Upcoming Holy Days of Obligation

Upcoming Holy Days of Obligation

Why Holy Days of Obligation?
A note from Fr. Henry

When I was a kid, my dad told me that exercising did me the most good when I didn’t feel like it. That might not be true physically, but it is true psychologically. Sometimes we need to bind ourselves to do things even if we don’t feel like it. Toddlers do things because they feel like it; mature adults do things because of responsibility and commitment. That’s why marriage vows are permanent. It’s our fidelity to unbreakable commitments that forges our character and matures us. Without obligations, we can become more self-referential and allow our moods to dictate our behavior, which is not real freedom and not mature. Freedom comes through discipline, and so holy days of obligation assist us with being more spiritually disciplined, and ultimately, therefore, more spiritually mature and spiritually free. Our relationship with God, just like any serious committed relationship, depends upon our willingness to oblige ourselves with responsibility and commitment even (especially!) when we don’t feel like it.