www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West ? Sunday Mass Obligation

I could have been wrong!! Guess I could have googled it.

To me, all sin is serious.

We are obliged to keep holy the Sabbath Day. To most of us that would me attending Mass or Liturgy unless impossible.

Man was not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for man. We all need our spiritual nourishment and that's the time to get it.

It is my understanding that all Sundays are considered days of obligation for Roman Catholics, btw.

I don't think you'd dare tell most Orthodox babas that you aren't going to go to Liturgy today, either.

If for some reason it is impossible to attend Mass or Liturgy or any of the Daily Offices - and there are rare circumstances where it might be impossible to do that - then it is probably a good idea to write down the readings and take your prayer book with you. You can buy a pocket sized New Testament at many church bookstores. I never believed in what some refer to as "traveller's dispensation." You can always do something to keep the Sabbath holy, even if there isn't a church around.

I remember reading about Fr. Walter Ciszek and how he went through so much to say his daily Mass while in a gulag. It was his joy. It should be our joy as well.

The Latin Church celebrates "The Transfiguration of the Lord" as a "Feast Day" every August 6th, which this year fell on a Saturday.

Please refrain or desist from issuing comments in derogation of our own liturgical calendar, especially where ignorance rears its ugly head!

Amado

in all fairness to the RC calender, it must be remembered by some of you more provincial types, that there is not a Catholic church on every corner as it is up there in the North, nor are we a peasant society were the serfs can nip on down to the local church for this,that,or the other feast day.
do I miss the old days when Ascension was observed on a Thursday, or Dormition(Assumption to the Latins) was held on the fifteenth of August, and not on any other date? yes. but this is reality: in the South, one may have to drive quite a distance to get to a Catholic (Latin, EC, whatever)church,and many are doing well to be able to get to Sunday obligation, let alone a feast day that may pop up in the middle of the week. I am sure that the situation is the same in the West outside of some place like California.
on the remark about the peasant society: most of us are still working for a living, and we are not all professionals who can make up our own schedules, and can take off at will to go to church during the week, and our respective feast days may not mean a #$%^ thing to someone who is our boss, and not a Catholic (or Orthodox, if that be the case), and whose chief concern is to have a full staff working on a particular day at a particular shift. I guess when one wins the lottery or is retired than one has much more options.
the whole point is this: it is not a matter of what is convenient, but of reality. may I remind you that it was Jesus who said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. there is a principle here to be marked.
Much Love,
Jonn

.....

John, what you say may still be true in the south, though less true than 50 years ago when I was growing up in North Carolina. Then, the state had one bishop, and there were many counties without an RC church. In the 60s episcopal staff was expanded to include a coadjutor bishop, and some missions (served from parishes maybe 30 miles or so away) were built. It is heavily Baptist country.

Where I live now, Arizona, the hispanic community is very large, and I cannot recall a town without a Catholic church. Of course, there may not be a town for 30 to 50 miles, depending on where you are in the state.

I like the eastern approach to the importance of various days: they are all important, not just days of obligation. God knows our hearts, and understands when we truly cannot be in attendance.