At the very beginnings of the Church, the Eucharist was normally celebrated on Saturday evening after sunset. The members of the early Church were almost entirely Jewish, and still practiced the Jewish religion. They still observed the Sabbath, which included going to the synagogue service.
The rules governing how far a person could walk on the Sabbath made it difficult to travel to the synagogue, and then walk to another place where Christians gathered for the Eucharist
The Sabbath began at sunset on Friday, and ended at sunset on Saturday. That is when the Eucharist was ordinarily celebrated in those earliest years – late Saturday evening. The Sabbath was over and there was no restriction on travel. And Sunday was a regular work day.
As time went on and fewer Christians were Jewish, it became more common to make Sunday the special day each week, in honor of the day the Lord rose from the dead. Thus the Eucharist was commonly celebrated on Sunday mornings.
Christmas, however, was different. Very early there developed the practice of celebrating a Mass at midnight, based on the tradition that Christ was born at midnight.
No one really knows the time of Jesus’ birth, but the origins of this tradition may lie in a passage from the Book of Wisdom: ”For when peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent, your all-powerful word leaped from heaven…(18:14-15)
Joy runs through and through Luke’s Infancy Narrative. The angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary was a joyful one. “Then in her Magnificat, Mary “rejoices in God my Savior.” When Elizabeth gives birth to John, her neighbors and relatives rejoiced with her.” At the birth of Jesus, the angel of the Lord appears to the shepherds and proclaims “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
Think of a time when you rejoiced in what someone else had done – a family member, a close friend. Whatever they did, you felt part of it. And you rejoiced.
That’s the kind of rejoicing Mary expresses in her Magnificat. She rejoices in “the greatness of the Lord: in “God my savior.” When she experiences firsthand how truly good God is, her heart is lifted. It is delight – pure joy, not at all self-conscious.
The best prayer of all is the kind I experience when there comes upon me a flood of realization about how good God is.
When I thank God for this, I am “blessing God.” Perhaps I don’t think of it that way – blessing God. But that’s what I’m doing, and it’s a fine form of prayer. Try it.
Spend some quiet time with the Lord.