Today is a Holy Day of Obligation

College Catholic points out that Stephen Colbert sums it up like this, "Tomorrow is all Saints Day, a Holy Day of Obligation and if you’re Roman Catholic and you don’t go to Mass you’ll go to Hell."

Or as it is so well put in The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living:

This feast is a Holy Day of Obligation, which means you are obliged to go to Mass. Yes, skipping church today is in fact a mortal sin -- and one of the dullest in the book. Can you imagine being damned for blowing off the twenty-six-minute lturgy at your parish? You'd be the laughing stock of hell. Personally, we believe in making each of our mortal sins count; each one had better be worth the risk to our souls, the trip to Confession, the time spent purging our sins by reliving Groundhos Day over and over again. You get the idea.

Besides all that, you can't foresee what graces you might gain from going ... aside from being with the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist, which is good enough in and of itself.

Is it a pain to work that mass time into your weekday schedule? Not only yes, but hell yes (for me anyway) ... but it isn't about what is convenient in the end. It is about doing what God asks and that is little enough considering all He does for us each and every day.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity