Which Mass will you attend on Christmas? Christmas Eve? Midnight Mass? The Mass at Dawn? Or Christmas Day?

Hi, this is Fr. Rocky with another Advent Inspiration.

Whichever Mass you attend, you better get there early because they’re always jam packed! Why do so many people go to Mass on Christmas? Because no one wants to miss the opportunity to share in the good news that a savior has been born for us to save us from our sins. That’s really good news and gives everyone hope.

Christmas is the only celebration of the year that has four different sets of prayers and readings for the four different Masses: Christmas Eve vigil Mass in the early evening; Midnight Mass, or Mass of the Angels; Mass at Dawn, or Mass of the Shepherds; and Mass during the Day, or Mass of the King.

Last Christmas I celebrated Christmas Mass in the cave of the Shepherds in Bethlehem on Christmas Morning. We sang ‘Joy to the World’ and ‘O Come All Ye Faithful,’ and the Gloria from the Missa de Angelis. Unforgetttable.

P.S. If you have missed a previous Advent Inspiration, you can find all of them here.