Lesson 35
ON THE FIRST AND SECOND COMMANDMENTS OF THE CHURCH

389 Q. Which are the chief commandments of the Church?
A. The chief commandments of the Church are six:

1. To hear Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.


2. To fast and abstain on the days appointed.


3. To confess at least once a year.


4. To receive the Holy Eucharist during the Easter time.


5. To contribute to the support of our pastors.


6. Not to marry persons who are not Catholics, or who are related to us

within the third degree of kindred, nor privately without witnesses,
nor to solemnize marriage at forbidden times.

390 Q. Is it a mortal sin not to hear Mass on a Sunday or a holy day of
obligation?
A. It is a mortal sin not to hear Mass on a Sunday or a holy day of
obligation, unless we are excused for a serious reason. They also commit
a mortal sin, who, having others under their charge, hinder them from
hearing Mass, without a sufficient reason.

"Serious reason"--that is, a very good reason, such as sickness,
necessity of taking care of the sick, great danger of death, etc. Some
persons when they go to the country in the summer believe themselves
excused from hearing Mass because the church is a little further from
them or the Mass at more inconvenient times than in the city. When they
are in the country they are bound by the same obligations as the
Catholics who live in that parish the whole year round, and they must go
to Mass as these do, even if it is more inconvenient than in the city.
Persons who have it in their power to select their own summer resort,
should not, without great necessity, select a place where there is no
Catholic church, and where they will be deprived of Mass and the
Sacraments for several months, and where there is danger of their dying
without the Sacraments. Some excuse themselves from going to Mass
because they are too tired to rise in the morning. They should be
ashamed to give such an excuse. Was our Blessed Lord not tired when He
carried His Cross? He was tired, for He fell under it several times. And
where was He going? To Calvary, to offer up the bloody sacrifice of the
Cross for you. Will you plead fatigue as an excuse when you come to be
judged by Him? Others again have a great habit of coming late for Mass.
No matter at what hour the Mass may be, they will always be late; and I
am afraid these persons will also be too late to enter Heaven. By coming
late they show disrespect to Our Lord and distract others; and to avoid
doing so, they should, when late, take a place in the rear of the
church. When you are very late for one Mass, you should wait for the
next--at least, for as much of the next as you did not hear in the
first. You should not, however, begrudge a little extra time to God. To
hear Mass properly, you should be in your place a few minutes before the
priest comes out, and make up your mind what blessing you will ask, or
for what intention you desire to hear the Mass.

"Having others under their charge." Some parents are very careless about
their children attending Mass, especially on holy days. Now, they must
remember that in such neglect the sin will be theirs as well as the
children's. Again, masters and mistresses do not at times give their
workmen and servants sufficient opportunity to hear Mass, above all on
holy days. All masters and mistresses must remember that they are bound
not only to give their servants an opportunity to hear Mass, but they
are bound as far as they conveniently can to see that they embrace the
opportunity, just as they should see to their children in such matters.
Catholics having in their employ others, such as engineers, drivers,
conductors, etc., must make some arrangement between their men by which
they will be able to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days. The same
holds good for companies and corporations having under their charge a
large force of men who are obliged by circumstances to work on Sundays.

*391 Q. Why were holy days instituted by the Church?
A. Holy days were instituted by the Church to recall to our minds the
great mysteries of religion and the virtues and rewards of the saints.

For just the same reason that the government has legal holidays. What
would the people of this country know or think at the present time about
the Declaration of Independence, and all connected with it, if they did
not celebrate from childhood every year, on the Fourth of July, the
great day on which their forefathers claimed to be free and independent
from the nation that was persecuting them? The Fourth of July keeps
alive in our memory the struggles of our ancestors of one hundred years
or more ago--their great battles, their sufferings and triumph, the
blessings they secured for us, and for which we praise them. In like
manner, the feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord keeps us in mind of
the sad condition in which we were before Our Lord redeemed us, and how
He liberated us from the slavery of the devil and secured for us so many
wonderful blessings. Again, what would we remember about George
Washington if we did not celebrate his birthday? That holiday keeps
before our minds the life and actions of that great man and all he did
for our benefit. So, too, when we celebrate every year the feast of a
saint in the Church, it keeps before our minds his works and all that he
did for God and the Church, and makes us anxious to imitate his virtues.
On every day in the year the Church honors some mystery of our holy
faith or some saint by saying Mass all over the world in honor of the
feast, and by obliging the priests and bishops to say the divine office
for the same purpose. The feast-day of a saint is generally the day on
which he died; because that is considered the day on which he entered
into Heaven--the day on which he was born into the new world.

The "divine office" is a collection of prayers, hymns, lessons, and
psalms which every priest and bishop must read every day of his life. As
it is said each day in honor of some particular mystery or saint, the
greater part of it differs for each day. The prayers are to God, asking
some grace or blessing in honor of the saint--generally such graces as
were granted to the saint. The hymns are in the saint's honor; the
lessons are parts of the Holy Scripture, or an account of the saint's
life; and the psalms are those beautiful poems that King David composed
and sang to God. The divine office is the prayer of the universal Church
for its children, and if a priest neglects to say it he commits a mortal
sin. It takes about an hour to say the whole divine office, but it is
not intended to be said all at once. It is so divided that it is said at
three times in the day. The part called "Matins" and "Lauds" is said
very early in the morning and before Mass. The part called "Little
Hours" is said later in the day; and the part called "Vespers" and
"Compline" is said in the afternoon. See, therefore, how anxious the
Church is for the good of its children, when it makes its bishops,
priests, and religious pray daily for all the faithful, and send up in
one voice the same prayer to the throne of God.

*392 Q. How should we keep the holy days of obligation?
A. We should keep the holy days of obligation as we should keep the
Sunday.

393 Q. What do you mean by fast-days?
A. By fast-days I mean days on which we are allowed but one full meal.

According to the traditional Catholic method of fasting, one may eat
"one full meal" each day with meat included, plus two smaller meatless
meals, both of which together do not equal the one full meal. No eating
between meals is allowed, although drinking beverages such as coffee and
tea are allowed and are not considered to break the fast. (Milk, juice,
and soft drinks are also considered not to break the fast, although they
are in fact foods and mitigate the effects of the fast and work contrary
to its intent because they satisfy one's hunger to some extent, since
they have food value.) They, therefore, who follow the above regulations
obey the Catholic method of fasting. Today the prescribed days of fast
for the whole Church are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (these are also
days of abstinence). However the Church today says that the meaning of
the law of fasting during Lent remains, although the extent of the
obligation has been changed. In other words, Lent remains as a season of
penance in the Church, but how it is to be observed is greatly up to the
individual, though no one may think himself excused from all penance
whatsoever, and those who are in the fasting age group should still
practice the Church's form of fasting, since fasting is a primary and
very efficacious form of penance.

Those who, for sufficient reasons, are excused from the obligation of
fasting, are not on that account freed from the law of abstinence, for
all who have reached their fourteenth birthday are bound to abstain from
flesh-meat on days when it is forbidden--Ash Wednesday and the Fridays
of Lent. The following persons are excused from fasting: (1) those who
are not yet twenty-one or who have begun their sixtieth year (from their
59th birthday onward); (2) those whose infirmity, condition, or
occupation renders it impossible or dangerous for them to fast. If you
think you should be excused from fasting or abstaining, state your
reasons to your confessor and ask his advice. On a fast-day, therefore,
you have to look both to the quantity and the kind of food, while on a
day of abstinence--as the Fridays in Lent other than Good Friday--you
have to look only to the kind.

394 Q. What do you mean by days of abstinence?
A. By days of abstinence I mean days on which we are forbidden to eat
flesh-meat, but are allowed the usual amount of food.

395 Q. Why does the Church command us to fast and abstain?
A. The Church commands us to fast and abstain in order that we may
mortify our passions and satisfy for our sins.

"Mortify our passions," keep our bodies under control, do bodily
penance. Remember it is our bodies that generally lead us into sin; if
therefore we punish the body by fasting and mortification, we atone for
the sin, and thus God wipes out a part of the temporal punishment due to
it.

*396 Q. Why does the Church command us to abstain from flesh-meat on Ash
Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent and to abstain from flesh-meat or do
some other chosen penance on the other Fridays of the year?
A. The Church commands us to abstain, from flesh-meat on Ash Wednesday
and the Fridays of Lent and to abstain from flesh-meat or do some other
chosen penance on the other Fridays of the year in honor of the day on
which Our Saviour died.