Benedictus Deus

There is an excellent article I stumbled on about the relationship between culture, how we mark time, and the liturgy.  It was written back 1992.  The author, Thomas Storck, does a great job of saying what I am always trying to say here.  I highly recommend the whole article, but there are couple parts I would like to highlight.

Regarding state holidays:

By saying that this day is the Fourth of July or Veterans’ Day they assert that the community of Americans is the most important community to which we belong, the one that is primary in our lives. We receive holidays from work and take part in public celebrations (as our Thanksgiving turkey or our fireworks) only according to this schedule. Any other is at best supplementary and private and at worst a competitor to be driven underground. (In fact, one could argue that the secular American calendar has banished the notion of the Church year with its progression of holy days from the consciousness of Catholics much more effectively than the French or Russian revolutionaries and their reformulations of the calendar ever did.)

Now, I don’t have a problem with there being such a thing as state holidays.  But Mr. Storck makes a good point, that when your holiday schedule and participation in celebrations revolves around the state holiday schedule, that sends the message that those holidays are the most important ones.  Obviously I believe the Church festivals should take precedence.  We can have a day of appreciation for our veterans (11/11), but we do it on Martinmas, who would be a good patron for veterans.  In fact that would be a good way to frame it.  Show appreciation for our veterans on the feast day of their patron saint.  Or something to that effect.

Mr. Storck goes on to discuss how the Christmas Holiday we celebrate as a nation is really a fundamentally different Christmas than the one on the Church calendar.  Now, almost twenty years later, in the time of “Happy Holidays” we can seen plainly that he was right.  He continues with this (emphasis added):

Our secular world does not blink an eye for the feast of our Lord’s Ascension or of our Blessed Lady’s Assumption or Immaculate Conception, let alone the patron feast of our parish or town. But if we are to be faithful Catholics, then it is right for us, as much as we conveniently can, to observe these feasts. Within families, apostolic groups, a neighborhood here and there, things can be done. For starters, have a real Christmas party, i.e., a party sometime between the evening of December 24 and the Epiphany. Invite people, shock some of them. And, of course, refuse, as much as is consistent with keeping your job, to attend Christmas parties that desecrate Advent. Be militant. Do not conform. Make the true Faith and its expression the most important thing.

This is why I decided to allocate my vacation time for the observance the Church’s holidays.  I’m tired of letting the secular world dictate the days that receive reverence.  Of course we can go to mass on Holy days around our work schedule.  But in practical terms, it hard to get in the spirit of a certain festival if there in no actual festivity to accompany it.  I admit that I am usually more excited about the 4th of July than about The Ascension.  Why?  Because I get a long weekend on the 4th of July.  Well this year I am going to take a long weekend for Ascension.

Finally, what I think is a very interesting point to end the article (emphasis added):

Some might think that because the Church is in such a mess we should concentrate just on getting people to believe the Creeds and observe the basics of God’s law. But I do not think this is so. Certainly the Creeds and the Commandments are primary, but if the full practice of the Faith is to spread, then it must be practiced in its fullness. We cannot wait for the problems in the Church to be solved (they will never be entirely solved anyway) to begin our own small efforts at restoration. We must do whatever we can to make our lives and our families integrally Catholic.

I used to be among those who think we should focus on the creeds and basics of morality.  I was into apologetics then, and I was pretty sure you should be able to convert anybody with a sound, rational, argument.  But the fact is, almost nobody converts for intellectual reasons.  Most people simply don’t have the inclination to think things through thoroughly enough.  It’s really the example people see that has the most impact.  For the most part, argumentation is futile.  But living out our Catholic faith in our daily lives?  That might catch some people’s attention.