August 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Sometimes the liturgical calendar doesn’t always line up so well with the ordinary or secular calendar. This past year has been a good example of that, what with how things like All Saints Day and the Immaculate Conception fell back in November and December, respectively. And now we come across it again in the month of August and the great celebration of the Assumption on Saturday, August 15th. To be perfectly clear, this year, the Assumption IS NOT a Holy Day of Obligation.

In the long history of the Catholic Church, we have always taken seriously the opportunity to gather and celebrate significant moments in the life of the Church. From the very outset, under the pain of persecution and possibly even death, the community gathered on the Lord’s Day for the celebration of Mass and for fellowship thereafter. And while the Sunday celebration of Mass remains the lynchpin and non-negotiable of our faith, the Church has also developed and adapted over time with other celebrations, highlighting their importance as well as recognizing the challenge of particular times and places. An excellent example comes from the Arabian Peninsula, where the Sunday Mass (readings/prayers) is often anticipated (or moved) to Friday, since the majority of the population follows Islam, which uses Friday as its holy day and most people are therefore off from work. They still try to have the Sunday Mass as usual, but for many, they are unable to attend due to work obligations.

If this were the Middle Ages and we found ourselves in Europe, the idea of a Feast Day or Solemnity would be completely different. Yes, the idea of a Holy Day of Obligation would have existed, but not with the connotation that we find it in modern times. EVERYTHING in the town or village or surrounding area would be centered around the liturgical celebration. No work that day, no other expectations or obligations would take precedence; you centered the day around attending Mass and then any and all other celebrations that might be happening afterward. Going to Mass wasn’t something to be fit into your schedule that day; it was the thing the rest of your day worked around. That’s not the case in modern times.

And so, since 1983, Bishops have had the ability to adapt Holy Days of Obligation to meet the needs of their people. Here in the US, that is as follows: when a Solemnity falls on Saturday or Monday, the obligation to attend Mass is lifted, while the celebration of the day remains. Here at St. Charles, what that means practically is that if there is a Mass that day, we celebrate the Solemnity as usual, but we don’t add Masses to the schedule. In this case, since it falls on a Saturday, there won’t be a Mass for the Assumption here, but I recommend anyone interested to go to Sacred Heart, Riverton, or Resurrection, Delran, or OLGC, Moorestown for their Saturday morning Mass that day.

Peace and Goodness,

Fr. Dan