“Now when they heard [Peter’s preaching] they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).
When the people heard Peter and the apostles preaching about Christ, they instinctively asked, “What shall we do?” Over the centuries, the Church has given answers to this question, adapting the unchangeable elements of the Christian vocation to the pastoral requirements of each age. In our times, the responses to this question are summed up in what have come to be known as “The Precepts of the Church,” which are derived from Catholicism’s moral and doctrinal foundations. The Cathechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 2041-2043, lists five precepts of the Church, listed and briefly discussed below.
Attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation, and rest from servile labor.
Weekly Sunday Mass is obligatory for all Catholics. There are very few factors that might excuse Sunday Mass attendance, such as personal illness or serious infirmity, the need to attend to someone suffering from the same, significant travel, or certain jobs affecting public safety or welfare.
Confess your sins at least once a year.
Catholics above the age of discretion (about seven years of age) are required to confess their grave sins to a priest at least once per year, at any time during the year.
Receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
This reception of the Eucharist can take place any time in the Easter season, from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday (after Pentecost).
Observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
On Fridays in Lent Catholics, aged 14 and older, are bound to abstain from meat. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics aged 18 to 59 inclusive, are also bound to fast, by taking only one full meal and two smaller meals (together not to equal the one full meal), with no snacking between the meals.
Help provide for the needs of the Church.
The Church leaves to individual Catholics the right to determine precisely when and how they will assist with the temporal needs of the Church. However, the lack of specificity in Church law should not be taken as a sign that it may be ignored. Sunday collections, annual appeals, spontaneous offerings, bequests and wills, and so on are all ways that Catholics have to satisfy this precept of support.
