I am continually fascinated by the intricate web of lies that has been woven in the years since Christ's death. St. Patrick's Day is coming up, and that's sort of what sparked this post, along with a comment that was made by some of my friends a few months ago.
So here's the story: I'm out with some friends, some of whom happen to be Catholic, and someone mentions something about Christmas. Of course I can't resist mentioning that it's not biblical and give a mini-rant against the pagan holidays that have infiltrated Christianity. One of my friends responds by pointing out that the Catholic church refers to the biblical Holy Days that I observe as the "Holy Days of Obligation," putting extra emphasis on the word "obligation," as though it was a derogatory term. At the time I didn't give it much thought, except to say that the word "obligation" itself implies that there is something required of you on those days.
Flash forward to this week, when something comes up about St. Patrick's Day, I check out the Wikipedia article, trying to get informed on how it originated. That's when it happened - I found that St. Patrick's Day is considered a "Holy Day of Obligation" in Ireland!!!! I was very confused at that point, so I did some digging and find out that the term "Holy Day of Obligation" is a term specific to the Catholic church that refers to their own observances throughout the year. Every Sunday of the year is a Holy Day of Obligation, as is Christmas and a few other dates throughout the year (such as January 1 for the "Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God," January 6 for the "Epiphany," and a handful of others.) According the the Catholic Canon Law, every Holy Day of Obligation requires the following:
- People have to attend mass on that day
- People are to abstain from any work or other affairs which "hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord's day, or the suitable relaxation of the mind and body
Ummmmm...... Doesn't the first one sound remarkably similar to a "holy convocation," which God commands on certain yearly feast days in Leviticus? And doesn't the second point sound remarkably similar to how God asks us to observe Sabbaths every week and on certain feast days in Leviticus?
From this, I draw the following two conclusions: first of all, that my friend was sorely mistaken when they made that comment. I wish that I had known this at the time, because it would have been hilarious to point out that this term refers to the commandments of men instituted by the Catholic church and not to God's Holy Days. Second of all, according to 1 John 5:3, "His commands are not burdensome," therefore, even if you were to see God's Holy Days as an "obligation," that term does not apply in a negative context according to 1 John 5:3. As a point of fact, in terms of outward observance, God demands no more from us on his Holy Days than does the Catholic church demand of people on their "holy days of obligation." Also, note that, aside from every Sunday, there are 10 holy days of obligation in the Catholic church, whereas, aside from the weekly Sabbath, there are only 8 days on which God commands a Sabbath rest. Prior to 1911, there were 36 such holy days of obligation aside from Sundays.. Now that sounds burdensome!
If this whole business of holy days of obligation isn't confusing enough, it turns out that the bishops in each country pick and choose which ones their region will observe. AAAAAHHHH!!!! WHAT?!?!? As an even more confusing example, St. Patrick's day is not generally recognized as a holy day of obligation throughout the world, but it is considered one in the country of Ireland - so not only can local bishops decide which of the approved days to observed, they can also add in other days that are not generally observed.
By contrast, God's Holy Day observances in His true church are exceedingly simple. No man has the authority to say who keeps what - we do what the bible says to do, and we do it when it says to do it. No matter where you live, it's the same.
I want to now make a few points about St. Patrick's day in particular.
First of all, it usually falls during Lent (another observance that the Catholic church made up and is nowhere found in the bible), which is a time of fasting and abstaining from indulgence - and yet, in modern culture, it is very commonly regarded as a day on which people indulge heavily in alcohol. At least the Catholic church doesn't condone people indulging in drinking on St. Patrick's day (though, given our previous discussion, it wouldn't surprise me if they did, just for the sake of being convoluted.)
The first point is admittedly not that relevant and more of just a pet peeve of mine, so let's look at the actual meaning, context, and origin of the day for those who actually observe it as a religious holiday. Up until the last two decades or so, St. Patrick's day was indeed revered by Irish people, and it was a day on which people went to church and spent time together as a family. While this is still the case for some, it has, even in Ireland, become a day of revelry as we are used to seeing in America.
This brings us to an important point about God's Holy Days, that they are not marred and devalued by tradition - we obtain the details of their observance from God rather than men. They are perfectly preserved for us in the bible so that we, through reading God's word, will never lose their meaning.
St. Patrick was largely responsible for establishing the presence of Catholicism in Ireland. He lived from 387-493 A.D., and spent a lot of time in Ireland building schools and converting people. He is noted for driving the pagans out of Ireland, and it is said that he used the shamrock(three-leaf clover) to help people understand the trinity, which is why it is a symbol of the holiday today. Before his time, the shamrock already had a certain religious significance to the Celtic people. The druids thought that the plant had mystical powers to ward off evil spirits, and, to them, the three leaves were symbolic of their own deities - the "Triple Goddess." What an easy transition it must have been! This is a textbook case of the Catholic "switch-the-symbols-to-get-the-pagans-in" game. It's exactly the sort of thing that happened all over the world as the Catholic church expanded - pagan statues of a mother with a child were relabeled as Mary and Jesus, and pagan symbols in the shape of crosses were repurposed to represent the cross that Jesus was nailed to. There is no precedent for such practices in the bible. In Deuteronomy 12:30, God specifically tells the Israelites not to seek after how the pagans worship their gods - God clearly defined for them (and for us) exactly how he wants to be worshiped.
That's another important point to recognize: God specifically included the keeping of His Holy Days as part of how we worship Him. We are to observe these days and only these days. Each one reveals part of the God's ultimate plan for salvation. What's more, they reveal God's plan in sequence and are intended to be instructive.
It's easy to see how St. Patrick's Day has degraded over time - it does not have God's everlasting Word as a foundation and does not have deep spiritual meaning behind it. So it is also with the other "holy days of obligation" of the Catholic church. Even Christmas and Easter, though they are at least an attempt at the celebration of certain biblical events, have been devalued over time because God has not given the instructions for people to celebrate them; and, therefore, people have imputed whatever ideas they wanted into them until they are unrecognizable in modern culture. In light of these things, it is no wonder God was so particular in laying out his Holy Days. It is a great misfortune that so many people do not keep the Law, which God has clearly outlined in the bible. A review of what these days are and how God says to observe them can be found here. These days are not a burden to us, but a great blessing and an integral part of how God wants to be worshiped. Knowing them and observing them will lead you to a greater understanding of God's plan for all mankind, from Adam to present.
