I used to always forget the Holy Days of Obligation, which are days you’re supposed to go to church and pray and be holy and stuff. In fact, we were at church on Sunday and nowhere, nowhen did anyone say anything about having to go to church today. Maybe we missed it in the bulletin, but still. They ought to have mentioned it in the announcements.
Anywho, today is the Assumption of Mary which celebrates the Holy Virgin Mary’s assumption to heaven after her death. I’m going to Old St. Mary’s at 5:15pm which is a couple blocks away from work.
I don’t forget anymore because I now mark my calendar for all the holy days.
The Holy Days of Obligation for the rest of 2013:
Assumption of Mary (Thursday, August 15, 2013)
All Saints Day (Friday, November 1, 2013)
Immaculate Conception (Monday, December 9, 2013)
Christmas (Wednesday, December 25, 2013)
And for good measure, here is the list for 2014.
Holy Days of Obligation for 2014
Mary, Mother of God (Wednesday, January 1, 2014)
Ascension (Thursday, May 29, 2014)
Assumption of Mary (Friday, August 15, 2014)
All Saints Day (Saturday, November 1, 2014)
Immaculate Conception (Monday, December 8, 2014)
Christmas (Thursday, December 25, 2014)
Ooooops!
Ok, I’m now going to take your list and add the dates to my calendar.
I wish someone had reminded me years ago!
Bad Catholic here, because I didn’t remember that today was a holy day, but must admit I am not as religious as when I was younger. Thank you for the reminder list and will be copying these now.
Happy to remind people as I wish I had been reminded.
I’m sure I’ve seen this summed up somewhere as being ‘baffled by the notion of a god who takes attendance’.
This is one of the things I fail to understand – that even someone with a failing spirituality and faded faith could attend an obligatory day and somehow ‘be ok’…
Perhaps you could explain to me sometime 🙂
I certainly don’t believe that God takes attendance, nor do I think that he favors people who go to church or attend holy days. The holy days are simply a practice of the catholic faith and given that they are, I figure I’d write them down—as I actually like going to church. If I didn’t get a benefit from going to church, I wouldn’t go, and I don’t think I’d be a worse person for not going.
If I were a betting woman, I’d bet someone, somewhere has an app which automatically adds the dates to your electronic calendar. If per chance it’s not invented yet, I give permission to any techno-whizbanger reading this to take the idea & run with it. App creators have NOTHING to worry about from me. (My big excitement is now that I’m in my second month of Twitter, I know how to attach an image to a tweet & just found out what the #FF acronym means. Like I said, nothing to worry about. *smiles*)
Tana, I think my sister mentioned that there is some app you can lookup all the various church mass times in your area so there’s gotta be something similar to what you mentioned. Yay for #FF. I loved your Twitter tutorial. Very helpful!
Good thing for calendars so we don’t forget important days! I couldn’t do without mine.
I live by my calendar!
I too was not reminded on Sunday at Mass about Thursday! Thought it was surprising, too.
The Catholic Church needs one central website where we can go to for everything. I know a lot of Mormons and they all refer to one site, I wish we had something like that so there was a consistent message.
That’s so funny. I had never even heard about that holiday before reading your post (and I grew up Catholic). Probably one of the many reasons I can’t seem to make religion work for me 😉
I believe one of the problems with the catholic church is that there isn’t any consistency, so most of us run around confused all the time. I’m so glad you stopped by. I am a big fan of your blog!
Sorry, but the “church” is not a building with a set of days commanded to “attend”…..the “church” is the Body of Christ, being His hands and feet, his eyes and ears….. we were never commanded to keep any of these days.
I don’t go to to church on Holy Days of Obligation…or most Sundays, to be honest. I prefer to observe when I’m feeling connected to the Spirit and that may not always fall at the same time/date as Mass.
I’m more apt to be found lighting a candle at odd hours on a Tuesday, to be found in confession on a quiet Friday night and to be marvelling at the Divine anywhere and everywhere the beauty of nature and the human spirit moves me.
I was raised strictly Catholic and eventually came to find my faith was stronger outside those walls, but I have such respect for the institution and the ideals it was founded on (though, I do believe sometimes the execution of those ideals is somewhat lacking).
Truthfully, I go to Church because I like going and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t go. So I absolutely respect the individual ways that people practice their faith. Thank you for commenting Jo!
Catherine…..I was both surprised and saddened by the fact that you did not post my comment.
Hi! I know this discussion is months old, but I only just happened upon your blog now and have been reading through. This one caught my attention for a couple of reasons….I love that you mention your Catholic faith, Catherine. It’s a beautiful thing to have you witness a faith life..and a Catholic one to boot. I am a devout Catholic as well and if I were to be perfectly honest I would have to say, I don’t always get warm, gushy feelings at Mass, not that I don’t like going…I wouldn’t go that far. My point is, we don’t go to Mass on Sundays, Holy Days of Obligation etc. because we always feel we are getting something out of it, right? It’s what we are giving as well. Giving our obedience, our sacrifice. Why do we have Holy Days of Obligation? Not because God keeps track. But because some days in the liturgical year are so sacred, so special that they are to be celebrated! Liken it to not only going to Mom’s house for dinner on Christmas, but also on her birthday, mother’s day, etc.
Getting off my soap box now. 🙂 Off to read more lovely blog posts!
yes, christie, you’re making a great point that i hadn’t even thought about. that some holidays / holy days are obligatory because we should be celebrating our faith and showing our obedience. i like how you put that.