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I was asked the question “ why is Midnight Mass not held at midnight?”


I understand that for various reasons it is not always possible to have the first Mass for Christmas Day exactly at Midnight and it is often held earlier such as 10 PM. But why is it still called “Midnight Mass”? Or is it? Are people just being daft by calling it that?

Only a Catholic could possibly call a parish and ask “What time is Midnight Mass?” and expect the question to be understood.

Tradition

The explanation I provided was that it is a description of the readings because the readings are different depending on what time the Mass is held. I don't know if that is actually true though, I heard it said once, but I've never attended Mass multiple times on Christmas Day to find out.

You can see that in the misalette or on the usccb website https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122523-Day.cfm

It's officially termed "Mass during the night." BTW, you can use any of the sets of Christmas readings at any Christmas Mass, so don't be upset if you don't hear the ones you might have expected.

Even some trad parishes have "Mass through midnight" starting at 11:00 pm. Kind of embarrassing if you ask me

peregrinator wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 4:31 pm Even some trad parishes have "Mass through midnight" starting at 11:00 pm. Kind of embarrassing if you ask me

What is embarrassing about it? Midnight is for the young, you get much older than 30 it is difficult to even stay awake that late, even if you want to. I often fall asleep in front of the TV at 8:30 PM. To attend Midnight Mass I'll have to drink about 3 Red Bulls and a cup of coffee starting at about 5 PM.

Doom wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 6:54 pm

peregrinator wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 4:31 pm Even some trad parishes have "Mass through midnight" starting at 11:00 pm. Kind of embarrassing if you ask me

What is embarrassing about it? Midnight is for the young, you get much older than 30 it is difficult to even stay awake that late, even if you want to. I often fall asleep in front of the TV at 8:30 PM. To attend Midnight Mass I'll have to drink about 3 Red Bulls and a cup of coffee starting at about 5 PM.

OK, then you simply don't go to Midnight Mass - I don't see what the issue is.

Doom wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 6:54 pm

peregrinator wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 4:31 pm Even some trad parishes have "Mass through midnight" starting at 11:00 pm. Kind of embarrassing if you ask me

What is embarrassing about it? Midnight is for the young, you get much older than 30 it is difficult to even stay awake that late, even if you want to. I often fall asleep in front of the TV at 8:30 PM. To attend Midnight Mass I'll have to drink about 3 Red Bulls and a cup of coffee starting at about 5 PM.

I've lost my midnight adoration slot. But back when I was taking that time, I'd just catch a nap for an hour or so and get up in time to head out at 11:30 to get there for midnight. Worked like a charm.

If I'm awake, I'm going, although every year that is a bigger "if"

We have an interesting one this weekend. 10:30 mass on Sunday morn to fulfill that obligation and then again mass at 4:00 to fulfill Monday's Christmas obligation. At first I thought it strange, going to mass 2 times in 1 day but I'm with Doom... I'm usually counted out by 8:30 - 9:00 so this is actually sort of a God send for those who can't stay up.

Are your churches doing the same 2 mass 1 day scheduling as here in Old Town, Maine?

The better half is all about midnight and the specialness of that atmosphere in mass.

Personally I like Christmas Day Mass, although I think we're going to an anticipated Mass tomorrow night (9 PM). We tried midnight (actually 11:00 PM) Mass once and it was very hard with small children. There were children in pajamas with sleeping bags in the cry room and one of the mothers kept turning out the lights so her kids could sleep. Then we got home after 1:00 AM and my son (then about 3 - now he's 22!) burst into tears because there were no presents (Santa* didn't come!!!! It was after midnight, how could this be!!!!), by the time we got him settled down and put to bed, and put everything under the tree, it was 4:00 AM. Kids got up at 8 just wilding because they wanted to open their gifts. Awful.

*He picked this up through osmosis because we were never a big Santa family (we weren't anti-Santa either).

The family that lived next door to me had an interesting approach, they told their son that they buy most of the presents themselves but Santa will bring a few more on Christmas Day

When I read this subject, I thought this was about that horrible Netflix mini-series of the same name.

I don't even know what that is or why it would be in the Cath 101 forum