Q. This year since Christmas (Dec. 25) and the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God (Jan. 1) each fall on Mondays, how does that all work with the obligation to attend Mass on Holy Days and Sundays?
A. It is always awkward talking about having to go to Mass on certain days. It makes it sound like a chore, and any conversation about when the obligation is enforced or not enforced sounds like we are either trying to worm our way out of having to go to Mass, or being draconian in forcing people to go to Mass.
Let us all take as read that Mass is a tremendous, gratuitous gift that God gives His Church, and every single one of us can benefit more than we can truly comprehend from entering into the profound encounter with God that happens at Mass.
Okay, taking as our baseline that Mass is always good for us, we can turn our attention to Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, in this Year of Our Lord 2023. The Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church established that the Days of Precept (the official name for holy days of obligation) for the Latin Church are: the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the Body and Blood of Christ, Holy Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, Saint Joseph, Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles, and All Saints (CIC c. 1246 §1).
Canon 1246 §2 gives the authority to Episcopal Conferences to suppress or transfer holy days of obligation to Sundays. The United States Council of Catholic Bishops determined in 1992 that the United States would observe all of the Latin Church holy days of obligation except for the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, St. Joseph, and Sts. Peter and Paul. In the U.S., Epiphany is celebrated on a Sunday so it is a day of precept, as are all Sundays.
The U.S. Bishops also determined that “Whenever January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the Solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.”
That means that this year, since the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God falls on a Monday the obligation to attend Mass is abrogated (which means removed/repealed/annulled/abolished). Everyone can, of course, still go to Mass for this Solemnity, but you are not obliged to. Why did the bishops pick these days and not the others? I do not know. But they had the authority to make this decision and they did, so that is what we have today.
Absent from the list of days that, when they fall on a Saturday or Monday, the obligation is abrogated, is Christmas. This year, Christmas falls on a Monday which means Sunday, Dec. 24 is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Every Sunday is a day of precept, so one is obliged to attend Mass unless legitimately impeded from doing so. For all Latin Catholics to fulfill their obligation to attend Mass on days of precept, we need to attend a Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas.
The obligation to attend Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Advent can be fulfilled by attending Mass on Saturday, Dec. 23, after 4 p.m., or a Mass on Sunday, Dec. 24, that is before 4 p.m.
The obligation to attend Mass on Christmas can be fulfilled by attending Mass on Sunday, Dec. 24, after 4 p.m. or on Monday, Dec. 25. One way or another, though, everyone needs to go to two Masses in order to fulfill both the obligation to attend Mass on Sunday and Christmas.
While this all sounds very legalistic (because it is), let us not lose sight of the fact that Mass is a gift. Being asked to have two encounters with the Love of God by gathering in common prayer and being fed by Christ’s Body and Blood over the course of two or three days is not a burden, but a gift.
We can use every excuse to justify why we are too busy to go to Mass, especially in the days leading up to Christmas (which is the irony of all ironies). The Church tells us to stop what we are doing, don’t worry about getting everything ready for our Christmas celebrations, and take time to be with our Lord.
This question was answered by Father Caleb La Rue, chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln. Write to Ask the Register using our online form, or write to 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite 10, Lincoln NE 68506-6100. All questions are subject to editing. Editors decide which questions to publish. Personal questions cannot be answered. People with such questions are urged to take them to their nearest Catholic priest.
