By Sr. Sara Kowal, SCTJM
Director of Pastoral Ministries

The word “obligation” often seems to leave a bad taste in our mouth, especially for those of us so affected by a culture that defines “freedom” as “I should be able to do whatever I want.” Though the point of this article is not meant to be about the errant definition of freedom (doing whatever we want), we would be remiss not to mention it as we talk about the “obligations” that the Church presents to us. If we are to understand the true nature of Holy Days of Obligation, it is essential to first recognize our fallen human nature’s tendency to rebel against anything we are told that we have to do.

So why are Holy Days of Obligation so important — so important, in fact, that even when one of these feasts falls on a Sunday, we move it and celebrate it on another day of the week? For example, this year, December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, falls on a Sunday; therefore, this year (2024), the Solemnity is transferred to Monday, December 9, and the obligation to attend Mass that Monday comes with it.

Some may ask, “Why do we have to attend Mass on these days?” I would propose that the better question for us to ask ourselves is: “Why are these days so important that the Church, in her wisdom, requires us to celebrate them?”

The answer is a very simple one: they all present to us fundamental, existential, and essential truths about who we are, what God has done, and what God desires to do for us for eternity. It is for this simple reason that the Church desires us to celebrate them, understand them, and focus our mind and hearts on the essential truths that they teach us.

This may seem obvious for some of the Holy Days – Christmas, for example. We understand that it is certainly important to celebrate the birth of Jesus. As well as the obligation for every Sunday because every Sunday is a “little Easter.” Easter, the day we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, is so important that we celebrate it every week. It is, the Catechism tells us, “not simply one feast among others, but the ‘Feast of feasts’ and the ‘Solemnity of solemnities’” (CCC 1169).

But what about these other solemnities that focus on Mary and the Saints? Why are these so important? Are we focusing too much on Mary and the Saints and not enough on Jesus? The answer is a resounding “No!”

The key to understanding the importance of these other obligatory feasts rests on the key to understanding our vocation to holiness and Our Lady’s relationship to that. Pope Benedict XVI said: “Everything that is said of Mary is true of the Church. And conversely, in Mary, the Church can see the perfect prototype of herself … Mary is the Church in person, and the Church as a whole embodies what Mary, as a person, anticipates.” Very simply, Mary is already what we aspire to be. She shows us our destiny and our goal, everything that we are striving for. Christ calls each of us to “be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect”; Mary has already reached this perfection, and we can look to her to remind us of what we are called to be: perfect, holy, Saints. In giving us these special feast days to celebrate, the Church is placing important reminders before the eyes of our hearts about who we are called to be and what we are destined for.

In the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we celebrate Our Lady’s immaculate nature with no stain of original sin. We are celebrating both the fact that she was given this immaculate nature and that she preserved it her whole life. Eve was conceived immaculate too, but she didn’t preserve it. (This is one of multiple reasons why Our Lady is called the “New Eve.) However, it is not just a celebration of Our Lady’s sinlessness. It is also a reminder to us of our original calling to be immaculate. As Mark Miravalle so aptly explains, “Rather than being the exception, [she] fulfills in a real sense the original intention of what God wanted for all his children.” Sin — the first one and every one after it —wounds us, disfigures us, and makes us so much less than we were made to be. This state of irreparable disorder and brokenness is the unfixable problem Jesus Christ came to solve; with his death and resurrection, He desires to forgive, restore, heal and elevate us to more than our original state. By celebrating the Immaculate Conception of Mary, we are reminding ourselves that He has already done this in her, and that He will do it in us.

The Solemnity of All Saints, which we recently celebrated on November 1, reminds us of the same thing. It also reminds us that it is possible. Maybe Mary’s immaculateness seems a bit unattainable to our poor fallen selves. The Saints remind us that holiness is, in fact, attainable for everyone! On this special feast, we rejoice over the countless men and women who have gone before us, who have run the race and attained the goal. What joy and hope they should give our poor little hearts so prone to sorrow and despair!

In conclusion, we should have so much joy and gratitude for these “obligations”! What hope they give. What peace they bring for those of us who labor arduously in this “valley of tears.” Next time we feel like complaining about these “extra” days the Church (who is a good Mother) “makes” us go to Mass, may we be reminded of why and thank her for her wisdom.