Q: I have played/planned weddings for years, and don’t recall this happening. But this year I have two wedding on Sunday afternoons – both in December. Both are in the middle of the afternoon, not during a regular Sunday liturgy. My questions is about the readings. I know if the marriage occurs during the regular liturgy you use the readings for that Sunday. But what if the wedding is a separate liturgy? Like these both are – at 3 and 4:30 in the afternoon?
Can they choose wedding readings or are they required to use that Sunday’s readings?
I know we do a Gloria at any wedding that occurs with a Mass, but what about a Creed or Penitential Rite if they are on a Sunday?
I have one of the new Order of Celebrating Matrimony books but cannot find this addressed. Any guidance would be appreciated! Thank you.
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A: I’ve covered this in my book Inseparable Love. If a wedding on an Advent Sunday does not include mass, then there is no Gloria (because it’s not mass), and you are free to choose readings from the section of the lectionary pertaining to weddings.
However, if it is mass, the readings from the Advent Sunday are to be used. It may help you to think about two separate book sources for these weddings: the missal and the Order of Celebrating Matrimony within Mass. Everything that appears in the OCM pertains, but instead of using the prayers and rubrics from the Ritual Mass in the missal, you follow the prayers and rubrics from the Advent Sunday.
That means no penitential act because of the OCM, no Gloria because of the missal’s instructions for the relevant mass in Advent, and the inclusion of the Creed in accordance with both books.