My son taught me. The three As and one C. He knows because he attended catechism class. I still cannot remember what they are and usually depend on the church bulletin to remind me. Having said that, I do not go out of my way to attend mass on the obligation days. Well, mostly if I am in Penang, I would. But if let’s say I am away in some other states, I won’t feel too guilty over it.
So, I wonder….are obligation days really that obligated? What will happen if we skip mass? Is there any ‘punishment’? Or is it just a ritual? As you can see, obligation days in different countries are not the same. I also wonder why a big day like Easter is not considered an obligation day? Who fix it? So many questions, eh?
From Wikipedia, I understand that the obligation days for us living in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are:
* The Ascension of Our Lord
* The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
* All Saints’ Day
* Christmas
According to my interpretation :
The Ascension of Our Lord is the day Jesus went up to heaven in a cloud, after He has died, resurrected and walked on earth.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is this Friday or August 15th. It is the day Mother Mary went up to heaven. My little boy just asked me, “How did Mother Mary died?” I told him, “Errm..I don’t know….maybe because she was old already?”. He suggested that we bring out his Five Minute Bible and find out. (it is not mentioned, btw)
All Saints’ Day is a day to remember the saints on November 1st while, we remember our deceased love ones on All Souls’ Day on November 2nd (equivalent to the Chinese Ching Ming).
Christmas – No explanation required.
My church has many, many masses including Vigil (which is Thursday evening). On Friday, there are masses through out the morning and afternoon, which means you have absolutely no excuse to be ‘too busy to feel obliged’. Hehehe. I hope to celebrate mass at the Church of Assumption for the first time. I have never been there and hope to see the inside of this heritage building. The mass at the Assumption Church Penang is at 7 pm.
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