Holiday Obligation

Yesterday was December 8, the feast day of the Immaculate Concepcion, a holiday of obligation for the Roman Catholics. The occassion marks the concepcion of Mary without any stain of original sin in her mother’s womb.

What’s so funny is, despite a lot of us going to Catholic schools, we still do not understand what it means. Case in point: When my sophomore year theology teacher asked the whole class to name the main characters in the Immaculate Concepcion, almost everyone answered incorrectly, me included. We all said that it was Jesus, Mary and Joseph, which is wrong. Out of roughly 30 people in the class, only one soul answered correctly – it’s St. Anne, St. Joaquim and Mary. What an eye-opener!

As to how we should greet each other for this day, I really don’t know. For the other holidays of obligation, which are December 25 and January 1, we can say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year”, respectively, but for December 8, it’s definitely not “Happy Birthday”.

Aha! I think I got it.

Happy Way to go, Saints Joaquim and Anne day, everyone!

Entry Two
On a related entry to the Immaculate Concepcion, let me share to you this story.

I think I was still in high school then. I was in Batangas for the summer, and so I brought my CD collection with me.

My mom and her amigas friends from her church group, the Legion of Mary, were going to a function somewhere. The Pajero, which was still new then, had a six-disc CD changer.

While I was asleep, she went through my collection looking for something they could listen to on the way. Of course what would be a better choice other than the holiest of albums – Madonna’s Immaculate Collection.

Ayus!