Besides every Sunday, the Church sets aside a small number of feasts on which Catholics are bound to take part in Mass and to rest from work that would hinder worship, just as on the Lord's Day. The universal law names ten such days; each conference of bishops may, with the approval of the Holy See, reduce the number or move some to a Sunday, and the bishops of the United States have done both. This guide gives the list as it is kept in the United States and the practical rules that go with it.

What you need

• A calendar you actually look at (paper, phone, or the parish's own)
• Your parish's Mass schedule for holy days, usually printed in the bulletin the week before
• A note of the ecclesiastical province you live in, since the Ascension is kept on different days in different places

When to pray it

On the day itself or at a Mass on the evening before. In the United States: 1 January, the Ascension, 15 August, 1 November, 8 December and 25 December, subject to the rules below.

Steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Know the six holy days kept in the United States

   Canon 1246 lists ten holy days for the universal Church. In the dioceses of the United States, six are kept as days of obligation: the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (1 January); the Ascension of the Lord (Thursday of the sixth week of Easter, or the following Sunday where it has been transferred); the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 August); All Saints (1 November); the Immaculate Conception (8 December); and the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas (25 December). The other four universal days are handled differently here: the Epiphany is celebrated on the Sunday between 2 and 8 January and Corpus Christi on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday, while Saint Joseph (19 March) and Saints Peter and Paul (29 June) remain solemnities but are not days of obligation in the United States.

2. 2

   Step 2: Learn the Saturday and Monday rule

   By a decree of the United States bishops confirmed by the Holy See in 1992, whenever 1 January, 15 August or 1 November falls on a Saturday or a Monday, the obligation to attend Mass is lifted for that year. The feast is still celebrated, and going to Mass is still a fine thing to do, but you are not bound. The rule does not apply to the Immaculate Conception or to Christmas, which always oblige. When 8 December falls on a Sunday of Advent, the solemnity is moved to Monday, 9 December, and the Holy See has confirmed that the obligation moves with it.

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   Step 3: Find out how your province keeps the Ascension

   The Ascension falls on a Thursday forty days after Easter. Most ecclesiastical provinces of the United States have transferred it to the following Sunday, the Seventh Sunday of Easter, so that in those places the Thursday is an ordinary weekday and the obligation is simply the Sunday obligation. A few provinces in the Northeast and in Nebraska keep the Thursday as a holy day of obligation. Your parish bulletin will say which applies to you; if you travel that week, the obligation follows the place where you are.

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   Step 4: Use the vigil Mass when it helps

   Canon 1248 provides that the obligation is satisfied by taking part in Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day itself or in the evening of the preceding day. So a Mass on the evening of 31 October fulfils the obligation for All Saints, and a Mass on the evening of 24 December fulfils it for Christmas. Note that one Mass does not fulfil two obligations: when a holy day falls on a Saturday, a Saturday evening Mass counts either for the holy day or for the Sunday, not both, and you would need to attend Mass twice that weekend.

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   Step 5: Rest from work as far as you are able

   Canon 1247 asks the faithful on Sundays and holy days not only to take part in Mass but to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body. In the United States most holy days fall on working days, so do what you reasonably can: ask for the morning off, keep the evening free, share a meal, and set aside the chores that can wait. Where an employer or family need makes rest impossible, the Church's law does not ask the impossible; keep the Mass and keep the spirit of the day.

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   Step 6: Keep the day with the prayers of the feast

   Each holy day has its own character, and a few minutes of prayer make it more than an extra Mass. On the Solemnity of Mary pray the Hail Mary▾ and the Salve Regina▾ and entrust the new year to her. On the Ascension and at Christmas the Te Deum▾ is the Church's own song of thanksgiving. On All Saints ask the intercession of your patron saints; on the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception pray the Magnificat▾ with Mary. End the day, as every day, with the Our Father▾.

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   Step 7: Plan the whole year once

   At the start of each year, or when the parish calendar comes out, write the six days into your calendar with a reminder the week before, check the weekday each fixed date falls on to see whether the Saturday-or-Monday rule applies, and note your province's practice for the Ascension. The USCCB's Secretariat of Divine Worship publishes the liturgical calendar for the dioceses of the United States each year, and it settles every question about dates and transfers. Ten minutes of planning in January means that no holy day arrives unnoticed in August.

Tips

• When in doubt, ask the parish office or check the bulletin: the parish always knows whether the obligation binds this year.
• Treat a holy day like a Sunday in miniature: Mass first, then a real rest, a good meal, and some time with the feast's own prayers.
• If you cannot get to Mass because of illness, work you cannot leave, or care of the sick, the obligation does not bind you; make a spiritual communion and pray the readings of the day instead.
• Christmas and the Immaculate Conception are never dropped, whatever weekday they fall on.

Related devotions

• Liturgy of the Hours