Throughout the year, as part of our participation in the life of faith and the life of the Church, we are bound to observe Holy Days of Obligation. 

 

In the United States, those days are: Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; Aug. 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Nov. 1, the Solemnity of All Saints; Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and Dec. 25, the Solemnity of the Birth of Our Lord.

 

Holy Days of Obligation have for us the same obligation that as Catholics we are to fulfill each Sunday. That is, we are to gather with the rest of the faithful to pray and adore God at Mass.

 

It is no secret that attendance at Sunday Mass has been diminishing for some time. Sadly, the attendance at Masses on Holy Days of Obligation is even less.

 

We might ask ourselves, why have Holy Days of Obligation? Are they really even important? Is there any real reason to make the effort to go to Mass on those various celebrations? 

 

In this time of widespread weakening of the practice of the faith, I would argue that the answer has to be an emphatic “yes!”

 

Often, when the question of Mass attendance arises, the reasons for not participating are fairly standard. People say they are too busy. One hears that “I don’t get anything out of it.” 

 

Of course with the new reports of scandals, for many reasons some find themselves hurting or distant from the Church. 

 

Sometimes, too, when the obligation is mentioned it is argued that the Church is being paternalistic. That we are mature enough to decide for ourselves.

 

But such responses miss the deepest meaning of the Mass in general and of special days like Holy Days of Obligation in particular. The Mass is at the heart of strengthening and, if necessary, reviving the faith in our lives. And that is something deeply needed in view of yet more challenges and sins within the Church.

 

Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI recently wrote that the Eucharist contains in itself  both the crucifixion and the resurrection. Because Jesus said, “This is my body,” the body contained in the consecrated bread and wine is the body that was brutalized unto death for us, and that rose to glory as will our own if we are faithful.

 

The Mass, any Mass, places us in the presence of Christ’s divinity. Heaven truly touches earth in our presence as we kneel before the altar. Joined to the reading of God’s Word and the participation in the presence of others as the Church, we are given something for life and for our souls that we could get nowhere else.

 

When the Church, then, obliges us on certain solemnities to attend Mass, it is not the imposition of a rule by power. It is the call to join to a specific memory of faith (Mary’s Assumption or the existence of the choir of saints who await us), of the gift of Jesus Himself. 

 

Clearly that combination is an antidote based in heavenly power to the temptations and despair of this

world that leads many to a loss of salvation.

 

The Mass is ultimately Jesus’ gift to us. Like any gift it must be received with gratitude, with respect and with an open heart in order for it to be received well. We must do our part to energize and deepen the gift of faith.

 

Holy Days of Obligation are not a burden or a left over relic of another era. They are part of our living out of the faith, even if it means periodically adjusting our routine to accommodate those special celebrations. 

 

How great is the wisdom of the Church to provide such days for us.