holy days of obligation

[dherbert]

I have tried to explain to family members the importance of Holy days of obligation…that sometimes our “mother” (the church) just knows what is best for us. They make comments that these are “man made days” and why does the church sometimes lift the obligation (such as when a priest would need to say too many masses on any given weekend–as one example). How do I respond to these arguements? Are there other reasons that the obligation is lifted?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

We have secular days of “obligation” as well. Can you imagine having Thanksgiving Day go by without gathering for a meal? For some people Super Bowl Sunday or the Academy Awards are times for gatherings around the TV altar.

As Christians we also have days when we gather to celebrate. As Catholic Christians, our greatest celebrations take place in the context of the Mass. Perhaps we don’t feel the same pull to celebrate the Immaculate Conception as we do to celebrate the Super Bowl and that’s kind of sad. Maybe if we put as much emphasis on our faith as we do on our favorite team we’d celebrate the great events in our religious lives more readily.

 

[DavidPalm]

I would come at it from the family dynamic angle. It’s perfectly legitimate for the father of a family to say, “I want everybody to be home for Christmas.” Sure, if one of the siblings had an emergency, he would dispense them without anger. But for a child out of sheer willfulness to simply blow off his father’s wishes for a family gathering, well that’s a sin against the Fourth Commandment.

Same thing in the Church.

 

[bpbasilphx]

For want of transportation, I’m providentially hindered from attending the Eucharistic Sacrifice daily. Were it in my power, I would.

As it is, it’s a major effort just to get there on Sunday, as I’m dependent on dial-a-ride (a service for those who are disabled). I was not even able to attend the Theophany Liturgy on Tuesday night for want of being able to arrange transportation.

Even so, I find such terms as “holy day of obligation” and “Easter duty” distasteful. Believing what we do about the holy Mysteries and worship, it’s a joy, privilege, and foretaste of heaven.

 

[dherbert]

I meant no disrespect when refering to the “holy days of obligation”, it was only a term used to encoumpas all the days the church states we are required to observe. I agree that it is indeed an joy and privledge to attend Mass and, as I work part time, I attend daily mass on the days I do not work. Not all my family feels the same; we need to meet people where they are at and try to bring them closer to God-as we are on our own journey to Him. I am asking for any (name removed by moderator)ut to assist me with this task.

dherbert

 

[FanChan]

Our priest brought this up on January 1st, I think…or maybe it was another HDO before that… Well, he commented recently ( ) that it’s rather odd, quite strange, that they’d be called days of Obligation. Or that in the Catechism, it states that we are Required to receive Communion or have our confession heard At Least once a year.

Isn’t it strange that we should have to be told to come and see Christ, or to join ourselves to Him, or to have Him dust us off from our daily battle with sin? If people truly understood what lies waiting for us behind those little doors of the tabernacle, if even only all Catholics understood, then there might be trouble enforcing the flip-side of that - that one is entitled to receive Communion only once a day barring special circumstances - or they might have to have obligated days of rest so the priests can chill out from all of the Masses and long hours in the confessional.