BUT WHAT OF US CATHOLICS...?

Most of us are aware that the word “Christmas” is a contraction of the words “Christ’s Mass”. But it wasn’t until I read “Kristen Lavransdatter” that I became more aware of its origins and historical usage. I’ll get to that in a minute because you’re probably wondering who or what is “Kristen Lavransdatter”.

I wish I could tell you the whole story but you’re better off with the book. “Kristen” is a trilogy of historical novels set in newly-Christianized Scandavia in the Middle Ages. Its Norwegian author, Sigrid Undset, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928, with “Kristen” being part of the body of work that earned her that award.

Undset was a solid atheist when she began writing “Kristen”, but converted to Catholicism soon after its completion. Upon reading the book, one can easily see how the author’s attention to detail in recreating a newly-Catholic Scandanvia of the 12th century probably factored into her falling in love with Catholicism, a faith she later warmly embraced and sharply defended.

One of those details was how Christians of the Middle Ages marked time by the feast days of the saints. Like today, we honor the saints with a Mass in their name, but rather than say the “Feast of St. Michael” or whoever the saint of the day was, Christians of the Middle Ages (at least in many places - mostly in northern Europe) would refer to the day as “St. Michael’s Mass”.

In the colloquial, this would be contracted to “Michaelmas”, “Andrewmas”, “Bartholomewmas”, etc., and “Christmas”. But in addition to naming the day for the saint, Christians of that time and place would also refer to those days to relate the other days such as “three days before Michaelmas”, or “two days after Andrewmas.”

It’s fascinating to imagine how Christians once lived in a world so imbued with an awareness of the faith that they marked ordinary life in terms of liturgical time. Of course within the Church we still do, but Christmas is pretty much the only day in secular life by which we still mark time, and usually only in terms of “shopping days until”.

Today one often hears the slogan “Keep Christ in Christmas”. It has become a mantra for Christians fighting the creeping secularism that has usurped the sacred season: nativity scenes are banned - or at least forced to co-exist with winter solstice displays, and everything and anything “Christmas” is increasingly replaced with “holiday”, etc.

However, perhaps one of the reasons why we are losing the Christmas culture-war is because we can’t keep “Christ in Christmas” without keeping the “mas” in as well. And as we know, most Christians - other than Catholics - long ago dropped the “mas”, not just from “Christ’s Mass”, but from worship of God altogether.

But before we Catholics get too righteous about that, consider that a recent Georgetown CARA poll reported that only 22% of people (in the U.S.) who identify themselves as Catholics attend Mass “regularly” with “regularly” defined as “at least once a month”!

This is ground we’ve covered before in this column, but let’s review. Because God is God, he is to be worshipped. And the Mass is the supreme act of worship. This is so because Jesus himself commanded us to DO THIS. And the THIS, the making of Jesus present on the altar - body, blood, soul, and divinity - only happens at the Catholic Mass. It does not happen anywhere else.

Anything else is not worship, at least not the worship that God commands. It might be prayer, it might be praise, but it is not worship. It might be fulfilling, friendly, wonderful, joyful, spiritual, and uplifting, but it is not worship.

This is why we lie to ourselves when we say “Keep Christ in Christmas” and don’t go to Mass where he is once again enfleshed through the words and action of his priests. In the Mass, every Mass, Christ comes in the flesh to the world as he did in the manger.

To not go to Mass - where he truly is - on the very day when we celebrate the coming in history of the WORD MADE FLESH is....well, that’s why we are losing. No Mass. No Christ. Then no Christ’s Mass.

Non-Catholic Christians, who today are centuries away from the initial protestant ruptures which demolished the Mass as the summit of worship, and who may be genuinely unaware of its significance, may, by the mercy of God, be held less culpable for their absenteeism at the Table of the Lord.

But what of us Catholics, who, by virtue of our baptism and our path to him through the sacraments, have everything placed before us? Our place is set, the invitation issued. God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - awaits....and waits.

St. Francis de Sales on How to Participate at Mass

From INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE by St. Francis De Sales

CHAPTER XIV. Of Holy Communion, and how to join in it. (Or “The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass)

(Note: The number and title of the chapters varies by edition. The book is divided into parts and can be found in Part 2.)

In order to join in this rightly, whether actually or mentally, you must give heed to several things:  

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1. In the beginning, and before the priest goes up to the Altar, make your preparation with his—placing yourself in God’s Presence, confessing your unworthiness, and asking forgiveness.

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1. Until the Gospel, dwell simply and generally upon the Coming and the Life of our Lord in this world. 

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1. From the Gospel to the end of the Creed, dwell upon our Dear Lord’s teaching, and renew your resolution to live and die in the faith of the Holy Catholic Church. 

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1. From thence, fix your heart on the mysteries of the Word, and unite yourself to the Death and Passion of our Redeemer, now actually and essentially set forth in this holy Sacrifice, which, together with the priest and all the congregation, you offer to God the Father, to His Glory and your own salvation.

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1. Up to the moment of communicating, offer all the longings and desires of your heart, above all desiring most earnestly to be united for ever to our Saviour by His Eternal Love. 

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1. From the time of Communion to the end, thank His Gracious Majesty for His Incarnation, His Life, Death, Passion, and the Love which He sets forth in this holy Sacrifice, intreating through it His favour for yourself, your relations and friends, and the whole Church; and humbling yourself sincerely, devoutly receive the blessing which our Dear Lord gives you through the channel of His minister.

If, however, you wish to follow your daily course of meditation on special mysteries during the Sacrifice, it is not necessary that you should interrupt yourself by making these several acts but it will suffice that at the beginning you dispose your intention to worship and to offer the holy Sacrifice in your meditation and prayer; since every meditation includes all the above named acts either explicitly or implicitly.

Should I be going to Saturday "evening" Mass?

It struck me one Saturday afternoon, as I drove past several churches, that there are a lot of people who attend Saturday "evening" Mass.

As an aside, I put "evening" in parentheses because that's the actual word used in Canon 1248 where we find the permission for this "evening" Mass. However, as I drove around in very broad daylight, it was certainly not "evening".

In justifying Saturday night Mass, there is a common appeal made to the "Jewish day" (sundown to sundown) when finding justification for the Saturday "evening" Mass. (1)

The appeal is understandable but then what about actually waiting until "sundown". A literal interpretation would also negate any Mass on Sunday after sundown which would mean most Sunday evening Masses.

Actually, the Church did not make this appeal to the "Jewish day" when making the concession for the fulfillment of the obligation on the previous evening.

Here is what the Church actually said:

Where permission has been granted by the Apostolic See to fulfill the Sunday obligation on the preceding Saturday evening, pastors should explain the meaning of this permission carefully to the faithful and should ensure that the significance of Sunday is not thereby obscured. The purpose of this concession is in fact to enable the Christians of today to celebrate more easily the day of the resurrection of the Lord. (Eucharisticum Mysterium, Sacred Congregation of Rites, May 25, 1967)

There are a couple things to note:

1. There is a singular emphasis on the significance of Sunday and the fulfillment of the "Sunday obligation".

2. The allowance for the Saturday evening fulfillment of that obligation is in fact only a "concession".

"Concession". That means that it is not the desire of the Church that the faithful fulfill the Sunday obligation on Saturday but only an allowance. But an allowance for what?

The key is in the words "Christians of today". The Church recognizes that the modern world is not a Christian world and that we nevertheless have to live in it. Work responsibilities on Sunday make it difficult for some to attend Mass on Sunday. The Church, in her charity and desire that all the faithful assist at Holy Mass admits a concession for the fulfillment of the obligation on Saturday evening.

In other words, you should NOT be going to Saturday "evening" Mass, unless for reasons beyond your control, you cannot attend Sunday Mass.

In the same document we find this unswerving emphasis on Sunday:

Whenever the community gathers to celebrate the Eucharist, it announces the death and resurrection of the Lord, in the hope of His glorious return. The supreme manifestation of this is the Sunday assembly. This is the day of the week on which, by apostolic tradition, the Paschal Mystery is celebrated in the Eucharist in a special way.75

In order that the faithful may willingly fulfill the precept to sanctify this day and understand why the Church calls them together to celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday, from the very outset of their Christian formation "Sunday should be presented to them as the primordial feast day,"76 on which, assembled together, they are to hear the Word of God and take part in the Paschal Mystery.

This portion of the document is presented before the "concession" so that there can be no mistake that Saturday evening Mass is in fact a "concession".

And there is also the additional appeal to pastors to safeguard Sunday:

...pastors should explain the meaning of this permission carefully to the faithful and should ensure that the significance of Sunday is not thereby obscured.

Should there be any doubt over the concessionary nature of the Saturday evening Mass consider Cardinal Arinze's recent (December 1, 2005) directive to the leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way requiring that:

”at least one Sunday per month, the communities of the Neocatechumenal Way must participate in the Holy Mass of the parish community”

In addition to the problem presented by the Neocatechumenal Way celebrating Holy Mass apart from the parish community, the NCW also had been celebrating exclusively on Saturday evening.

I am not challenging the practices of the NCW, I am pointing out a contemporary application of how the Church views the Saturday evening Mass as only a concession.

If the Church at the highest levels has restated its desire that Sunday Mass remain paramount or the "primordial feast day" as the document states in regards to the practices of this one ecclesial community, then should not this desire be applicable to all of us?

Of course.

Given the actual words of the Church herself:

1. Catholics must reexamine their reasons for attending a Saturday evening Mass and must assure themselves that attendance at this Mass in lieu of Sunday is for reasons beyond their control.

2. Pastors must "explain the meaning of this permission carefully to the faithful and should ensure that the significance of Sunday is not thereby obscured." And they must periodically remind the faithful of the nature of this permission.

One final note on the time of the Saturday "Evening" Mass. While the biblical definition of "evening" varied, the contemporary definition of "evening" is normally considered that period which is "just before twilight" until "astronomical sunset" or the time when the sun no longer illuminates the sky.

Because the Church authorized the "evening" Mass for the "Christians of today" we should assume the contemporary usage of the word "evening". But as you can well see, the majority of Saturday "evening" Masses do not occur in the "evening". There is one Mass I know of that occurs as early at 3:30pm

However, Eucharisticum Mysterium gives the authority to the local ordinary to determine the allowable times for Saturday evening Masses.

Notes:
(1). It's interesting to note that Canon Law actually defines a day as follows: In law, a day is understood as a period consisting of 24 continuous hours and begins at midnight unless other provision is expressly made... (Can. 202 §1.) Obviously, the Church does not consider the day to start the evening before.