Question about Solemnities, Feasts, Memorials

[karennascargo3]

I’m a fairly new Catholic and have a question about celebrating/observing days which have Solemnities, Feasts, & Memorials.

Unless it occurs on a Day of Obligation, none of the churches in my area hold Mass on these days (nor even hold a daily Mass on any day). I don’t like the idea of just ignoring these like they don’t exist. I’m trying very hard to be pleasing to God and to be a good Catholic.

My question is, how do I go about celebrating/observing these days on my own and is it okay to do so on our own? Are there required readings or prayers, etc.?

 

[Pilgrim1701]

You are not required to go to a weekday mass that isn’t a holy day of obligation.
You certainly could use the readings of the day for reflection, and of course, the Divine Office if you don’t already use it, or any prayer really:shrug:

usccb.org/bible/readings/101512.cfm

There are Divine Office / LIturgy of the Hours online, though I’m not sure about the versions/translations (due to copyright issues, for the free ones, paid for ones shouldn’t be a problem I don’t think. Of course you could also buy the realy mc coy hard copy:thumbsup
divineoffice.org/

 

[marytk]

l
Praying the Divine Office and meditating on the readings for the day are good ideas
You can also simply ask the saint of the day to pray for you,

 

[EricFilmer]

I’m a fairly new Catholic and have a question about celebrating/observing days which have Solemnities, Feasts, & Memorials.

Unless it occurs on a Day of Obligation, none of the churches in my area hold Mass on these days (nor even hold a daily Mass on any day). I don’t like the idea of just ignoring these like they don’t exist. I’m trying very hard to be pleasing to God and to be a good Catholic.

My question is, how do I go about celebrating/observing these days on my own and is it okay to do so on our own? Are there required readings or prayers, etc.?

As others have suggested in this thread, I recommend praying the Divine Office (a.k.a., the Liturgy of the Hours). Generally speaking, the Divine Office has prayers designated for the various memorials, feasts and solemnities (and it is something that one can do alone or with a group).

To see if this sort of devotional practice is for you, I recommend that you start off with praying Morning Prayer and/or Evening Prayer via DivineOffice.org (notice the tabs for “Morning Prayer” and “Evening Prayer” on the bar near the top of the page). There are apps for this as well.

If you want to eventually start praying the book version of the Divine Office (rather than an online version) then you will want to use either the breviaries known as the 4-Volume Liturgy of the Hours or Christian Prayer. Based on what you stated in your OP, you would not want to use the version called Shorter Christian Prayer, seeing as it excludes memorials and some of the feasts.

You may also want to consider celebrating a particular saint’s holy day by reciting novena prayers and/or litanies designated for him or her. A web search should reveal of number of such devotional materials.