Traditionally, Christmas Day is the only day of the year supplied with three distinct masses: Midnight, Dawn, and Day. At St. Paul's we invariably observe the Mass for Christmas Midnight and have traditionally observed the Day (John 1). We never observe the Dawn service with Luke 2:15-20 (at least in my memory). I'm wondering if other parishes alternate between Dawn and Day or if the Day service is what is usually observed on the 25th?
4 comments:
Since we have a single service on Sunday morning for the feast of Christ's birth, we alternate the readings year-to-year between Dawn and Day.
I've always gone with John as I only have the one service on the morning of the 25th as it is the text which explains the incarnation.
Our Christmas Eve service emphasizes the birth of a savior, so the Christmas Day service focuses more on the incarnation, thus the text of John.
You can always merge the readings for the Aurora Mass with the readings for Midnight Mass.
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