By the First Commandment, we are commanded, in the first place, to keep holy the Sundays and the Holydays which the Church has instituted in honor of our Lord and of His Saints, by resting from servile work.
As in the Old Law, on certain occasions — for instance, after the victory gained by the Jews over Holofernes (Judith xvi. 31), and over Aman (Esther ix.) — festivals were instituted in memory of the blessings received from God; so also has the Christian Church, in different times, most justly commanded that several Holydays or anniversaries should be celebrated in honor of Jesus Christ, of His glorious Mother, and of the Saints, His glorified friends.
2. For what purpose were the Feasts of Our Lord instituted? certificates
They were instituted that we should, 1. Devoutly meditate on the mysteries of our Redemption; 2. Thank God for His graces; and 3. Renew our zeal in serving Him, and thus render ourselves worthy of the fruits of Redemption.
In the course of each Ecclesiastical Year, the whole life of Jesus Christ is so represented to us in its principal parts as if the mysteries which we commemorate were renewed before our eyes. Therefore it is the intention of the Church that we should every year contemplate with her the life of Christ from its beginning to its end. In Advent we should, by repentance and longing expectation, prepare the way for the coming of our Redeemer into our hearts; in Lent we should, by penance and mortification, participate in His sufferings, die to sin, and spiritually rise with Him to a new life at Easter. At the approach of the Feast of Pentecost we should ardently long for the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and then continually endeavor to co-operate with the graces received.
3. Why were the Feasts of the Saints instituted?
That we may, 1. Praise the Lord for the graces which He has bestowed upon them, and, through them, upon us also; 2. Represent to our mind their exemplary virtues upon earth and their eternal bliss in Heaven, and resolve to imitate them; and 3. Implore their intercession with God.
