Holy Days of Obligation

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Why are the days of obligation not centered more fully around Our Lord, but rather His mother? Don’t get me wrong - I fully agree that Mary should be honored, and I do feel very close to her. But why aren’t there more days of obligation, like Christmas and Easter? Or am I misinformed? I checked my diocese calandar and only three days are listed as days of obligation:

Tuesday 8/15: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Thursday 11/1: Solemnity of All Saints
Saturday 12/8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Just in case I am missing something, here is the calandar I am referencing:

dsj.org/dsj/liturgicalcalendar.asp
 
Well, two things–first off, the list is incomplete in listing the holy days of obligation.

Here’s the list from my missal:

Universal Church (Notes for US)

Jan. 1 Mary, Mother of God (no obligation if it falls on Saturday or Monday)

Jan. 6 Epiphany (transferred obligation to the following Sunday)

[varying date] Ascension Thursday (note that in some parts of the US, the obligation is transferred to the following Sunday)

[varying date] Holy Body and Blood of Christ (transferred to the following Sunday)

Aug. 15 Assumption (no obligation if it falls on Saturday or Monday)

Nov. 1 All Saints’ (no obligation if it falls on Saturday or Monday)

Dec. 8 Immaculate Conception

Dec. 25 Christmas

Second–of course EVERY Sunday is a holy day of obligation (and consequently Easter doesn’t need to be specifically mentioned as it can only fall on a Sunday).

So, the actual count = mid-upper 50s (depending on whether some days fall on Sunday or not, as some are fixed, some are movable date/same day of week). Of those, only three are specifically Marian (Jan 1–Mary, Mother of God; Aug. 15–Assumption; Dec. 8–Immaculate Conception).
 
Here is the list of all Holy Days of Obligation in the US.
Out of six days three are celebrating events directly connected with the Virgin Mary.
I am not a theologian, but my guess would be that these events are an integral part of the salvation history.
Also, I think several feasts about Christ Himself are celebrated during Sundays, which are regular Holy Days of Obligation. Here is some more info about Catholic feasts.
 
As Melissa stated, every Sunday is a Feast Day dedicated to our Lord!!!

AMEN!!!
 
Melisa, I have checked your calendar and note that it does not even list Christmas as a Holy Day of Obligation. As noted above every Sunday is a feast of Our Lord. Most of the Holy Days of Obligation are feasts of Our Lord. To be sure the BVM gets mentioned at Christmas but the feast is of Our Lord. So is January1st the Feast of the Circumcision …certainly a feast of Our Lord. The Epiphany and the Ascension are feasts of Our Lord.
Looked at it the other way only Dec 8th and Aug 15th are not directly feasts of Our Lord but of the BVM. This leaves us with Nov 1st the Feast of All Saints one of the oldest feast in the Church.
It seems a good balance to me.
 
all doctrine on Mary, which is commemorated on her feastdays, is doctrine about Christ, the fullness of his human and divine nature, and about our relationship with him and the promises of his resurrection. There are no purely Marian feasts, all are feasts of the Lord, about the Lord, about aspects of his nature, life and mission revealed through events in which Mary participated. We honor all Saints as models of how to follow Christ, even unto death, in all aspects of virtuous life. They are about the Lord, too.
 
andzy said:
I am not a theologian, but my guess would be that these events are an integral part of the salvation history.
Click to expand...
This cannot be overemphasized!

Every distinctive belief we hold about the Blessed Virgin Mary says more about Christ than it it does about her. She is the example par excellance of Christian faith, hope and charity. Thus, for example:

**Her title Mother of God reinforces the identity of her Son, who is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, in human flesh.

The Immaculate Conception and Mary’s perpetual virginity teaches us about the Holiness of God, whom Mary would carry in her womb.

The Assumption teaches us about our destiny to someday live in heaven and God’s promise and power to do it.

Mary’s sinlessness teaches us about our dignity as children of God and the power of his grace to enable us to live in obedience to Him. **

The examples could be multiplied. Suffice to say, however, Mary always points us to her Son. Looking at her keeps us focused more sharply on Him.
 
Thank you all so much for your replies. Of course I know that all Sundays are days of obligation and I was remiss in addressing those in my original post.

I am not very eloquent and appreciate all of the answers you have given me to help defend my faith. My mom is Catholic, but her parents were Protestant, so a lot of her views are skewed. We go around and around about Mary.

Again, thank you for such beautiful answers. I will print them out and keep them handy. 👍
 
NB that there are 10 universal Holy Days of Obligation, even if Episcopal Conferences may translate or suppress some of them.
Can. 1246 §1 The Lord’s Day, on which the paschal mystery is celebrated, is by apostolic tradition to be observed in the universal Church as the primary holyday of obligation. In the same way the following holydays are to be observed: the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension of Christ, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, the feast of Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, the feast of St Joseph, the feast of the Apostles SS Peter and Paul, and the feast of All Saints.
§2 However, the Episcopal Conference may, with the prior approval of the Apostolic See, suppress certain holydays of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday.
Click to expand...
tee
 
Kanda said:
Why are the days of obligation not centered more fully around Our Lord, but rather His mother? Don’t get me wrong - I fully agree that Mary should be honored, and I do feel very close to her. But why aren’t there more days of obligation, like Christmas and Easter? Or am I misinformed? I checked my diocese calandar and only three days are listed as days of obligation:

Tuesday 8/15: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Thursday 11/1: Solemnity of All Saints
Saturday 12/8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Just in case I am missing something, here is the calandar I am referencing:

dsj.org/dsj/liturgicalcalendar.asp
Click to expand...
There are three classes of feasts–memorials, feasts, and solemnities. Some solemnities are Holy Days of Obligation. Every single Sunday is a Solemnity and HDO dedicated to the Lord Jesus. Easter also falls on a Sunday. Christmas is an HDO as is the Ascension–not to mention others listed above.

When you think of it that way, only a very small portion are dedicated to Mary or the Saints. The vast majority are dedictated to Christ. Plus, every Mass, even on day dedicated to Mary, is Christo-centric in the most supreme sense.
 
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