For just the same reason that the government has legal holidays.  What would the people of this country know or think at the present time about the Declaration of Independence, and all connected with it, if they did not celebrate from childhood every year, on the Fourth of July, the great day on which their forefathers claimed to be free and independent from the nation that was persecuting them?  The Fourth of July keeps alive in our memory the struggles of our ancestors of one hundred years or more ago—­their great battles, their sufferings and triumph, the blessings they secured for us, and for which we praise them.  In like manner, the feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord keeps us in mind of the sad condition in which we were before Our Lord redeemed us, and how He liberated us from the slavery of the devil and secured for us so many wonderful blessings.  Again, what would we remember about George Washington if we did not celebrate his birthday?  That holiday keeps before our minds the life and actions of that great man and all he did for our benefit.  So, too, when we celebrate every year the feast of a saint in the Church, it keeps before our minds his works and all that he did for God and the Church, and makes us anxious to imitate his virtues.  On every day in the year the Church honors some mystery of our holy faith or some saint by saying Mass all over the world in honor of the feast, and by obliging the priests and bishops to say the divine office for the same purpose.  The feast-day of a saint is generally the day on which he died; because that is considered the day on which he entered into Heaven—­the day on which he was born into the new world.

The “divine office” is a collection of prayers, hymns, lessons, and psalms which every priest and bishop must read every day of his life.  As it is said each day in honor of some particular mystery or saint, the greater part of it differs for each day.  The prayers are to God, asking some grace or blessing in honor of the saint—­generally such graces as were granted to the saint.  The hymns are in the saint’s honor; the lessons are parts of the Holy Scripture, or an account of the saint’s life; and the psalms are those beautiful poems that King David composed and sang to God.  The divine office is the prayer of the universal Church for its children, and if a priest neglects to say it he commits a mortal sin.  It takes about an hour to say the whole divine office, but it is not intended to be said all at once.  It is so divided that it is said at three times in the day.  The part called “Matins” and “Lauds” is said very early in the morning and before Mass.  The part called “Little Hours” is said later in the day; and the part called “Vespers” and “Compline” is said in the afternoon.  See, therefore, how anxious the Church is for the good of its children, when it makes its bishops, priests, and religious pray daily for all the faithful, and send up in one voice the same prayer to the throne of God.