Religion & Spirituality Articles

Article / Updated 07-14-2022

On holy days of obligation, Catholics are obliged to participate in Mass. Every Sunday is a holy day of obligation, as are six other days throughout the year. In the United States, these holy days of obligation are January 1: The Feast of Mary, the Mother of God 40 days after Easter Sunday: Ascension Thursday August 15: Assumption of Mary into heaven November 1: All Saints’ Day December 8: The Feast of the Immaculate Conception December 25: Christmas, the Nativity of Our Lord Holy days are like Sundays in that Catholics must attend Mass, and if possible, refrain from unnecessary servile work. Some Catholic countries, such as Italy, Spain, and Ireland, give legal holiday status to some of these holy days, so people can attend Mass and be with family instead of at work. In the United States, Christmas Day (December 25) and the Immaculate Conception (December 8) are always days of obligation. Christmas and Easter (which always falls on Sunday) are the highest-ranking holy days, and the Immaculate Conception is the feast for the United States. However, if any of the other holy days falls on a Saturday or Monday, they aren’t considered holy days of obligation, because they’re back-to-back with Sunday. The concern is that it would be burdensome to many Catholics to have to go to church two days in a row. To make things even more confusing, some parts of the United States have moved holy days, such as the Ascension from Thursday to the closest Sunday. If in doubt, it’s best to call the local Catholic parish or just go to Mass anyway. Attending Mass is never a waste of time, even if it ends up not being a holy day of obligation. Europe has four more holy days than the United States observes: January 6 (Epiphany), March 19 (St. Joseph), Corpus Christi (Thursday after Trinity Sunday, which is the Sunday after Pentecost, which is 50 days after Easter), and the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul (June 29).

Article / Updated 06-15-2022

According to Exodus in the Old Testament, God issued his own set of laws (the Ten Commandments) to Moses on Mount Sinai. In Basic Beliefs of Catholicism, the Ten Commandments are considered divine law because God himself revealed them. And because they were spelled out specifically with no room for ambiguity, they’re also positive law. That's why they’re also known as divine positive law. The Church doesn’t see the Ten Commandments as arbitrary rules and regulations from the man upstairs but as commandments for protection. Obey them and eternal happiness is yours. Disobey them and suffer the consequences. For more, take a look at the Catholicism For Dummies Cheat Sheet. The Ten Commandments are: “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any gods before Me.” This commandment forbids idolatry, the worship of false gods and goddesses, and it prohibits polytheism, the belief in many gods, insisting instead on monotheism, the belief in one God. This commandment forbids making golden calves, building temples to Isis, and worshipping statues of Caesar, for example. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The faithful are required to honor the name of God. It makes sense that if you’re to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then you’re naturally to respect the name of God with equal passion and vigor. “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.” The Jewish celebration of Sabbath (Shabbat) begins at sundown on Friday evening and lasts until sundown on Saturday. Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians go to church on Sunday, treating it as the Lord’s Day instead of Saturday to honor the day Christ rose from the dead. “Honor thy father and mother.” This commandment obliges the faithful to show respect for their parents — as children and adults. Children must obey their parents, and adults must respect and see to the care of their parents when they become old and infirm. “Thou shalt not kill.” The better translation from the Hebrew would be “Thou shalt not murder” — a subtle distinction but an important one to the Church. Killing an innocent person is considered murder. Killing an unjust aggressor to preserve your own life is still killing, but it isn’t considered murder or immoral. “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” The sixth and ninth commandments honor human sexuality. This commandment forbids the actual, physical act of having immoral sexual activity, specifically adultery, which is sex with someone else’s spouse or a spouse cheating on their partner. This commandment also includes fornication, which is sex between unmarried people, prostitution, pornography, homosexual activity, masturbation, group sex, rape, incest, pedophilia, bestiality, and necrophilia. “Thou shalt not steal.” The seventh and tenth commandments focus on respecting and honoring the possessions of others. This commandment forbids the act of taking someone else’s property. The Catholic Church believes that this commandment also denounces cheating people of their money or property, depriving workers of their just wage, or not giving employers a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. Embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion, and vandalism are all considered extensions of violations of the Seventh Commandment. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” The Eighth Commandment condemns lying. Because God is regarded as the author of all truth, the Church believes that humans are obligated to honor the truth. The most obvious way to fulfill this commandment is not to lie — intentionally deceive another by speaking a falsehood. So a good Catholic is who you want to buy a used car from. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.” The Ninth Commandment forbids the intentional desire and longing for immoral sexuality. To sin in the heart, Jesus says, is to lust after a woman or a man in your heart with the desire and will to have immoral sex with them. Just as human life is a gift from God and needs to be respected, defended, and protected, so, too, is human sexuality. Catholicism regards human sexuality as a divine gift, so it’s considered sacred in the proper context: marriage. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.” The Tenth Commandment forbids the wanting or taking of someone else’s property. Along with the Seventh Commandment, this commandment condemns theft and the feelings of envy, greed, and jealousy in reaction to what other people have.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-25-2022

If you want to use astrology to understand yourself and others, you need to know the astrological basics and what they represent: the 12 signs of the zodiac; the sun, the moon, and the planets; and the 12 houses of the horoscope.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-13-2022

While saying the prayers of the Rosary, Catholics meditate on what are called the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. But saying the mysteries is really no mystery at all, because each so-called mystery refers to a different passage in the life of Christ or Mary, his mother. Each decade (an Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and a Glory Be) recalls a different mystery.

Article / Updated 03-31-2022

At the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, families break the fast and celebrate during a three-day festival called Eid al-Fitr (Eid means "recurring event,"and Fitr means "break"). It is also known as HariRaya Puasa in Southeast Asia and Seker Bayrami in Turkey. Greetings of "Eid-Mubarak!" ("A Blessed Eid!") fill the air. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated during the months of April and May. The dates change every year in the Gregorian calendar (also known as the Western or Christian calendar) because Muslims, for religious matters, use a lunar calendar -- one that follows the phases of the moon. Within the Islamic calendar, the holiday takes place during the ninth month of the year. Although festivities include family gatherings, new clothes, and feasting, a strong focus remains on giving alms. Charity, especially to the poor and needy, is central to Islam, as represented by its inclusion in the Five Pillars of Islam (the basic tenets of the religion). An economically self-sufficient Muslim is expected to give alms in an act called zakat in Arabic. Giving to charity shows that one's faith in Allah is true and that material possessions do not control his or her life. Eid al-Fitr follows specific Islamic concepts In Islam, this "charity" isn't so much giving because of sympathy for a cause or because of a catastrophe. Rather, it's a regular, sacrificial giving (much like charitable offerings at church) that — in addition to helping the needy — reaffirms the following Islamic ideas: Everything belongs to Allah, even those material possessions that people think they own. By sacrificing these things for the sake of Allah, people are just giving things back to their rightful owner. Nothing should be hoarded. Society works best when things — including money and resources — flow naturally. By giving things away that you don't need or use, you give people who can use them or may need them the opportunity to do so. In this way, you save yourself from greed, and you prevent envy and jealousy in others. Islam also developed another element of charity called waqf. The waqf is a way of endowing money or land to be devoted to the maintenance of mosques, shrines, schools, hospitals, and other public works in Muslim lands.

Article / Updated 03-31-2022

Bar none, Easter is the single most important holy day of the Christian Church. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the central event in Christianity. To Christians, the resurrection backs up Jesus’ claim that he had the authority to die for the sins of the world and the power to come back to life again. It also gives hope to Christians that they too will experience a resurrected life in heaven. The exact day of the year that Easter falls on is very confusing, and the logic seems pretty old-fashioned in this digital age; it’s based on the lunar calendar and tied to the start of the solar spring. But the Western Church (Catholic and Protestant) continues to observe it based on the rules of long ago — that it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21 (the vernal equinox). It can’t come before March 22 or after April 25. In contrast, Orthodox Churches wanted to tie Easter to Jewish Passover, given the relationship between Passover and the day of Christ’s resurrection. Because the Jewish calendar determines the date that Jews celebrate Passover, Easter for Orthodox Churches can vary by as much as five weeks from the Western Church. No one knows for certain where the term Easter came from, but one theory is that it’s derived from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, who was connected with fertility and spring. If so, Christians named their high holy day Easter aiming to replace the pagan celebration of spring with their own holiday — like they did with Christmas. Easter is also often known as Pasch, which comes from the Hebrew word Pesach, meaning “Passover.” Some Protestants prefer to call it simply Resurrection Day to remove the commercialized baggage that they see associated with Easter. In addition, the Easter bunny has pagan origins and has no real connection with the Christian celebration, although some churches use eggs as a metaphor for the new life Christians receive because of the Resurrection.

Article / Updated 03-29-2022

Passover is both the most-celebrated Jewish holiday of the year and the holiday voted most likely to elicit a groan. People groan when they consider Passover's dietary requirements. They groan when they think of all the preparations. They even groan when they remember how much they overate during Passover last year. But the real irony behind the moaning, groaning, and kvetching is that in some ways this is exactly what you’re supposed to feel at this time of year. Passover is a celebration of spring, of birth and rebirth, of a journey from slavery to freedom, and of taking responsibility for yourself, the community, and the world. However, strangely enough, none of this taking of responsibility gets done without groaning. It was with groaning that the Hebrews expressed the pain of their ancient enslavement in Egypt more than 3,300 years ago. It was with groaning that they called attention to their plight. So groan, already! The Torah states that Jews are to observe Passover for seven days, beginning on the 15th of the Jewish month Nisan (usually in April). The first night always includes a special seder (ritual dinner). Plus, traditional Jews outside of Israel don’t work on either the first two or the last two days of the seven-day period. Outside of Israel, Jews celebrate a second seder on the second night of Passover. You can think of Passover as honoring the renewal of the sun (it’s always on the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox), or a time to step firmly into springtime. You can also think of Passover as celebrating the Jewish people’s “birth certificate” and “Declaration of Independence.” Or you can think of it as memorializing something that God did for the Jews 3,300 years ago. However, to make any celebration or ritual truly meaningful, you must find a way to make it personal. Even Moses — and later the rabbis of the Talmud — recognized this when they instructed the Jewish people how to celebrate Passover. The key isn’t only to tell the story of the Exodus, or even to compare your life to the story of the Exodus, but to actually personalize the history: feel the feelings and experience the sensations of this journey. In this way, the Jewish people as individuals and as a people move forward. Everything a person does during Passover aids this process. Jewish people have four Hebrew names for Passover, each pointing to a particular aspect of the holiday. The most common Hebrew name is Pesach, which is usually translated as “passing over,” as the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews in Egypt. (Killing the Egyptian first-born was the tenth plague, and it convinced the Pharaoh to release the Hebrews from slavery.) But there are three more Hebrew names for Passover: Chag Ha-matzot (“Festival of Unleavened Breads”), Z’man Cheiruteinu (“The Time of Liberation”), and Chag Ha-aviv (“Festival of Spring”).

Article / Updated 03-29-2022

The Christian season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and lasts for 40 days. Catholics and members of some Protestant denominations are asked to do modest mortifications and acts of penance during Lent for the purification of the body and soul. Lent is a time of confession, fasting, abstinence, prayer, Bible and spiritual reading, and spiritual and corporal works of mercy. It culminates at Easter when Christ rose triumphant from the dead. The tradition of Ash Wednesday in the Catholic Church is a poignant reminder that our bodies will die someday and turn to dust. A priest places ashes on parishioners' foreheads to remind them of their mortality and the need for repentance. The words spoken as the ashes are imposed on the forehead are from Genesis 3:19: "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." So ashes on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, are religious reminders, just like holy water and palms on Palm Sunday. Catholics are also expected to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday.

Article / Updated 03-29-2022

Christians observe Palm Sunday on the Sunday before Easter, celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The reason they call it Palm Sunday stems from the fact that when Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, a large crowd of people in the city spread out palm branches on the ground before him as a sign of his kingship. Throughout Jesus’ three-year ministry, he downplayed his role as Messiah and sometimes even told people whom he healed not to say anything about the miracle to others. Palm Sunday is the one exception in which his followers loudly proclaimed his glory to all. Today, Christians often celebrate Palm Sunday in a joyous, triumphant manner during worship services, emphasizing the glory of Jesus Christ. Some churches spread palm branches at the front of the sanctuary as a way to commemorate the event. Some even take the time (often during church school) to walk a real-live donkey around town while waving palm fronds as their own "announcement" to the community about the coming of Jesus Christ.

Article / Updated 03-29-2022

Within the midst of the Easter season, Maundy Thursday — the Thursday before Easter — is one Christian holy day that many Christians and even many churches often overlook, yet it symbolizes a critically important truth of the Christian faith: Jesus as a suffering servant and the call for his followers to do the same. It also draws a connection between the Passover sacrifice, a Jewish tradition, and Jesus Christ’s sacrificial role on the cross. The night before Jesus was crucified, he had a Passover supper with his disciples. (Passover is a Jewish holy day that celebrates God’s deliverance of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt.) After supper, Jesus knew that this would be his final opportunity to instruct his disciples before the crucifixion, so he talked at length about his purposes, what his followers should do in response, and the promise of the Holy Spirit to come. He then washed his disciples’ feet in an incredible demonstration of humility and servanthood. Finally, he gave bread and wine to his disciples and asked them to partake of it in remembrance of him. The act of partaking bread and wine is called Communion (or the Last Supper) today. The word Maundy (pronounced MAWN-dee) comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means “command.” The command that this holy day refers to is the one that Jesus gave to his disciples during the Last Supper: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34–35 Along this line, many churches perform foot-washing services on Maundy Thursday as a way to remember Jesus’ command. During the Middle Ages, the holy day was sometimes called Shere Thursday; shere means “pure.” In England during this time, bearded men found another reason for that name when they sheared their beards on Maundy Thursday as a symbol of the cleansing of body and soul before Easter.