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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION	leslie	Monday, December 1, 2008
Question: ARE THE HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION GOD MADE OR MAN MADE. WHY DO YOU "HAVE" TO GO TO CHURCH ON THOSE DAYS. THERE ARE A FEW STUMBLING BLOCKS ON MY FAITH WALK AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Leslie: God gave the Church the authority to make decisions on faith, morals, and practice. That is what Jesus did when he gave Peter the "keys to the Kingdom". Thus, the Church has the authority from God to do things like set Holy Days of Obligation. God backs the Church on these issues and thus to ignore these Holy Days is to disobey God Himself. The purpose of Holy Days of Obligation is to encourage us to stop and take note of important days on the Church calendar. These are the principal liturgical feasts that honor the mysteries of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. The Catholic idea of Holy Days is where we get the concept of a Holiday. Just as certain days of the year are "holidays" that celebrate important events in our Nation's history (e.g. July 4th, Martin Luther King Day, Labor Day, etc.) in which we may take the day off or participate in celebration, the Church has her special days that we make special note. On these Holy Days we offer a special worship to God, thus going to Mass, and make the day special in honor of whoever the Holy Day is for. It is a Feast Day, a day of celebration that brings our minds to God and to our Faith. The Church makes certain days mandatory because they are important days for our family and the family ought to come together for it. These Obligatory days are the minimum we should do to join with our family and worship God and honor the saints (our brothers and sisters who have gone before us). These holy days ought not be thought of as a burden or drudgery or stumblingblock. They are celebrations of hope and love. If we love our Lord and love our neighbor coming together on these Holy Days of Obligation (which are every Sunday, and 4-6 other days during the year in the United States) is the least we can do. If we really love God and have faith why would we avoid Mass on these few obligatory days. Love and faith should bring us to joyfully attend Mass on Holy Days of obligation. If we cannot observe these few days, do we have faith? God bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION

leslie

Monday, December 1, 2008

Question:

ARE THE HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION GOD MADE OR MAN MADE. WHY DO YOU "HAVE" TO GO TO CHURCH ON THOSE DAYS. THERE ARE A FEW STUMBLING BLOCKS ON MY FAITH WALK AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Leslie:

God gave the Church the authority to make decisions on faith, morals, and practice. That is what Jesus did when he gave Peter the "keys to the Kingdom". Thus, the Church has the authority from God to do things like set Holy Days of Obligation. God backs the Church on these issues and thus to ignore these Holy Days is to disobey God Himself.

The purpose of Holy Days of Obligation is to encourage us to stop and take note of important days on the Church calendar. These are the principal liturgical feasts that honor the mysteries of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. The Catholic idea of Holy Days is where we get the concept of a Holiday. Just as certain days of the year are "holidays" that celebrate important events in our Nation's history (e.g. July 4th, Martin Luther King Day, Labor Day, etc.) in which we may take the day off or participate in celebration, the Church has her special days that we make special note.

On these Holy Days we offer a special worship to God, thus going to Mass, and make the day special in honor of whoever the Holy Day is for. It is a Feast Day, a day of celebration that brings our minds to God and to our Faith.

The Church makes certain days mandatory because they are important days for our family and the family ought to come together for it. These Obligatory days are the minimum we should do to join with our family and worship God and honor the saints (our brothers and sisters who have gone before us).

These holy days ought not be thought of as a burden or drudgery or stumblingblock. They are celebrations of hope and love. If we love our Lord and love our neighbor coming together on these Holy Days of Obligation (which are every Sunday, and 4-6 other days during the year in the United States) is the least we can do.

If we really love God and have faith why would we avoid Mass on these few obligatory days. Love and faith should bring us to joyfully attend Mass on Holy Days of obligation. If we cannot observe these few days, do we have faith?

God bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum