What Are We Doing on December 24?!

This is an unusual year in that Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday - the Fourth Sunday of Advent, to be precise. As a result, the fourth week of Advent is very short (only 24 hours). Part of keeping the Lord’s Day holy is our participation in the Sunday Eucharist, and this year, that might be about all we’ll have time to do to mark the last week of Advent!

In addition, Christmas is one of the two highest holy days of the Christian year, and therefore a day we all gather around the altar to celebrate the day of Christ’s birth. For many years the obligation was to attend Mass on Christmas Day, and the earliest you could attend was midnight on the morning of the 25th (hence the tradition of Midnight Mass). With the introduction several decades ago of, “Masses of anticipation,” which is, Saturday evening for Sunday, and the evening before special feast days, the Christmas Eve Mass became more and more popular - to the point now that most people attend Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day.

So when December 24 was a Sunday in those simpler times, people would come to church on Sunday Morning for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and again Monday Morning for Christmas - no sweat! Today, with the church offering more Mass options, and the variety of customs in our extended families at Christmas, it might not be as simple: d o we go to Mass twice that Sunday? Do we adjust our normal schedule for Sundays? or for Christmas?

Hopefully the above explanations help us understand (and answer others’ questions) about why participating in one Mass on December 24 doesn’t “count” for both the Lord’s Day (Sunday) and for Christmas (Monday). They are two different celebrations: one of anticipation (Advent), the other a fulfillment of God’s promise (Christmas). In fact, our volunteers, staff, and clergy are working hard to provide almost all of the Sunday Masses and Christmas Masses that we usually do - even though that means our parishes will celebrate 12 Masses in less than 48 hours!

As you can see from the schedule published this week, the only typical Masses that we are not offering are the Sunday 5pm (which gets superseded by Christmas Eve) and the Christmas Eve overflow Mass (downstairs at St Mary). In light of the number of Masses and the “cultural holy day” of a Patriots home game on Christmas Eve, we anticipate some people will adjust their usual schedules this year to attend Mass later that evening or on Christmas Morning.

So plan ahead and talk with those you might attend Masses with that weekend, and if two Masses on Sunday seems too much for you, consider shifting your “Sunday” Mass to Saturday evening or your Christmas Mass to Midnight or Christmas morning. You might even like the new Mass time better, or else you can return to your customary schedule next year.

Meanwhile, take a short break from the December busy-ness for some peaceful prayer this Wednesday 7pm at St. Martha Parish. Teen and adult readers will join Anne DiSanto in leading this new service of music and prayer as we call upon “Mary, Queen of Peace” to bring her Son into the troubles of our world today.

Come, Lord Jesus!