Which of the two parish celebrations do you recommend I attend?

Question

Good morning Father Angelo,
I have two questions for you, one regarding the Holy Mass and the other concerning a doubt about a venial/mortal sin.
The first is: in my parish, the Holy Mass is celebrated in the morning with only Lauds (there are very few of us), while in the evening it is complete.
Before God, what difference does it make? Is it better to attend the Holy Mass in the evening or is it the same? Would I gain more merits by listening to the Holy Mass in the evening?
The second question is: once a month my mother asks me to buy groceries for the poor with a predefined budget, but often I exceed it by double or even more, and when this happens (if she notices), she gets angry.
Or other times I take some money without saying anything and give it to the poor.
Is this considered stealing? Am I in mortal sin if I do this?
Thank you.

—

Priest’s answer
My Dear,

1. I am pleased that in your parish the Liturgy of the Hours is celebrated both in the morning and in the evening: in the morning with Lauds and in the evening with Vespers.
It is wonderful to see the Christian community praying together every day even outside of Mass.
In the celebration of Lauds and Vespers, Jesus prays together with His Church and raises to God His prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

2. Of this prayer, Pope John said that it is “the great divine poem offered to the song of humanity redeemed by Christ Jesus.” And that precisely for this reason it is “of incomparable and encouraging joy” and a “foretaste of the heavenly conversation that awaits it in the Church of the saints.”

3. When you pray with that prayer, what Saint John saw in heaven is fulfilled and described in the Apocalypse: “Another angel came forward with a gold censer and stood at the altar. He was given a large quantity of incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the gold altar that stood before the throne. The smoke of the incense together with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel.” (Rev 8:3-4).

Your prayer is therefore enriched by the fragrance of the aromas brought by the Angels, making it particularly pleasing to God.
And it descends upon you as a source of grace and consolation.

4. For precision of terms and also reality, however, what you celebrate in the morning is not Mass. It is the celebration of Morning Lauds.
While in the evening, along with the celebration of Vespers, there is also the Holy Mass.
Now, the Holy Mass is of incomparably higher quality than all prayers that can be offered because it makes Jesus present on the altar in the supreme act of His sacrifice on the cross.
It makes Him present to produce for those present what the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has produced.
There is no act of worship greater than this.

5. This is so true that the Council of Trent could say that “no other action performed by Christian faithful is so holy and so divine as this tremendous mystery in which every day that life-giving host, for which we have been reconciled with God the Father, is offered by priests to God on the altar.”
The Curé d’Ars said  “all good works together do not equal the holy sacrifice of the Mass, since they are works of men, while the Mass is God’s work.
Even martyrdom is nothing compared to it: it is the sacrifice that man makes to God of his own life; while Mass is the sacrifice that God makes to man of His Body and His Blood” (A. Monnin, Spirit of the Curé d’Ars, p. 80).

6. Saint Alphonsus Liguori shares this view: “God Himself cannot make there be an action greater than the celebration of a Mass in the world.
All ancient sacrifices, by which God was honored so much, were only a shadow and a figure of the Sacrifice of the altar.
All honors that angels have always given and will give Him with their homage, and all honors that men have given and will give Him with their works, their penances, and their martyrs, could not and cannot give as much glory to the Lord as a single Mass does. Because, while all honors from creatures are finite honors, the honor God receives in the Sacrifice of the altar, being offered a victim of infinite value, is an infinite honor” (Priest, listen to me, p. 162).

7. My advice is to participate in both celebrations.
But if you have to consider time, I would tell you to attend the evening celebration because there is also Mass and you can receive Holy Communion.
How many graces you bring home by participating in Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion!

8. Now coming to your second question, while on one hand I thank God for giving you such a good and sensitive heart toward the needs of the poor, on the other hand I must tell you that you must obey your mother because in this area she is in charge.
Do not worry about losing something by obeying your mother because renouncing your will in this act of obedience is very pleasing to God.
It is written in Sacred Scripture: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam 15:22).

9. This disobedience to your mother is certainly not a grave sin.
But obey her generously with conviction that that act of obedience brings to the poor through other means many more graces than what you could materially give.
With encouragement to keep your heart always good like this, I bless you and remember you in my prayers.

Father Angelo

Questo articolo è disponibile anche in: