This year, Christmas falls on a Monday. We know that Sunday and Christmas are both Holy Days of Obligation. The Obligation means that as Catholic Christians we are obliged to attend mass. Freely choosing not to attend Mass means that we sin gravely and deprive ourselves of God’s grace.

Since we have a number of Christmas Eve Masses on Sunday, some may believe that they could go to one Mass and fulfill both obligations. However, this is not true. Between the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas, one needs to go to 2 separate Masses. There are 5 options.

1) Two for two: You could go to Mass on Sunday morning and then go to Mass Christmas morning.
2) ‘Vigil’ all the way: You could go to Sunday Vigil Mass on Saturday evening and then go to Christmas Eve Mass on Sunday evening.
3) The long weekend: You can go to the Sunday Vigil Mass on Saturday evening and then attend Mass on Christmas Day.
4) Super Sunday: This option means that you go to Mass on Sunday morning and then return for the Christmas Eve Mass on Sunday evening.
5) Double Christmas: The Final option means that you go either to a Christmas Eve Mass and a Christmas Day Mass or you could go to two Christmas Eve Masses. One Christmas Eve Mass would count as a Sunday Mass and the other Mass would be for Christmas