February 22, 2025 - Pastor Message
February 21, 2026THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH THE FIRST AND FOURTH PRECEPTS
THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
THE FIRST AND FOURTH PRECEPTS
“You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation; You shall keep holy the holy days of obligation” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2042 -2043).
Continuing our reflection on the Precepts of the Church, the moral laws taught by the Church to ensure that the Christian faithful observe the essential minimum in the spirit of prayer and the moral life, we look this week at the first and fourth precepts. As I mentioned last week, the Precepts of the Church do not replace or nullify God’s laws, but they explain in concrete terms how we live God’s laws, at least in a minimal way. These two precepts all teach us how to concretely live out the first and third of the Ten Commandments: “I am the Lord, your God, you shall have no other gods besides me”; and “Keep holy the sabbath” (Exodus 20:2-3, 8).
Sunday is the day the Lord rose from the dead and threw open the doors to eternal life. Just as Christ’s resurrection is the central event of our salvation and faith, so Sunday has been recognized and celebrated in the Church from the time of the Apostles as the center of our weekly lives as Christians. Like the first fruits the ancient Hebrews offered to God to thank him for his saving works in their lives, so Christians offer the first day of our week to God in thanks and praise for his saving work in Christ.
Minimally, this means attending Mass and keeping the day holy, that is, dedicated to God rather than other pursuits. The Church fleshes this minimum requirement out further in the Code of Canon Law, the basic law code of the Catholic Church: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass. Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body” (canon 1247). This means that God comes first in our lives, before everything else, and we put him first by, at the very least, participating in Mass on Sunday and keeping his day holy by avoiding unnecessary work or activities. This doesn’t mean that we can’t do any work or activities on Sunday; the precept only obliges us to avoid unnecessary work and activities, especially those that prevent us from participating in Mass.
This applies not only to Sunday, but to other holy days of obligation as well. Holy days of obligation are the principle liturgical feasts of the Church’s year that in a particular way “honor the mysteries of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, and the saints” (CCC, 2043). We are familiar with the idea of civil holidays that give us time off from work to honor some important persons or events or civic ideals, but, historically, the concept of a civil holiday is a product of the modern, secular era. For most of Western history, the Church calendar established regular holy days (holidays) to honor events in Christ’s life or the saints, especially the Virgin Mary. On those days, people were given time off from work to celebrate the feasts by, minimally, observing the same obligations as Sunday, which is the primary holy day of obligation. While the Church no longer enjoys the authority it once did over secular culture, the Church still sets some days aside each year for this purpose, which we are obliged as Christians to observe. Currently, in the United States, they are the following: Mary, the Mother of God (Jan. 1); Ascension (Thursday of the 6th week of Easter); Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Aug. 15); All Saints (Nov. 1); Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Dec. 8); and Christmas (Dec. 25). So mark your calendar and set these important days aside for God, beginning with every Sunday. Time set aside for God is not only an obligation, but a blessing, bearing rich fruits of grace in the lives of those who observe it, all the way to eternal life.
As a footnote, people reading this may ask, “What about people who can’t participate in Mass for some serious reason (e.g. they’re sick, they’re homebound, the weather is too bad, etc…)?” The law makes an exception to the Mass obligation in such cases, but not the obligation to keep Sundays and holy days of obligation holy, urging such people to “devote themselves to prayer for a suitable time alone, as a family, or, as the occasion permits, in groups of families” (canon 1248). And while the law does not envision the possibilities of modern technology, remote participation in Mass via television or the internet is also an option for those who are truly unable to participate in person.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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