’m really yawning today, especially after making a big dinner for everyone. But the sleep deprivation was WELL WORTH IT. What a FANTASTIC homily from our young genius priest, who is a hyper-conservative. I was truly thunderstruck by the whole experience. I am so deeply glad I went. Spent some time on my knees afterward crying a little and thanking God that I get to be a Catholic now.
Bonus points: my 17-year-old son, who is not a Catholic, did not come with me, since I didn’t think he wanted to go. Normally he would consider a twenty-minute homily on how Christ was prefigured in the classical world to be monumentally boring. But this morning he said in astonishment and disappointment, “Why didn’t you take me?” Fine, you have a week off of school; you can come with me every morning at 9. heheheheh God is working on him.
Even bigger is “The secularization of Christmas is a recent phenomenon.” It has been only recently that government entities have had to eliminate any vestige of Christmas.
The secular and commercial aspects of major religious events are an extremely old problem, as documented by Matthew (Matt 21:12-13). And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
I saw the link was to the Washington Post and knew it wasn’t worth reading further.
At my parish, the vigil mass, 4:30PM, which is also the kids liturgy is now for the children and the families. The kids choir sings at the vigil mass. Always, always packed. For the midnight mass at 10PM, though a lot of people, is not packed to the ceiling. The vigil has before the mass begins, a Nativity play 30 minutes before the mass begins. At the midnight mass at 10PM, the adult choir sings.
Plus the two morning masses, 8AM and 10;30AM, either cantored or those adults with any kids who can come to sing.
Even in St. Peter’s in Rome, the Papal midnight mass was moved up by 2 hours to 10PM as well. My parish did the midnight mass up by two hours that way also for years now.
Did not the Vatican in recent years rein-in the Jesuits?
The vigil is more or less for those who have young families or those who cannot handle the midnight mass. Even for myself, who did the midnight mass at 10PM, plus with dear ones having visited, I am tired in body.
Did anyone else watch any of the History Channel or CNN the story of Jesus?
I didn’t get to see it all, but it was interesting.
I think it is commendable that the elderly (with poor night vision) are able to attend services in comparative daylight.
Actually, after sunset is not the vigil mass since the new “day” starts at sunset (reverting to the Jewish custom of starting the sabbath at sunset).
so an 8 pm mass would be “midnight mass” and probably a good idea in areas where crime is high or in rural areas where folks don’t want to travel back roads at night.
Our midnight mass here in the Philippines is at 11 pm, but the singing starts at 10 pm. Then we come home for a family feast.
But I can’t remember if we had midnight mass when I worked in Africa: There, few folks had clocks, so we rang the bells an hour before mass and fifteen minutes before mass to let folks know it was time to walk to church...before then, I really didn’t understand why churches had bells.
in the honest west, some read the “den of thieves” being against those selling in the temple, but those of us living in the third world interpret this as the vendors overpricing the stuff and giving kickbacks to the priests to be allowed to sell in the temple.
That’s probably why the temple priest decided to get rid of him, and bribed Judas (who was probably already on the take) to help them find Jesus...
Read Jenkin's book the search for Jesus to debunk these guys.
I found it interesting because they tried to prove how the Nativity couldn’t have happened the way Matthew and Luke described. They went so far as to say the accounts were made up stories in order for Jesus to “fit” the Scripture prophesies regarding Him.
Far from ‘weakening’ my faith, I just laughed, but I guess there are those who would hear those things and fall away, though I think they were probably on the fence already.
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