Obligation, What Obligation?

By H. Thomas Dotterweich, Director of Lifelong Faith Formation

I may very well be the first one to say this to you, but Happy New Year! While many of you may assume I am simply wishful thinking because of all the twists and turns the year 2020 has held for us, that is not the reason I come to you with such a greeting. I greet you with “Happy New Year” because as Catholics, our liturgical calendar turns the page and we begin anew on the First Sunday of Advent. This year Sunday, November 29th is the beginning of the holy season of Advent, and so I extend my most heartfelt wishes of a happy and healthy new year ahead for all of the faithful of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings.

In just over the first month of the liturgical calendar, the Church celebrates with great joy, half of the yearly Holy Days of Obligation observed in the United States. The list of important liturgical dates above shows those days marked by underline and asterisk. While currently, we may be dispensed of our obligation due to COVID-19, it is important we understand that the days remain holy and that we should still mark these days in special ways.

When society is not hampered by a pandemic, and our Sunday and Holy Day obligations are not dis- pensed, we are bound by penalty of sin to participate in Mass on these days; thus the word obligation. As hu- mans, and especially as Americans, the concept of being obligated to something is not exactly ideal. Yet, as Catholics we willingly and joyfully submit ourselves to the authority of Christ and His Church and celebrate in the source and summit of our Faith every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation.

While these current times remain anything but normal, let us not adopt a “new normal” by absenting ourselves from Mass. Eventually the bishop will lift the dispensation and the obligation will be reinstituted. At that time, it will be tempting to continue the habits formed over the last year and ignore this obligation. That, my friends, would do great damage to both you spiritually, as well as to the Body of Christ which is the Church because you are missed!

Yes, your presence at Mass is missed. As a community of believers, we do not simply attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days in order to fulfill an obligation. We attend Mass to come together as a community, as a visual representation of the Body of Christ, and when one of our members is absent, it is noticed. Let me be clear that the primary reason for participating in the celebration of the Mass is for the worship of our Merciful God. At the same time though, we are there to love and support one another along our earthly journeys.

In this time of dispensation, we are all encouraged to continue to mark our Sundays and Holy Days with spiritual activity in our own homes. Many of us long for the days when we will be back together as a community. Until then, as part of our spiritual activities on these days, let us continue to pray for one another, and pray for a resolution to this pandemic.

Important Liturgical Dates

November 29: First Sunday of Advent
November 30: Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle
December 6: Second Sunday of Advent
December 8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary*
December 12: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 13: Gaudete Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent)
December 20: Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 25: The Nativity of the Lord*
December 26: Feast of St. Stephen
December 27: Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
December 28: Feast of the Holy Innocents
January 1: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God*
January 3: The Epiphany of the Lord
January 10: The Baptism of the Lord
January 22: Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
January 25: Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul