Corpus Christi Blog

For all baptized Catholics, Sunday Mass is not optional, but an obligation. Sunday is the day on which Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is therefore worthy of weekly celebration. Since the earliest days of the Church, beginning with the Apostles, Christians gathered on the first day of the week to celebrate the Resurrection and the Eucharist. These gatherings very quickly became a solemn obligation of faith. The requirement is rooted in the third commandment to “keep holy the Sabbath” by remembering Christ’s Passion, Resurrection, and glory and giving God the thanks, praise, and worship he is due. While the obligation to attend Sunday Mass is serious, it should not be perceived as burdensome and legalistic. We ought to approach Mass with love for God and view it as a gift. We are privileged to freely accept God’s invitation to gather where Christ encounters the faithful, nourishes us with his body, and unites us in faith and charity.

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The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary falling on October 7. Following the Christian naval victory over the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571—a victory attributed to Mary’s intercession amid widespread prayer of the Rosary—Pope Saint Pius V established the feast of Our Lady of Victory. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed its title to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Pope Clement XI thenextended the celebration to the universal Church in 1716, and Pope Saint Pius X fixed its date as October 7 in 1913. The entire month of October was dedicated to the Holy Rosary by Pope Leo XIII in his 1883 encyclical Supremi Apostolatus Officio (The Supreme Apostolic Office).

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