APOSTOLIC LETTER
DIES DOMINI
OF THE HOLY FATHER
JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY AND FAITHFUL
ON KEEPING THE LORD'S DAY HOLY
My esteemed Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. The Lord's Day — as Sunday was called from Apostolic times(1) —
has always been accorded special attention in the history of the Church
because of its close connection with the very core of the Christian
mystery. In fact, in the weekly reckoning of time Sunday recalls the day of
Christ's Resurrection. It is Easter which returns week by week,
celebrating Christ's victory over sin and death, the fulfilment in him of the
first creation and the dawn of "the new creation" (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). It is the
day which recalls in grateful adoration the world's first day and looks
forward in active hope to "the last day", when Christ will come in glory (cf.
Acts 1:11; 1 Th 4:13-17) and all things will be made new (cf. Rev 21:5).
Rightly, then, the Psalmist's cry is applied to Sunday: "This is the day
which the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps 118:24).
This invitation to joy, which the Easter liturgy makes its own, reflects the
astonishment which came over the women who, having seen the crucifixion
of Christ, found the tomb empty when they went there "very early on the
first day after the Sabbath" (Mk 16:2). It is an invitation to relive in some
way the experience of the two disciples of Emmaus, who felt their hearts
"burn within them" as the Risen One walked with them on the road,
explaining the Scriptures and revealing himself in "the breaking of the
bread" (cf. Lk 24:32,35). And it echoes the joy — at first uncertain and
then overwhelming — which the Apostles experienced on the evening of
that same day, when they were visited by the Risen Jesus and received the
gift of his peace and of his Spirit (cf. Jn 20:19-23).
2. The Resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental event upon which
Christian faith rests (cf. 1 Cor 15:14). It is an astonishing reality, fully
grasped in the light of faith, yet historically attested to by those who were
privileged to see the Risen Lord. It is a wondrous event which is not only
absolutely unique in human history, but which lies at the very heart of the
mystery of time. In fact, "all time belongs to [Christ] and all the ages", as
the evocative liturgy of the Easter Vigil recalls in preparing the Paschal
Candle. Therefore, in commemorating the day of Christ's Resurrection not
just once a year but every Sunday, the Church seeks to indicate to every
generation the true fulcrum of history, to which the mystery of the world's
origin and its final destiny leads.
It is right, therefore, to claim, in the words of a fourth century homily, that
"the Lord's Day" is "the lord of days".(2) Those who have received the
grace of faith in the Risen Lord cannot fail to grasp the significance of this
day of the week with the same deep emotion which led Saint Jerome to
say: "Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, it is the day of Christians, it is
our day".(3) For Christians, Sunday is "the fundamental feastday",(4)
established not only to mark the succession of time but to reveal time's
deeper meaning.
3. The fundamental importance of Sunday has been recognized through
two thousand years of history and was emphatically restated by the
Second Vatican Council: "Every seven days, the Church celebrates the
Easter mystery. This is a tradition going back to the Apostles, taking its
origin from the actual day of Christ's Resurrection — a day thus
appropriately designated 'the Lord's Day'."(5) Paul VI emphasized this
importance once more when he approved the new General Roman
Calendar and the Universal Norms which regulate the ordering of the
Liturgical Year.(6) The coming of the Third Millennium, which calls
believers to reflect upon the course of history in the light of Christ, also
invites them to rediscover with new intensity the meaning of Sunday: its
"mystery", its celebration, its significance for Christian and human life.
I note with pleasure that in the years since the Council this important theme
has prompted not only many interventions by you, dear Brother Bishops,
as teachers of the faith, but also different pastoral strategies which — with
the support of your clergy — you have developed either individually or
jointly. On the threshold of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, it has been
my wish to offer you this Apostolic Letter in order to support your
pastoral efforts in this vital area. But at the same time I wish to turn to all
of you, Christ's faithful, as though I were spiritually present in all the
communities in which you gather with your Pastors each Sunday to
celebrate the Eucharist and "the Lord's Day". Many of the insights and
intuitions which prompt this Apostolic Letter have grown from my
episcopal service in Krakow and, since the time when I assumed the
ministry of Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter, in the visits to the
Roman parishes which I have made regularly on the Sundays of the
different seasons of the Liturgical Year. I see this Letter as continuing the
lively exchange which I am always happy to have with the faithful, as I
reflect with you on the meaning of Sunday and underline the reasons for
living Sunday as truly "the Lord's Day", also in the changing circumstances
of our own times.
4. Until quite recently, it was easier in traditionally Christian countries to
keep Sunday holy because it was an almost universal practice and
because, even in the organization of civil society, Sunday rest was
considered a fixed part of the work schedule. Today, however, even in
those countries which give legal sanction to the festive character of
Sunday, changes in socioeconomic conditions have often led to profound
modifications of social behaviour and hence of the character of Sunday.
The custom of the "weekend" has become more widespread, a weekly
period of respite, spent perhaps far from home and often involving
participation in cultural, political or sporting activities which are usually
held on free days. This social and cultural phenomenon is by no means
without its positive aspects if, while respecting true values, it can contribute
to people's development and to the advancement of the life of society as a
whole. All of this responds not only to the need for rest, but also to the
need for celebration which is inherent in our humanity. Unfortunately, when
Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of a
"weekend", it can happen that people stay locked within a horizon so
limited that they can no longer see "the heavens".(7) Hence, though ready
to celebrate, they are really incapable of doing so.
The disciples of Christ, however, are asked to avoid any confusion
between the celebration of Sunday, which should truly be a way of
keeping the Lord's Day holy, and the "weekend", understood as a time of
simple rest and relaxation. This will require a genuine spiritual maturity,
which will enable Christians to "be what they are", in full accordance with
the gift of faith, always ready to give an account of the hope which is in
them (cf. 1 Pt 3:15). In this way, they will be led to a deeper
understanding of Sunday, with the result that, even in difficult situations,
they will be able to live it in complete docility to the Holy Spirit.
5. From this perspective, the situation appears somewhat mixed. On the
one hand, there is the example of some young Churches, which show how
fervently Sunday can be celebrated, whether in urban areas or in widely
scattered villages. By contrast, in other parts of the world, because of the
sociological pressures already noted, and perhaps because the motivation
of faith is weak, the percentage of those attending the Sunday liturgy is
strikingly low. In the minds of many of the faithful, not only the sense of the
centrality of the Eucharist but even the sense of the duty to give thanks to
the Lord and to pray to him with others in the community of the Church,
seems to be diminishing.
It is also true that both in mission countries and in countries evangelized
long ago the lack of priests is such that the celebration of the Sunday
Eucharist cannot always be guaranteed in every community.
6. Given this array of new situations and the questions which they prompt,
it seems more necessary than ever to recover the deep doctrinal
foundations underlying the Church's precept, so that the abiding value of
Sunday in the Christian life will be clear to all the faithful. In doing this, we
follow in the footsteps of the age-old tradition of the Church, powerfully
restated by the Second Vatican Council in its teaching that on Sunday
"Christian believers should come together, in order to commemorate the
suffering, Resurrection and glory of the Lord Jesus, by hearing God's
Word and sharing the Eucharist, and to give thanks to God who has given
them new birth to a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead (cf. 1 Pt 1:3)".(8)
7. The duty to keep Sunday holy, especially by sharing in the Eucharist
and by relaxing in a spirit of Christian joy and fraternity, is easily
understood if we consider the many different aspects of this day upon
which the present Letter will focus our attention.
Sunday is a day which is at the very heart of the Christian life. From the
beginning of my Pontificate, I have not ceased to repeat: "Do not be
afraid! Open, open wide the doors to Christ!".(9) In the same way, today
I would strongly urge everyone to rediscover Sunday: Do not be afraid
to give your time to Christ! Yes, let us open our time to Christ, that he
may cast light upon it and give it direction. He is the One who knows the
secret of time and the secret of eternity, and he gives us "his day" as an
ever new gift of his love. The rediscovery of this day is a grace which we
must implore, not only so that we may live the demands of faith to the full,
but also so that we may respond concretely to the deepest human
yearnings. Time given to Christ is never time lost, but is rather time gained,
so that our relationships and indeed our whole life may become more
profoundly human.
CHAPTER I
DIES DOMINI
The Celebration of the Creator's Work
"Through him all things were made" (Jn 1:3)
8. For the Christian, Sunday is above all an Easter celebration, wholly
illumined by the glory of the Risen Christ. It is the festival of the "new
creation". Yet, when understood in depth, this aspect is inseparable from
what the first pages of Scripture tell us of the plan of God in the creation of
the world. It is true that the Word was made flesh in "the fullness of time"
(Gal 4:4); but it is also true that, in virtue of the mystery of his identity as
the eternal Son of the Father, he is the origin and end of the universe. As
John writes in the Prologue of his Gospel: "Through him all things were
made, and without him was made nothing that was made" (1:3). Paul too
stresses this in writing to the Colossians: "In him all things were created, in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible .... All things were created
through him and for him" (1:16). This active presence of the Son in the
creative work of God is revealed fully in the Paschal Mystery, in which
Christ, rising as "the first fruits of those who had fallen asleep" (1 Cor
15:20), established the new creation and began the process which he
himself will bring to completion when he returns in glory to "deliver the
kingdom to God the Father ..., so that God may be everything to
everyone" (1 Cor 15:24,28).
Already at the dawn of creation, therefore, the plan of God implied
Christ's "cosmic mission". This Christocentric perspective, embracing the
whole arc of time, filled God's well-pleased gaze when, ceasing from all
his work, he "blessed the seventh day and made it holy" (Gn 2:3).
According to the Priestly writer of the first biblical creation story, then was
born the "Sabbath", so characteristic of the first Covenant, and which in
some ways foretells the sacred day of the new and final Covenant. The
theme of "God's rest" (cf. Gn 2:2) and the rest which he offered to the
people of the Exodus when they entered the Promised Land (cf. Ex
33:14; Dt 3:20; 12:9; Jos 21:44; Ps 95:11) is re-read in the New
Testament in the light of the definitive "Sabbath rest" (Heb 4:9) into which
Christ himself has entered by his Resurrection. The People of God are
called to enter into this same rest by persevering in Christ's example of
filial obedience (cf. Heb 4:3-16). In order to grasp fully the meaning of
Sunday, therefore, we must re-read the great story of creation and deepen
our understanding of the theology of the "Sabbath".
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gn 1:1)
9. The poetic style of the Genesis story conveys well the awe which
people feel before the immensity of creation and the resulting sense of
adoration of the One who brought all things into being from nothing. It is a
story of intense religious significance, a hymn to the Creator of the
universe, pointing to him as the only Lord in the face of recurring
temptations to divinize the world itself. At the same time, it is a hymn to the
goodness of creation, all fashioned by the mighty and merciful hand of
God.
"God saw that it was good" (Gn 1:10,12, etc.). Punctuating the story as it
does, this refrain sheds a positive light upon every element of the
universe and reveals the secret for a proper understanding of it and for its
eventual regeneration: the world is good insofar as it remains tied to its
origin and, after being disfigured by sin, it is again made good when, with
the help of grace, it returns to the One who made it. It is clear that this
process directly concerns not inanimate objects and animals but human
beings, who have been endowed with the incomparable gift and risk of
freedom. Immediately after the creation stories, the Bible highlights the
dramatic contrast between the grandeur of man, created in the image and
likeness of God, and the fall of man, which unleashes on the world the
darkness of sin and death (cf. Gn 3).
10. Coming as it does from the hand of God, the cosmos bears the imprint
of his goodness. It is a beautiful world, rightly moving us to admiration and
delight, but also calling for cultivation and development. At the
"completion" of God's work, the world is ready for human activity. "On
the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested
on the seventh day from all his work which he had done" (Gn 2:2). With
this anthropomorphic image of God's "work", the Bible not only gives us a
glimpse of the mysterious relationship between the Creator and the
created world, but also casts light upon the task of human beings in
relation to the cosmos. The "work" of God is in some ways an exemple for
man, called not only to inhabit the cosmos, but also to "build" it and thus
become God's "co-worker". As I wrote in my Encyclical Laborem
Exercens, the first chapters of Genesis constitute in a sense the first
"gospel of work".(10) This is a truth which the Second Vatican Council
also stressed: "Created in God's image, man was commissioned to subdue
the earth and all it contains, to rule the world in justice and holiness, and,
recognizing God as the creator of all things, to refer himself and the totality
of things to God so that with everything subject to God, the divine name
would be glorified in all the earth".(11)
The exhilarating advance of science, technology and culture in their various
forms — an ever more rapid and today even overwhelming development
— is the historical consequence of the mission by which God entrusts to
man and woman the task and responsibility of filling the earth and subduing
it by means of their work, in the observance of God's Law.
"Shabbat": the Creator's joyful rest
11. If the first page of the Book of Genesis presents God's "work" as an
exemple for man, the same is true of God's "rest":"On the seventh day
God finished his work which he had done" (Gn 2:2). Here too we find an
anthropomorphism charged with a wealth of meaning.
It would be banal to interpret God's "rest" as a kind of divine "inactivity".
By its nature, the creative act which founds the world is unceasing and
God is always at work, as Jesus himself declares in speaking of the
Sabbath precept: "My Father is working still, and I am working" (Jn
5:17). The divine rest of the seventh day does not allude to an inactive
God, but emphasizes the fullness of what has been accomplished. It
speaks, as it were, of God's lingering before the "very good" work (Gn
1:31) which his hand has wrought, in order to cast upon it a gaze full of
joyous delight. This is a "contemplative" gaze which does not look to new
accomplishments but enjoys the beauty of what has already been
achieved. It is a gaze which God casts upon all things, but in a special way
upon man, the crown of creation. It is a gaze which already discloses
something of the nuptial shape of the relationship which God wants to
establish with the creature made in his own image, by calling that creature
to enter a pact of love. This is what God will gradually accomplish, in
offering salvation to all humanity through the saving covenant made with
Israel and fulfilled in Christ. It will be the Word Incarnate, through the
eschatological gift of the Holy Spirit and the configuration of the Church as
his Body and Bride, who will extend to all humanity the offer of mercy and
the call of the Father's love.
12. In the Creator's plan, there is both a distinction and a close link
between the order of creation and the order of salvation. This is
emphasized in the Old Testament, when it links the "shabbat"
commandment not only with God's mysterious "rest" after the days of
creation (cf. Ex 20:8-11), but also with the salvation which he offers to
Israel in the liberation from the slavery of Egypt (cf. Dt 5:12-15). The
God who rests on the seventh day, rejoicing in his creation, is the same
God who reveals his glory in liberating his children from Pharaoh's
oppression. Adopting an image dear to the Prophets, one could say that in
both cases God reveals himself as the bridegroom before the bride (cf.
Hos 2:16-24; Jer 2:2; Is 54:4-8).
As certain elements of the same Jewish tradition suggest,(12) to reach the
heart of the "shabbat", of God's "rest", we need to recognize in both the
Old and the New Testament the nuptial intensity which marks the
relationship between God and his people. Hosea, for instance, puts it thus
in this marvellous passage: "I will make for you a covenant on that day
with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of
the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land;
and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me for
ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast
love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall
know the Lord" (2:18-20).
"God blessed the seventh day and made it holy" (Gn 2:3)
13. The Sabbath precept, which in the first Covenant prepares for the
Sunday of the new and eternal Covenant, is therefore rooted in the depths
of God's plan. This is why, unlike many other precepts, it is set not within
the context of strictly cultic stipulations but within the Decalogue, the "ten
words" which represent the very pillars of the moral life inscribed on the
human heart. In setting this commandment within the context of the basic
structure of ethics, Israel and then the Church declare that they consider it
not just a matter of community religious discipline but a defining and
indelible expression of our relationship with God, announced and
expounded by biblical revelation. This is the perspective within which
Christians need to rediscover this precept today. Although the precept
may merge naturally with the human need for rest, it is faith alone which
gives access to its deeper meaning and ensures that it will not become
banal and trivialized.
14. In the first place, therefore, Sunday is the day of rest because it is the
day "blessed" by God and "made holy" by him, set apart from the other
days to be, among all of them, "the Lord's Day".
In order to grasp fully what the first of the biblical creation accounts means
by keeping the Sabbath "holy", we need to consider the whole story,
which shows clearly how every reality, without exception, must be
referred back to God. Time and space belong to him. He is not the God
of one day alone, but the God of all the days of humanity.
Therefore, if God "sanctifies" the seventh day with a special blessing and
makes it "his day" par excellence, this must be understood within the
deep dynamic of the dialogue of the Covenant, indeed the dialogue of
"marriage". This is the dialogue of love which knows no interruption, yet is
never monotonous. In fact, it employs the different registers of love, from
the ordinary and indirect to those more intense, which the words of
Scripture and the witness of so many mystics do not hesitate to describe in
imagery drawn from the experience of married love.
15. All human life, and therefore all human time, must become praise of
the Creator and thanksgiving to him. But man's relationship with God also
demands times of explicit prayer, in which the relationship becomes an
intense dialogue, involving every dimension of the person. "The Lord's
Day" is the day of this relationship par excellence when men and women
raise their song to God and become the voice of all creation.
This is precisely why it is also the day of rest. Speaking vividly as it does
of "renewal" and "detachment", the interruption of the often oppressive
rhythm of work expresses the dependence of man and the cosmos upon
God. Everything belongs to God! The Lord's Day returns again and
again to declare this principle within the weekly reckoning of time. The
"Sabbath" has therefore been interpreted evocatively as a determining
element in the kind of "sacred architecture" of time which marks biblical
revelation.(13) It recalls that the universe and history belong to God;
and without a constant awareness of that truth, man cannot serve in the
world as co-worker of the Creator.
To "keep holy" by "remembering"
16. The commandment of the Decalogue by which God decrees the
Sabbath observance is formulated in the Book of Exodus in a distinctive
way: "Remember the Sabbath day in order to keep it holy" (20:8). And
the inspired text goes on to give the reason for this, recalling as it does the
work of God: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" (v. 11). Before decreeing that
something be done, the commandment urges that something be
remembered. It is a call to awaken remembrance of the grand and
fundamental work of God which is creation, a remembrance which must
inspire the entire religious life of man and then fill the day on which man is
called to rest. Rest therefore acquires a sacred value: the faithful are called
to rest not only as God rested, but to rest in the Lord, bringing the entire
creation to him, in praise and thanksgiving, intimate as a child and friendly
as a spouse.
17. The connection between Sabbath rest and the theme of "remembering"
God's wonders is found also in the Book of Deuteronomy (5:12-15),
where the precept is grounded less in the work of creation than in the
work of liberation accomplished by God in the Exodus: "You shall
remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your
God brought you out from there with mighty hand and outstretched arm;
therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day"
(Dt 5:15).
This formulation complements the one we have already seen; and taken
together, the two reveal the meaning of "the Lord's Day" within a single
theological vision which fuses creation and salvation. Therefore, the main
point of the precept is not just any kind of interruption of work, but the
celebration of the marvels which God has wrought.
Insofar as this "remembrance" is alive, full of thanksgiving and of the
praise of God, human rest on the Lord's Day takes on its full meaning. It
is then that man enters the depths of God's "rest" and can experience a
tremor of the Creator's joy when, after the creation, he saw that all he had
made "was very good" (Gn 1:31).
From the Sabbath to Sunday
18. Because the Third Commandment depends upon the remembrance of
God's saving works and because Christians saw the definitive time
inaugurated by Christ as a new beginning, they made the first day after the
Sabbath a festive day, for that was the day on which the Lord rose from
the dead. The Paschal Mystery of Christ is the full revelation of the
mystery of the world's origin, the climax of the history of salvation and the
anticipation of the eschatological fulfilment of the world. What God
accomplished in Creation and wrought for his People in the Exodus has
found its fullest expression in Christ's Death and Resurrection, though its
definitive fulfilment will not come until the Parousia, when Christ returns in
glory. In him, the "spiritual" meaning of the Sabbath is fully realized, as
Saint Gregory the Great declares: "For us, the true Sabbath is the person
of our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ".(14) This is why the joy with
which God, on humanity's first Sabbath, contemplates all that was created
from nothing, is now expressed in the joy with which Christ, on Easter
Sunday, appeared to his disciples, bringing the gift of peace and the gift of
the Spirit (cf. Jn 20:19-23). It was in the Paschal Mystery that humanity,
and with it the whole creation, "groaning in birth-pangs until now" (Rom
8:22), came to know its new "exodus" into the freedom of God's children
who can cry out with Christ, "Abba, Father!" (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). In the
light of this mystery, the meaning of the Old Testament precept concerning
the Lord's Day is recovered, perfected and fully revealed in the glory
which shines on the face of the Risen Christ (cf. 2 Cor 4:6). We move
from the "Sabbath" to the "first day after the Sabbath", from the seventh
day to the first day: the dies Domini becomes the dies Christi!
CHAPTER II
DIES CHRISTI
The Day of the Risen Lord
and of the Gift
of the Holy Spirit
The weekly Easter
19. "We celebrate Sunday because of the venerable Resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and we do so not only at Easter but also at each turning
of the week": so wrote Pope Innocent I at the beginning of the fifth
century,(15) testifying to an already well established practice which had
evolved from the early years after the Lord's Resurrection. Saint Basil
speaks of "holy Sunday, honoured by the Lord's Resurrection, the first
fruits of all the other days";(16) and Saint Augustine calls Sunday "a
sacrament of Easter".(17)
The intimate bond between Sunday and the Resurrection of the Lord is
strongly emphasized by all the Churches of East and West. In the tradition
of the Eastern Churches in particular, every Sunday is the anastàsimos
hemèra, the day of Resurrection,(18) and this is why it stands at the heart
of all worship.
In the light of this constant and universal tradition, it is clear that, although
the Lord's Day is rooted in the very work of creation and even more in the
mystery of the biblical "rest" of God, it is nonetheless to the Resurrection
of Christ that we must look in order to understand fully the Lord's Day.
This is what the Christian Sunday does, leading the faithful each week to
ponder and live the event of Easter, true source of the world's salvation.
20. According to the common witness of the Gospels, the Resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead took place on "the first day after the Sabbath"
(Mk 16:2,9; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1). On the same day, the Risen Lord
appeared to the two disciples of Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:13-35) and to the
eleven Apostles gathered together (cf. Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19). A week later
— as the Gospel of John recounts (cf. 20:26) — the disciples were
gathered together once again, when Jesus appeared to them and made
himself known to Thomas by showing him the signs of his Passion. The
day of Pentecost — the first day of the eighth week after the Jewish
Passover (cf. Acts 2:1), when the promise made by Jesus to the Apostles
after the Resurrection was fulfilled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (cf.
Lk 24:49; Acts 1:4-5) — also fell on a Sunday. This was the day of the
first proclamation and the first baptisms: Peter announced to the
assembled crowd that Christ was risen and "those who received his word
were baptized" (Acts 2:41). This was the epiphany of the Church,
revealed as the people into which are gathered in unity, beyond all their
differences, the scattered children of God.
The first day of the week
21. It was for this reason that, from Apostolic times, "the first day after the
Sabbath", the first day of the week, began to shape the rhythm of life for
Christ's disciples (cf. 1 Cor 16:2). "The first day after the Sabbath" was
also the day upon which the faithful of Troas were gathered "for the
breaking of bread", when Paul bade them farewell and miraculously
restored the young Eutychus to life (cf. Acts 20:7-12). The Book of
Revelation gives evidence of the practice of calling the first day of the
week "the Lord's Day" (1:10). This would now be a characteristic
distinguishing Christians from the world around them. As early as the
beginning of the second century, it was noted by Pliny the Younger,
governor of Bithynia, in his report on the Christian practice "of gathering
together on a set day before sunrise and singing among themselves a hymn
to Christ as to a god".(19) And when Christians spoke of the "Lord's
Day", they did so giving to this term the full sense of the Easter
proclamation: "Jesus Christ is Lord" (Phil 2:11; cf. Acts 2:36; 1 Cor
12:3). Thus Christ was given the same title which the Septuagint used to
translate what in the revelation of the Old Testament was the unutterable
name of God: YHWH.
22. In those early Christian times, the weekly rhythm of days was
generally not part of life in the regions where the Gospel spread, and the
festive days of the Greek and Roman calendars did not coincide with the
Christian Sunday. For Christians, therefore, it was very difficult to observe
the Lord's Day on a set day each week. This explains why the faithful had
to gather before sunrise.(20) Yet fidelity to the weekly rhythm became the
norm, since it was based upon the New Testament and was tied to Old
Testament revelation. This is eagerly underscored by the Apologists and
the Fathers of the Church in their writings and preaching where, in
speaking of the Paschal Mystery, they use the same Scriptural texts which,
according to the witness of Saint Luke (cf. 24:27, 44-47), the Risen Christ
himself would have explained to the disciples. In the light of these texts, the
celebration of the day of the Resurrection acquired a doctrinal and
symbolic value capable of expressing the entire Christian mystery in all its
newness.
Growing distinction from the Sabbath
23. It was this newness which the catechesis of the first centuries stressed
as it sought to show the prominence of Sunday relative to the Jewish
Sabbath. It was on the Sabbath that the Jewish people had to gather in the
synagogue and to rest in the way prescribed by the Law. The Apostles,
and in particular Saint Paul, continued initially to attend the synagogue so
that there they might proclaim Jesus Christ, commenting upon "the words
of the prophets which are read every Sabbath" (Acts 13:27). Some
communities observed the Sabbath while also celebrating Sunday. Soon,
however, the two days began to be distinguished ever more clearly, in
reaction chiefly to the insistence of those Christians whose origins in
Judaism made them inclined to maintain the obligation of the old Law.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch writes: "If those who were living in the former
state of things have come to a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath
but keeping the Lord's Day, the day on which our life has appeared
through him and his death ..., that mystery from which we have received
our faith and in which we persevere in order to be judged disciples of
Christ, our only Master, how could we then live without him, given that the
prophets too, as his disciples in the Spirit, awaited him as master?".(21)
Saint Augustine notes in turn: "Therefore the Lord too has placed his seal
on his day, which is the third after the Passion. In the weekly cycle,
however, it is the eighth day after the seventh, that is after the Sabbath,
and the first day of the week".(22) The distinction of Sunday from the
Jewish Sabbath grew ever stronger in the mind of the Church, even though
there have been times in history when, because the obligation of Sunday
rest was so emphasized, the Lord's Day tended to become more like the
Sabbath. Moreover, there have always been groups within Christianity
which observe both the Sabbath and Sunday as "two brother days".(23)
The day of the new creation
24. A comparison of the Christian Sunday with the Old Testament vision
of the Sabbath prompted theological insights of great interest. In particular,
there emerged the unique connection between the Resurrection and
Creation. Christian thought spontaneously linked the Resurrection, which
took place on "the first day of the week", with the first day of that cosmic
week (cf. Gn 1:1 - 2:4) which shapes the creation story in the Book of
Genesis: the day of the creation of light (cf. 1:3-5). This link invited an
understanding of the Resurrection as the beginning of a new creation, the
first fruits of which is the glorious Christ, "the first born of all creation" (Col
1:15) and "the first born from the dead" (Col 1:18).
25. In effect, Sunday is the day above all other days which summons
Christians to remember the salvation which was given to them in baptism
and which has made them new in Christ. "You were buried with him in
baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the
working of God, who raised him from the dead" (Col 2:12; cf. Rom
6:4-6). The liturgy underscores this baptismal dimension of Sunday, both
in calling for the celebration of baptisms — as well as at the Easter Vigil
— on the day of the week "when the Church commemorates the Lord's
Resurrection",(24) and in suggesting as an appropriate penitential rite at
the start of Mass the sprinkling of holy water, which recalls the moment of
Baptism in which all Christian life is born.(25)
The eighth day: image of eternity
26. By contrast, the Sabbath's position as the seventh day of the week
suggests for the Lord's Day a complementary symbolism, much loved by
the Fathers. Sunday is not only the first day, it is also "the eighth day", set
within the sevenfold succession of days in a unique and transcendent
position which evokes not only the beginning of time but also its end in "the
age to come". Saint Basil explains that Sunday symbolizes that truly
singular day which will follow the present time, the day without end which
will know neither evening nor morning, the imperishable age which will
never grow old; Sunday is the ceaseless foretelling of life without end
which renews the hope of Christians and encourages them on their
way.(26) Looking towards the last day, which fulfils completely the
eschatological symbolism of the Sabbath, Saint Augustine concludes the
Confessions describing the Eschaton as "the peace of quietness, the
peace of the Sabbath, a peace with no evening".(27) In celebrating
Sunday, both the "first" and the "eighth" day, the Christian is led towards
the goal of eternal life.(28)
The day of Christ-Light
27. This Christocentric vision sheds light upon another symbolism which
Christian reflection and pastoral practice ascribed to the Lord's Day. Wise
pastoral intuition suggested to the Church the christianization of the notion
of Sunday as "the day of the sun", which was the Roman name for the day
and which is retained in some modern languages.(29) This was in order to
draw the faithful away from the seduction of cults which worshipped the
sun, and to direct the celebration of the day to Christ, humanity's true
"sun". Writing to the pagans, Saint Justin uses the language of the time to
note that Christians gather together "on the day named after the sun",(30)
but for believers the expression had already assumed a new meaning
which was unmistakeably rooted in the Gospel.(31) Christ is the light of
the world (cf. Jn 9:5; also 1:4-5, 9), and, in the weekly reckoning of time,
the day commemorating his Resurrection is the enduring reflection of the
epiphany of his glory. The theme of Sunday as the day illuminated by the
triumph of the Risen Christ is also found in the Liturgy of the Hours(32)
and is given special emphasis in the Pannichida, the vigil which in the
Eastern liturgies prepares for Sunday. From generation to generation as
she gathers on this day, the Church makes her own the wonderment of
Zechariah as he looked upon Christ, seeing in him the dawn which gives
"light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death" (Lk
1:78-79), and she echoes the joy of Simeon when he takes in his arms the
divine Child who has come as the "light to enlighten the Gentiles" (Lk
2:32).
The day of the gift of the Spirit
28. Sunday, the day of light, could also be called the day of "fire", in
reference to the Holy Spirit. The light of Christ is intimately linked to the
"fire" of the Spirit, and the two images together reveal the meaning of the
Christian Sunday.(33) When he appeared to the Apostles on the evening
of Easter, Jesus breathed upon them and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If
you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any,
they are retained" (Jn 20:22-23). The outpouring of the Spirit was the
great gift of the Risen Lord to his disciples on Easter Sunday. It was again
Sunday when, fifty days after the Resurrection, the Spirit descended in
power, as "a mighty wind" and "fire" (Acts 2:2-3), upon the Apostles
gathered with Mary. Pentecost is not only the founding event of the
Church, but is also the mystery which for ever gives life to the Church.(34)
Such an event has its own powerful liturgical moment in the annual
celebration which concludes "the great Sunday",(35) but it also remains a
part of the deep meaning of every Sunday, because of its intimate bond
with the Paschal Mystery. The "weekly Easter" thus becomes, in a sense,
the "weekly Pentecost", when Christians relive the Apostles' joyful
encounter with the Risen Lord and receive the life-giving breath of his
Spirit.
The day of faith
29. Given these different dimensions which set it apart, Sunday appears as
the supreme day of faith. It is the day when, by the power of the Holy
Spirit, who is the Church's living "memory" (cf. Jn 14:26), the first
appearance of the Risen Lord becomes an event renewed in the "today" of
each of Christ's disciples. Gathered in his presence in the Sunday
assembly, believers sense themselves called like the Apostle Thomas: "Put
your finger here, and see my hands. Put out your hand, and place it in my
side. Doubt no longer, but believe" (Jn 20:27). Yes, Sunday is the day of
faith. This is stressed by the fact that the Sunday Eucharistic liturgy, like
the liturgy of other solemnities, includes the Profession of Faith. Recited or
sung, the Creed declares the baptismal and Paschal character of Sunday,
making it the day on which in a special way the baptized renew their
adherence to Christ and his Gospel in a rekindled awareness of their
baptismal promises. Listening to the word and receiving the Body of the
Lord, the baptized contemplate the Risen Jesus present in the "holy signs"
and confess with the Apostle Thomas: "My Lord and my God!" (Jn
20:28).
An indispensable day!
30. It is clear then why, even in our own difficult times, the identity of this
day must be protected and above all must be lived in all its depth. An
Eastern writer of the beginning of the third century recounts that as early as
then the faithful in every region were keeping Sunday holy on a regular
basis.(36) What began as a spontaneous practice later became a
juridically sanctioned norm. The Lord's Day has structured the history of
the Church through two thousand years: how could we think that it will not
continue to shape her future? The pressures of today can make it harder to
fulfil the Sunday obligation; and, with a mother's sensitivity, the Church
looks to the circumstances of each of her children. In particular, she feels
herself called to a new catechetical and pastoral commitment, in order to
ensure that, in the normal course of life, none of her children are deprived
of the rich outpouring of grace which the celebration of the Lord's Day
brings. It was in this spirit that the Second Vatican Council, making a
pronouncement on the possibility of reforming the Church calendar to
match different civil calendars, declared that the Church "is prepared to
accept only those arrangements which preserve a week of seven days with
a Sunday".(37) Given its many meanings and aspects, and its link to the
very foundations of the faith, the celebration of the Christian Sunday
remains, on the threshold of the Third Millennium, an indispensable
element of our Christian identity.
CHAPTER III
DIES ECCLESIAE
The Eucharistic Assembly:
Heart of Sunday
The presence of the Risen Lord
31. "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20). This
promise of Christ never ceases to resound in the Church as the fertile
secret of her life and the wellspring of her hope. As the day of
Resurrection, Sunday is not only the remembrance of a past event: it is a
celebration of the living presence of the Risen Lord in the midst of his own
people.
For this presence to be properly proclaimed and lived, it is not enough that
the disciples of Christ pray individually and commemorate the death and
Resurrection of Christ inwardly, in the secrecy of their hearts. Those who
have received the grace of baptism are not saved as individuals alone, but
as members of the Mystical Body, having become part of the People of
God.(38) It is important therefore that they come together to express fully
the very identity of the Church, the ekklesia, the assembly called together
by the Risen Lord who offered his life "to reunite the scattered children of
God" (Jn 11:52). They have become "one" in Christ (cf. Gal 3:28)
through the gift of the Spirit. This unity becomes visible when Christians
gather together: it is then that they come to know vividly and to testify to
the world that they are the people redeemed, drawn "from every tribe and
language and people and nation" (Rev 5:9). The assembly of Christ's
disciples embodies from age to age the image of the first Christian
community which Luke gives as an example in the Acts of the Apostles,
when he recounts that the first baptized believers "devoted themselves to
the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the
prayers" (2:42).
The Eucharistic assembly
32. The Eucharist is not only a particularly intense expression of the reality
of the Church's life, but also in a sense its "fountain-head".(39) The
Eucharist feeds and forms the Church: "Because there is one bread, we
who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Cor
10:17). Because of this vital link with the sacrament of the Body and
Blood of the Lord, the mystery of the Church is savoured, proclaimed,
and lived supremely in the Eucharist.(40)
This ecclesial dimension intrinsic to the Eucharist is realized in every
Eucharistic celebration. But it is expressed most especially on the day
when the whole community comes together to commemorate the Lord's
Resurrection. Significantly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches
that "the Sunday celebration of the Lord's Day and his Eucharist is at the
heart of the Church's life".(41)
33. At Sunday Mass, Christians relive with particular intensity the
experience of the Apostles on the evening of Easter when the Risen Lord
appeared to them as they were gathered together (cf. Jn 20:19). In a
sense, the People of God of all times were present in that small nucleus of
disciples, the first fruits of the Church. Through their testimony, every
generation of believers hears the greeting of Christ, rich with the messianic
gift of peace, won by his blood and offered with his Spirit: "Peace be with
you!" Christ's return among them "a week later" (Jn 20:26) can be seen as
a radical prefiguring of the Christian community's practice of coming
together every seven days, on "the Lord's Day" or Sunday, in order to
profess faith in his Resurrection and to receive the blessing which he had
promised: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (Jn
20:29). This close connection between the appearance of the Risen Lord
and the Eucharist is suggested in the Gospel of Luke in the story of the
two disciples of Emmaus, whom Christ approached and led to understand
the Scriptures and then sat with them at table. They recognized him when
he "took the bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them"
(24:30). The gestures of Jesus in this account are his gestures at the Last
Supper, with the clear allusion to the "breaking of bread", as the Eucharist
was called by the first generation of Christians.
The Sunday Eucharist
34. It is true that, in itself, the Sunday Eucharist is no different from the
Eucharist celebrated on other days, nor can it be separated from liturgical
and sacramental life as a whole. By its very nature, the Eucharist is an
epiphany of the Church;(42) and this is most powerfully expressed when
the diocesan community gathers in prayer with its Pastor: "The Church
appears with special clarity when the holy People of God, all of them, are
actively and fully sharing in the same liturgical celebrations — especially
when it is the same Eucharist — sharing one prayer at one altar, at which
the Bishop is presiding, surrounded by his presbyters and his
ministers".(43) This relationship with the Bishop and with the entire Church
community is inherent in every Eucharistic celebration, even when the
Bishop does not preside, regardless of the day of the week on which it is
celebrated. The mention of the Bishop in the Eucharistic Prayer is the
indication of this.
But because of its special solemnity and the obligatory presence of the
community, and because it is celebrated "on the day when Christ
conquered death and gave us a share in his immortal life",(44) the Sunday
Eucharist expresses with greater emphasis its inherent ecclesial dimension.
It becomes the paradigm for other Eucharistic celebrations. Each
community, gathering all its members for the "breaking of the bread",
becomes the place where the mystery of the Church is concretely made
present. In celebrating the Eucharist, the community opens itself to
communion with the universal Church,(45) imploring the Father to
"remember the Church throughout the world" and make her grow in the
unity of all the faithful with the Pope and with the Pastors of the particular
Churches, until love is brought to perfection.
The day of the Church
35. Therefore, the dies Domini is also the dies Ecclesiae. This is why on
the pastoral level the community aspect of the Sunday celebration should
be particularly stressed. As I have noted elsewhere, among the many
activities of a parish, "none is as vital or as community-forming as the
Sunday celebration of the Lord's Day and his Eucharist".(46) Mindful of
this, the Second Vatican Council recalled that efforts must be made to
ensure that there is "within the parish, a lively sense of community, in the
first place through the community celebration of Sunday Mass".(47)
Subsequent liturgical directives made the same point, asking that on
Sundays and holy days the Eucharistic celebrations held normally in other
churches and chapels be coordinated with the celebration in the parish
church, in order "to foster the sense of the Church community, which is
nourished and expressed in a particular way by the community celebration
on Sunday, whether around the Bishop, especially in the Cathedral, or in
the parish assembly, in which the pastor represents the Bishop".(48)
36. The Sunday assembly is the privileged place of unity: it is the setting
for the celebration of the sacramentum unitatis which profoundly marks
the Church as a people gathered "by" and "in" the unity of the Father, of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit.(49) For Christian families, the Sunday
assembly is one of the most outstanding expressions of their identity and
their "ministry" as "domestic churches",(50) when parents share with their
children at the one Table of the word and of the Bread of Life. We do
well to recall in this regard that it is first of all the parents who must teach
their children to participate in Sunday Mass; they are assisted in this by
catechists, who are to see to it that initiation into the Mass is made a part
of the formation imparted to the children entrusted to their care, explaining
the important reasons behind the obligatory nature of the precept. When
circumstances suggest it, the celebration of Masses for Children, in
keeping with the provisions of the liturgical norms,(51) can also help in this
regard.
At Sunday Masses in parishes, insofar as parishes are "Eucharistic
communities",(52) it is normal to find different groups, movements,
associations and even the smaller religious communities present in the
parish. This allows everyone to experience in common what they share
most deeply, beyond the particular spiritual paths which, by discernment
of Church authority,(53) legitimately distinguish them. This is why on
Sunday, the day of gathering, small group Masses are not to be
encouraged: it is not only a question of ensuring that parish assemblies are
not without the necessary ministry of priests, but also of ensuring that the
life and unity of the Church community are fully safeguarded and
promoted.(54) Authorization of possible and clearly restricted exceptions
to this general guideline will depend upon the wise discernment of the
Pastors of the particular Churches, in view of special needs in the area of
formation and pastoral care, and keeping in mind the good of individuals
or groups — especially the benefits which such exceptions may bring to
the entire Christian community.
A pilgrim people
37. As the Church journeys through time, the reference to Christ's
Resurrection and the weekly recurrence of this solemn memorial help to
remind us of the pilgrim and eschatological character of the People of
God. Sunday after Sunday the Church moves towards the final "Lord's
Day", that Sunday which knows no end. The expectation of Christ's
coming is inscribed in the very mystery of the Church(55) and is evidenced
in every Eucharistic celebration. But, with its specific remembrance of the
glory of the Risen Christ, the Lord's Day recalls with greater intensity the
future glory of his "return". This makes Sunday the day on which the
Church, showing forth more clearly her identity as "Bride", anticipates in
some sense the eschatological reality of the heavenly Jerusalem. Gathering
her children into the Eucharistic assembly and teaching them to wait for the
"divine Bridegroom", she engages in a kind of "exercise of desire",(56)
receiving a foretaste of the joy of the new heavens and new earth, when
the holy city, the new Jerusalem, will come down from God, "prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev 21:2).
The day of hope
38. Viewed in this way, Sunday is not only the day of faith, but is also the
day of Christian hope. To share in "the Lord's Supper" is to anticipate
the eschatological feast of the "marriage of the Lamb" (Rev 19:9).
Celebrating this memorial of Christ, risen and ascended into heaven, the
Christian community waits "in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour,
Jesus Christ".(57) Renewed and nourished by this intense weekly rhythm,
Christian hope becomes the leaven and the light of human hope. This is
why the Prayer of the Faithful responds not only to the needs of the
particular Christian community but also to those of all humanity; and the
Church, coming together for the Eucharistic celebration, shows to the
world that she makes her own "the joys and hopes, the sorrows and
anxieties of people today, especially of the poor and all those who
suffer".(58) With the offering of the Sunday Eucharist, the Church crowns
the witness which her children strive to offer every day of the week by
proclaiming the Gospel and practising charity in the world of work and in
all the many tasks of life; thus she shows forth more plainly her identity "as
a sacrament, or sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the
unity of the entire human race".(59)
The table of the word
39. As in every Eucharistic celebration, the Risen Lord is encountered in
the Sunday assembly at the twofold table of the word and of the Bread of
Life. The table of the word offers the same understanding of the history of
salvation and especially of the Paschal Mystery which the Risen Jesus
himself gave to his disciples: it is Christ who speaks, present as he is in his
word "when Sacred Scripture is read in the Church".(60) At the table of
the Bread of Life, the Risen Lord becomes really, substantially and
enduringly present through the memorial of his Passion and Resurrection,
and the Bread of Life is offered as a pledge of future glory. The Second
Vatican Council recalled that "the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of
the Eucharist are so closely joined together that they form a single act of
worship".(61) The Council also urged that "the table of the word of God
be more lavishly prepared for the faithful, opening to them more
abundantly the treasures of the Bible".(62) It then decreed that, in Masses
of Sunday and holy days of obligation, the homily should not be omitted
except for serious reasons.(63) These timely decrees were faithfully
embodied in the liturgical reform, about which Paul VI wrote, commenting
upon the richer offering of biblical readings on Sunday and holy days: "All
this has been decreed so as to foster more and more in the faithful 'that
hunger for hearing the word of the Lord' (Am 8:11) which, under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, spurs the People of the New Covenant on
towards the perfect unity of the Church".(64)
40. In considering the Sunday Eucharist more than thirty years after the
Council, we need to assess how well the word of God is being proclaimed
and how effectively the People of God have grown in knowledge and love
of Sacred Scripture.(65) There are two aspects of this — that of
celebration and that of personal appropriation — and they are very
closely related. At the level of celebration, the fact that the Council made it
possible to proclaim the word of God in the language of the community
taking part in the celebration must awaken a new sense of responsibility
towards the word, allowing "the distinctive character of the sacred text" to
shine forth "even in the mode of reading or singing".(66) At the level of
personal appropriation, the hearing of the word of God proclaimed must
be well prepared in the souls of the faithful by an apt knowledge of
Scripture and, where pastorally possible, by special initiatives designed
to deepen understanding of the biblical readings, particularly those
used on Sundays and holy days. If Christian individuals and families are
not regularly drawing new life from the reading of the sacred text in a spirit
of prayer and docility to the Church's interpretation,(67) then it is difficult
for the liturgical proclamation of the word of God alone to produce the
fruit we might expect. This is the value of initiatives in parish communities
which bring together during the week those who take part in the Eucharist
— priest, ministers and faithful(68) — in order to prepare the Sunday
liturgy, reflecting beforehand upon the word of God which will be
proclaimed. The objective sought here is that the entire celebration —
praying, singing, listening, and not just the preaching — should express in
some way the theme of the Sunday liturgy, so that all those taking part
may be penetrated more powerfully by it. Clearly, much depends on those
who exercise the ministry of the word. It is their duty to prepare the
reflection on the word of the Lord by prayer and study of the sacred text,
so that they may then express its contents faithfully and apply them to
people's concerns and to their daily lives.
41. It should also be borne in mind that the liturgical proclamation of
the word of God, especially in the Eucharistic assembly, is not so much a
time for meditation and catechesis as a dialogue between God and his
People, a dialogue in which the wonders of salvation are proclaimed and
the demands of the Covenant are continually restated. On their part, the
People of God are drawn to respond to this dialogue of love by giving
thanks and praise, also by demonstrating their fidelity to the task of
continual "conversion". The Sunday assembly commits us therefore to an
inner renewal of our baptismal promises, which are in a sense implicit in
the recitation of the Creed, and are an explicit part of the liturgy of the
Easter Vigil and whenever Baptism is celebrated during Mass. In this
context, the proclamation of the word in the Sunday Eucharistic
celebration takes on the solemn tone found in the Old Testament at
moments when the Covenant was renewed, when the Law was
proclaimed and the community of Israel was called — like the People in
the desert at the foot of Sinai (cf. Ex 19:7-8; 24:3,7) — to repeats its
"yes", renewing its decision to be faithful to God and to obey his
commandments. In speaking his word, God awaits our response: a
response which Christ has already made for us with his "Amen" (cf. 2 Cor
1:20-22), and which echoes in us through the Holy Spirit so that what we
hear may involve us at the deepest level.(69)
The table of the Body of Christ
42. The table of the word leads naturally to the table of the Eucharistic
Bread and prepares the community to live its many aspects, which in the
Sunday Eucharist assume an especially solemn character. As the whole
community gathers to celebrate "the Lord's Day", the Eucharist appears
more clearly than on other days as the great "thanksgiving" in which the
Spirit-filled Church turns to the Father, becoming one with Christ and
speaking in the name of all humanity. The rhythm of the week prompts us
to gather up in grateful memory the events of the days which have just
passed, to review them in the light of God and to thank him for his
countless gifts, glorifying him "through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, in
the unity of the Holy Spirit". The Christian community thus comes to a
renewed awareness of the fact that all things were created through Christ
(cf. Col 1:16; Jn 1:3), and that in Christ, who came in the form of a slave
to take on and redeem our human condition, all things have been restored
(cf. Eph 1:10), in order to be handed over to God the Father, from whom
all things come to be and draw their life. Then, giving assent to the
Eucharistic doxology with their "Amen", the People of God look in faith
and hope towards the eschatological end, when Christ "will deliver the
kingdom to God the Father ... so that God may be everything to
everyone" (1 Cor 15:24, 28).
43. This "ascending" movement is inherent in every Eucharistic celebration
and makes it a joyous event, overflowing with gratitude and hope. But it
emerges particularly at Sunday Mass because of its special link with the
commemoration of the Resurrection. By contrast, this "Eucharistic"
rejoicing which "lifts up our hearts" is the fruit of God's "descending"
movement towards us, which remains for ever etched in the essential
sacrificial element of the Eucharist, the supreme expression and celebration
of the mystery of the kenosis, the descent by which Christ "humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a Cross" (Phil
2:8).
The Mass in fact truly makes present the sacrifice of the Cross. Under
the species of bread and wine, upon which has been invoked the
outpouring of the Spirit who works with absolutely unique power in the
words of consecration, Christ offers himself to the Father in the same act
of sacrifice by which he offered himself on the Cross. "In this divine
sacrifice which is accomplished in the Mass, the same Christ who offered
himself once and for all in a bloody manner on the altar of the Cross is
contained and is offered in an unbloody manner".(70) To his sacrifice
Christ unites the sacrifice of the Church: "In the Eucharist the sacrifice of
Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of
the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer and work, are united with those
of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value".(71) The
truth that the whole community shares in Christ's sacrifice is especially
evident in the Sunday gathering, which makes it possible to bring to the
altar the week that has passed, with all its human burdens.
Easter banquet and fraternal gathering
44. The communal character of the Eucharist emerges in a special way
when it is seen as the Easter banquet, in which Christ himself becomes our
nourishment. In fact, "for this purpose Christ entrusted to the Church this
sacrifice: so that the faithful might share in it, both spiritually, in faith and
charity, and sacramentally, in the banquet of Holy Communion. Sharing in
the Lord's Supper is always communion with Christ, who offers himself for
us in sacrifice to the Father".(72) This is why the Church recommends
that the faithful receive communion when they take part in the
Eucharist, provided that they are properly disposed and, if aware of
grave sin, have received God's pardon in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation,(73) in the spirit of what Saint Paul writes to the community
at Corinth (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-32). Obviously, the invitation to Eucharistic
communion is more insistent in the case of Mass on Sundays and holy
days.
It is also important to be ever mindful that communion with Christ is
deeply tied to communion with our brothers and sisters. The Sunday
Eucharistic gathering is an experience of brotherhood, which the
celebration should demonstrate clearly, while ever respecting the nature of
the liturgical action. All this will be helped by gestures of welcome and by
the tone of prayer, alert to the needs of all in the community. The sign of
peace — in the Roman Rite significantly placed before Eucharistic
communion — is a particularly expressive gesture which the faithful are
invited to make as a manifestation of the People of God's acceptance of all
that has been accomplished in the celebration(74) and of the commitment
to mutual love which is made in sharing the one bread, with the demanding
words of Christ in mind: "If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there
remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift
there before the altar and go; first be reconciled with your brother, and
then come and offer your gift" (Mt 5:23-24).
From Mass to "mission"
45. Receiving the Bread of Life, the disciples of Christ ready themselves
to undertake with the strength of the Risen Lord and his Spirit the tasks
which await them in their ordinary life. For the faithful who have
understood the meaning of what they have done, the Eucharistic
celebration does not stop at the church door. Like the first witnesses of
the Resurrection, Christians who gather each Sunday to experience and
proclaim the presence of the Risen Lord are called to evangelize and
bear witness in their daily lives. Given this, the Prayer after Communion
and the Concluding Rite — the Final Blessing and the Dismissal — need
to be better valued and appreciated, so that all who have shared in the
Eucharist may come to a deeper sense of the responsibility which is
entrusted to them. Once the assembly disperses, Christ's disciples return
to their everyday surroundings with the commitment to make their whole
life a gift, a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God (cf. Rom 12:1). They feel
indebted to their brothers and sisters because of what they have received
in the celebration, not unlike the disciples of Emmaus who, once they had
recognized the Risen Christ "in the breaking of the bread" (cf. Lk
24:30-32), felt the need to return immediately to share with their brothers
and sisters the joy of meeting the Lord (cf. Lk 24:33-35).
The Sunday obligation
46. Since the Eucharist is the very heart of Sunday, it is clear why, from
the earliest centuries, the Pastors of the Church have not ceased to remind
the faithful of the need to take part in the liturgical assembly. "Leave
everything on the Lord's Day", urges the third century text known as the
Didascalia, "and run diligently to your assembly, because it is your praise
of God. Otherwise, what excuse will they make to God, those who do not
come together on the Lord's Day to hear the word of life and feed on the
divine nourishment which lasts forever?".(75) The faithful have generally
accepted this call of the Pastors with conviction of soul and, although there
have been times and situations when this duty has not been perfectly met,
one should never forget the genuine heroism of priests and faithful who
have fulfilled this obligation even when faced with danger and the denial of
religious freedom, as can be documented from the first centuries of
Christianity up to our own time.
In his first Apology addressed to the Emperor Antoninus and the Senate,
Saint Justin proudly described the Christian practice of the Sunday
assembly, which gathered in one place Christians from both the city and
the countryside.(76) When, during the persecution of Diocletian, their
assemblies were banned with the greatest severity, many were courageous
enough to defy the imperial decree and accepted death rather than miss
the Sunday Eucharist. This was the case of the martyrs of Abitina, in
Proconsular Africa, who replied to their accusers: "Without fear of any
kind we have celebrated the Lord's Supper, because it cannot be missed;
that is our law"; "We cannot live without the Lord's Supper". As she
confessed her faith, one of the martyrs said: "Yes, I went to the assembly
and I celebrated the Lord's Supper with my brothers and sisters, because
I am a Christian".(77)
47. Even if in the earliest times it was not judged necessary to be
prescriptive, the Church has not ceased to confirm this obligation of
conscience, which rises from the inner need felt so strongly by the
Christians of the first centuries. It was only later, faced with the
half-heartedness or negligence of some, that the Church had to make
explicit the duty to attend Sunday Mass: more often than not, this was
done in the form of exhortation, but at times the Church had to resort to
specific canonical precepts. This was the case in a number of local
300, which speaks not of an obligation but of penalties after three
absences)(78) and most especially from the sixth century onwards (as at
the Council of Agde in 506).(79) These decrees of local Councils led to a
universal practice, the obligatory character of which was taken as
something quite normal.(80)
The Code of Canon Law of 1917 for the first time gathered this tradition
into a universal law.(81) The present Code reiterates this, saying that "on
Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to attend
Mass".(82) This legislation has normally been understood as entailing a
grave obligation: this is the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic
Church,(83) and it is easy to understand why if we keep in mind how vital
Sunday is for the Christian life.
48. Today, as in the heroic times of the beginning, many who wish to live
in accord with the demands of their faith are being faced with difficult
situations in various parts of the world. They live in surroundings which are
sometimes decidedly hostile and at other times — more frequently in fact
— indifferent and unresponsive to the Gospel message. If believers are not
to be overwhelmed, they must be able to count on the support of the
Christian community. This is why they must be convinced that it is crucially
important for the life of faith that they should come together with others on
Sundays to celebrate the Passover of the Lord in the sacrament of the
New Covenant. It is the special responsibility of the Bishops, therefore,
"to ensure that Sunday is appreciated by all the faithful, kept holy and
celebrated as truly ?the Lord's Day', on which the Church comes together
to renew the remembrance of the Easter mystery in hearing the word of
God, in offering the sacrifice of the Lord, in keeping the day holy by
means of prayer, works of charity and abstention from work".(84)
49. Because the faithful are obliged to attend Mass unless there is a grave
impediment, Pastors have the corresponding duty to offer to everyone the
real possibility of fulfilling the precept. The provisions of Church law move
in this direction, as for example in the faculty granted to priests, with the
prior authorization of the diocesan Bishop, to celebrate more than one
Mass on Sundays and holy days,(85) the institution of evening Masses(86)
and the provision which allows the obligation to be fulfilled from Saturday
evening onwards, starting at the time of First Vespers of Sunday.(87)
From a liturgical point of view, in fact, holy days begin with First
Vespers.(88) Consequently, the liturgy of what is sometimes called the
"Vigil Mass" is in effect the "festive" Mass of Sunday, at which the
celebrant is required to preach the homily and recite the Prayer of the
Faithful.
Moreover, Pastors should remind the faithful that when they are away
from home on Sundays they are to take care to attend Mass wherever
they may be, enriching the local community with their personal witness. At
the same time, these communities should show a warm sense of welcome
to visiting brothers and sisters, especially in places which attract many
tourists and pilgrims, for whom it will often be necessary to provide special
religious assistance.(89)
A joyful celebration in song
50. Given the nature of Sunday Mass and its importance in the lives of the
faithful, it must be prepared with special care. In ways dictated by pastoral
experience and local custom in keeping with liturgical norms, efforts must
be made to ensure that the celebration has the festive character
appropriate to the day commemorating the Lord's Resurrection. To this
end, it is important to devote attention to the songs used by the assembly,
since singing is a particularly apt way to express a joyful heart,
accentuating the solemnity of the celebration and fostering the sense of a
common faith and a shared love. Care must be taken to ensure the quality,
both of the texts and of the melodies, so that what is proposed today as
new and creative will conform to liturgical requirements and be worthy of
the Church's tradition which, in the field of sacred music, boasts a
priceless heritage.
A celebration involving all
51. There is a need too to ensure that all those present, children and
adults, take an active interest, by encouraging their involvement at those
points where the liturgy suggests and recommends it.(90) Of course, it falls
only to those who exercise the priestly ministry to effect the Eucharistic
Sacrifice and to offer it to God in the name of the whole people.(91) This
is the basis of the distinction, which is much more than a matter of
discipline, between the task proper to the celebrant and that which
belongs to deacons and the non-ordained faithful.(92) Yet the faithful must
realize that, because of the common priesthood received in Baptism, "they
participate in the offering of the Eucharist".(93) Although there is a
distinction of roles, they still "offer to God the divine victim and themselves
with him. Offering the sacrifice and receiving holy communion, they take
part actively in the liturgy",(94) finding in it light and strength to live their
baptismal priesthood and the witness of a holy life.
Other moments of the Christian Sunday
52. Sharing in the Eucharist is the heart of Sunday, but the duty to keep
Sunday holy cannot be reduced to this. In fact, the Lord's Day is lived well
if it is marked from beginning to end by grateful and active remembrance
of God's saving work. This commits each of Christ's disciples to shape the
other moments of the day — those outside the liturgical context: family life,
social relationships, moments of relaxation — in such a way that the peace
and joy of the Risen Lord will emerge in the ordinary events of life. For
example, the relaxed gathering of parents and children can be an
opportunity not only to listen to one another but also to share a few
formative and more reflective moments. Even in lay life, when possible,
why not make provision for special times of prayer — especially the
solemn celebration of Vespers, for example — or moments of
catechesis, which on the eve of Sunday or on Sunday afternoon might
prepare for or complete the gift of the Eucharist in people's hearts?
This rather traditional way of keeping Sunday holy has perhaps become
more difficult for many people; but the Church shows her faith in the
strength of the Risen Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit by making it
known that, today more than ever, she is unwilling to settle for minimalism
and mediocrity at the level of faith. She wants to help Christians to do
what is most correct and pleasing to the Lord. And despite the difficulties,
there are positive and encouraging signs. In many parts of the Church, a
new need for prayer in its many forms is being felt; and this is a gift of the
Holy Spirit. There is also a rediscovery of ancient religious practices, such
as pilgrimages; and often the faithful take advantage of Sunday rest to visit
a Shrine where, with the whole family perhaps, they can spend time in a
more intense experience of faith. These are moments of grace which must
be fostered through evangelization and guided by genuine pastoral
wisdom.
Sunday assemblies without a priest
53. There remains the problem of parishes which do not have the ministry
of a priest for the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist. This is often the
case in young Churches, where one priest has pastoral responsibility for
faithful scattered over a vast area. However, emergency situations can also
arise in countries of long-standing Christian tradition, where diminishing
numbers of clergy make it impossible to guarantee the presence of a priest
in every parish community. In situations where the Eucharist cannot be
celebrated, the Church recommends that the Sunday assembly come
together even without a priest,(95) in keeping with the indications and
directives of the Holy See which have been entrusted to the Episcopal
Conferences for implementation.(96) Yet the objective must always
remain the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass, the one way in which
the Passover of the Lord becomes truly present, the only full realization of
the Eucharistic assembly over which the priest presides in persona
Christi, breaking the bread of the word and the Eucharist. At the pastoral
level, therefore, everything has to be done to ensure that the Sacrifice of
the Mass is made available as often as possible to the faithful who are
regularly deprived of it, either by arranging the presence of a priest from
time to time, or by taking every opportunity to organize a gathering in a
central location accessible to scattered groups.
Radio and television
54. Finally, the faithful who, because of sickness, disability or some other
serious cause, are prevented from taking part, should as best they can
unite themselves with the celebration of Sunday Mass from afar,
preferably by means of the readings and prayers for that day from the
Missal, as well as through their desire for the Eucharist.(97) In many
countries, radio and television make it possible to join in the Eucharistic
celebration broadcast from some sacred place.(98) Clearly, this kind of
broadcast does not in itself fulfil the Sunday obligation, which requires
participation in the fraternal assembly gathered in one place, where
Eucharistic communion can be received. But for those who cannot take
part in the Eucharist and who are therefore excused from the obligation,
radio and television are a precious help, especially if accompanied by the
generous service of extraordinary ministers who bring the Eucharist to the
sick, also bringing them the greeting and solidarity of the whole
community. Sunday Mass thus produces rich fruits for these Christians
too, and they are truly enabled to experience Sunday as "the Lord's Day"
and "the Church's day".
CHAPTER IV
DIES HOMINIS
Sunday: Day of Joy, Rest and Solidarity
The "full joy" of Christ
55. "Blessed be he who has raised the great day of Sunday above all other
days. The heavens and the earth, angels and of men give themselves over
to joy".(99) This cry of the Maronite liturgy captures well the intense
acclamations of joy which have always characterized Sunday in the liturgy
of both East and West. Moreover, historically — even before it was seen
as a day of rest, which in any case was not provided for in the civil
calendar — Christians celebrated the weekly day of the Risen Lord
primarily as a day of joy. "On the first day of the week, you shall all
rejoice", urges the Didascalia. (100) This was also emphasized by
liturgical practice, through the choice of appropriate gestures. (101)
Voicing an awareness widespread in the Church, Saint Augustine
describes the joy of the weekly Easter: "Fasting, is set aside and prayers
are said standing, as a sign of the Resurrection, which is also why the
Alleluia is sung on every Sunday". (102)
56. Beyond particular ritual forms, which can vary in time depending upon
Church discipline, there remains the fact that Sunday, as a weekly echo of
the first encounter with the Risen Lord, is unfailingly marked by the joy
with which the disciples greeted the Master: "The disciples rejoiced to see
the Lord" (Jn 20:20). This was the confirmation of the words which Jesus
spoke before the Passion and which resound in every Christian generation:
"You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy" (Jn 16:20). Had
not he himself prayed for this, that the disciples would have "the fullness of
his joy" (cf. Jn 17:13)? The festive character of the Sunday Eucharist
expresses the joy that Christ communicates to his Church through the gift
of the Spirit. Joy is precisely one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit(cf. Rom
14:17; Gal 5:22).
57. Therefore, if we wish to rediscover the full meaning of Sunday, we
must rediscover this aspect of the life of faith. Certainly, Christian joy must
mark the whole of life, and not just one day of the week. But in virtue of
its significance as the day of the Risen Lord, celebrating God's work of
creation and "new creation", Sunday is the day of joy in a very special
way, indeed the day most suitable for learning how to rejoice and to
rediscover the true nature and deep roots of joy. This joy should never be
confused with shallow feelings of satisfaction and pleasure, which inebriate
the senses and emotions for a brief moment, but then leave the heart
unfulfilled and perhaps even embittered. In the Christian view, joy is much
more enduring and consoling; as the saints attest, it can hold firm even in
the dark night of suffering. (103) It is, in a certain sense, a "virtue" to be
nurtured.
58. Yet there is no conflict whatever between Christian joy and true
human joys, which in fact are exalted and find their ultimate foundation
precisely in the joy of the glorified Christ, the perfect image and revelation
of man as God intended. As my revered predecessor Paul VI wrote in his
Exhortation on Christian joy: "In essence, Christian joy is a sharing in the
unfathomable joy, at once divine and human, found in the heart of the
glorified Christ". (104) Pope Paul concluded his Exhortation by asking
that, on the Lord's Day, the Church should witness powerfully to the joy
experienced by the Apostles when they saw the Lord on the evening of
Easter. To this end, he urged pastors to insist "upon the need for the
baptized to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist in joy. How could they neglect
this encounter, this banquet which Christ prepares for us in his love? May
our sharing in it be most worthy and joyful! It is Christ, crucified and
glorified, who comes among his disciples, to lead them all together into the
newness of his Resurrection. This is the climax, here below, of the
covenant of love between God and his people: the sign and source of
Christian joy, a stage on the way to the eternal feast". (105) This vision of
faith shows the Christian Sunday to be a true "time for celebration", a day
given by God to men and women for their full human and spiritual growth.
The fulfilment of the Sabbath
59. This aspect of the Christian Sunday shows in a special way how it is
the fulfilment of the Old Testament Sabbath. On the Lord's Day, which —
as we have already said — the Old Testament links to the work of
creation (cf. Gn 2:1-3; Ex 20:8-11) and the Exodus (cf. Dt 5:12-15), the
Christian is called to proclaim the new creation and the new covenant
brought about in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Far from being abolished,
the celebration of creation becomes more profound within a Christocentric
perspective, being seen in the light of the God's plan "to unite all things in
[Christ], things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph 1:10). The
remembrance of the liberation of the Exodus also assumes its full meaning
as it becomes a remembrance of the universal redemption accomplished
by Christ in his Death and Resurrection. More than a "replacement" for the
Sabbath, therefore, Sunday is its fulfilment, and in a certain sense its
extension and full expression in the ordered unfolding of the history of
salvation, which reaches its culmination in Christ.
60. In this perspective, the biblical theology of the "Sabbath" can be
recovered in full, without compromising the Christian character of Sunday.
It is a theology which leads us ever anew and in unfailing awe to the
mystery of the beginning, when the eternal Word of God, by a free
decision of love, created the world from nothing. The work of creation
was sealed by the blessing and consecration of the day on which God
ceased "from all the work which he had done in creation" (Gn 2:3). This
day of God's rest confers meaning upon time, which in the sequence of
weeks assumes not only a chronological regularity but also, in a manner of
speaking, a theological resonance. The constant return of the "shabbat"
ensures that there is no risk of time being closed in upon itself, since, in
welcoming God and his kairoi — the moments of his grace and his saving
acts — time remains open to eternity.
61. As the seventh day blessed and consecrated by God, the "shabbat"
concludes the whole work of creation, and is therefore immediately linked
to the work of the sixth day when God made man "in his image and
likeness" (cf. Gn 1:26). This very close connection between the "day of
God" and the "day of man" did not escape the Fathers in their meditation
on the biblical creation story. Saint Ambrose says in this regard: "Thanks,
then, to the Lord our God who accomplished a work in which he might
find rest. He made the heavens, but I do not read that he found rest there;
he made the stars, the moon, the sun, and neither do I read that he found
rest in them. I read instead that he made man and that then he rested,
finding in man one to whom he could offer the forgiveness of sins". (106)
Thus there will be for ever a direct link between the "day of God" and the
"day of man". When the divine commandment declares: "Remember the
Sabbath day in order to keep it holy" (Ex 20:8), the rest decreed in order
to honour the day dedicated to God is not at all a burden imposed upon
man, but rather an aid to help him to recognize his life-giving and liberating
dependence upon the Creator, and at the same time his calling to
cooperate in the Creator's work and to receive his grace. In honouring
God's "rest", man fully discovers himself, and thus the Lord's Day bears
the profound imprint of God's blessing (cf. Gn 2:3), by virtue of which, we
might say, it is endowed in a way similar to the animals and to man himself,
with a kind of "fruitfulness" (cf. Gn 1:22, 28). This "fruitfulness" is apparent
above all in filling and, in a certain sense, "multiplying" time itself,
deepening in men and women the joy of living and the desire to foster and
communicate life.
62. It is the duty of Christians therefore to remember that, although the
practices of the Jewish Sabbath are gone, surpassed as they are by the
"fulfilment" which Sunday brings, the underlying reasons for keeping "the
Lord's Day" holy — inscribed solemnly in the Ten Commandments —
remain valid, though they need to be reinterpreted in the light of the
theology and spirituality of Sunday: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labour,
and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God. Then you shall do no work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or
your servant, or your maid, or your ox, or your ass, or any of your beasts,
or the foreigner within your gates, that your servant and maid may rest as
well as you. You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of
Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty
hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded
that you keep the Sabbath day" (Dt 5:12-15). Here the Sabbath
observance is closely linked with the liberation which God accomplished
for his people.
63. Christ came to accomplish a new "exodus", to restore freedom to the
oppressed. He performed many healings on the Sabbath (cf. Mt 12:9-14
and parallels), certainly not to violate the Lord's Day, but to reveal its full
meaning: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mk
2:27). Opposing the excessively legalistic interpretation of some of his
contemporaries, and developing the true meaning of the biblical Sabbath,
Jesus, as "Lord of the Sabbath" (Mk 2:28), restores to the Sabbath
observance its liberating character, carefully safeguarding the rights of God
and the rights of man. This is why Christians, called as they are to proclaim
the liberation won by the blood of Christ, felt that they had the authority to
transfer the meaning of the Sabbath to the day of the Resurrection. The
Passover of Christ has in fact liberated man from a slavery more radical
than any weighing upon an oppressed people — the slavery of sin, which
alienates man from God, and alienates man from himself and from others,
constantly sowing within history the seeds of evil and violence.
The day of rest
64. For several centuries, Christians observed Sunday simply as a day of
worship, without being able to give it the specific meaning of Sabbath rest.
Only in the fourth century did the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize
the weekly recurrence, determining that on "the day of the sun" the judges,
the people of the cities and the various trade corporations would not
work. (107) Christians rejoiced to see thus removed the obstacles which
until then had sometimes made observance of the Lord's Day heroic. They
could now devote themselves to prayer in common without hindrance.
(108)
It would therefore be wrong to see in this legislation of the rhythm of the
week a mere historical circumstance with no special significance for the
Church and which she could simply set aside. Even after the fall of the
Empire, the Councils did not cease to insist upon the arrangements
regarding Sunday rest. In countries where Christians are in the minority
and where the festive days of the calendar do not coincide with Sunday, it
is still Sunday which remains the Lord's Day, the day on which the faithful
come together for the Eucharistic assembly. But this involves real
sacrifices. For Christians it is not normal that Sunday, the day of joyful
celebration, should not also be a day of rest, and it is difficult for them to
keep Sunday holy if they do not have enough free time.
65. By contrast, the link between the Lord's Day and the day of rest in
civil society has a meaning and importance which go beyond the distinctly
Christian point of view. The alternation between work and rest, built into
human nature, is willed by God himself, as appears in the creation story in
the Book of Genesis (cf. 2:2-3; Ex 20:8-11): rest is something "sacred",
because it is man's way of withdrawing from the sometimes excessively
demanding cycle of earthly tasks in order to renew his awareness that
everything is the work of God. There is a risk that the prodigious power
over creation which God gives to man can lead him to forget that God is
the Creator upon whom everything depends. It is all the more urgent to
recognize this dependence in our own time, when science and technology
have so incredibly increased the power which man exercises through his
work.
66. Finally, it should not be forgotten that even in our own day work is
very oppressive for many people, either because of miserable working
conditions and long hours — especially in the poorer regions of the world
— or because of the persistence in economically more developed
societies of too many cases of injustice and exploitation of man by man.
When, through the centuries, she has made laws concerning Sunday rest,
(109) the Church has had in mind above all the work of servants and
workers, certainly not because this work was any less worthy when
compared to the spiritual requirements of Sunday observance, but rather
because it needed greater regulation to lighten its burden and thus enable
everyone to keep the Lord's Day holy. In this matter, my predecessor
Pope Leo XIII in his Encyclical Rerum Novarum spoke of Sunday rest
as a worker's right which the State must guarantee. (110)
In our own historical context there remains the obligation to ensure that
everyone can enjoy the freedom, rest and relaxation which human dignity
requires, together with the associated religious, family, cultural and
interpersonal needs which are difficult to meet if there is no guarantee of at
least one day of the week on which people can both rest and celebrate.
Naturally, this right of workers to rest presupposes their right to work and,
as we reflect on the question of the Christian understanding of Sunday, we
cannot but recall with a deep sense of solidarity the hardship of countless
men and women who, because of the lack of jobs, are forced to remain
inactive on workdays as well.
67. Through Sunday rest, daily concerns and tasks can find their proper
perspective: the material things about which we worry give way to spiritual
values; in a moment of encounter and less pressured exchange, we see the
true face of the people with whom we live. Even the beauties of nature —
too often marred by the desire to exploit, which turns against man himself
— can be rediscovered and enjoyed to the full. As the day on which man
is at peace with God, with himself and with others, Sunday becomes a
moment when people can look anew upon the wonders of nature, allowing
themselves to be caught up in that marvellous and mysterious harmony
which, in the words of Saint Ambrose, weds the many elements of the
cosmos in a "bond of communion and peace" by "an inviolable law of
concord and love". (111) Men and women then come to a deeper sense,
as the Apostle says, that "everything created by God is good and nothing
is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for then it is
consecrated by the word of God and prayer" (1 Tim 4:4-5). If after six
days of work — reduced in fact to five for many people — people look
for time to relax and to pay more attention to other aspects of their lives,
this corresponds to an authentic need which is in full harmony with the
vision of the Gospel message. Believers are therefore called to satisfy this
need in a way consistent with the manifestation of their personal and
community faith, as expressed in the celebration and sanctification of the
Lord's Day.
Therefore, also in the particular circumstances of our own time, Christians
will naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their duty to
keep Sunday holy. In any case, they are obliged in conscience to arrange
their Sunday rest in a way which allows them to take part in the Eucharist,
refraining from work and activities which are incompatible with the
sanctification of the Lord's Day, with its characteristic joy and necessary
rest for spirit and body. (112)
68. In order that rest may not degenerate into emptiness or boredom, it
must offer spiritual enrichment, greater freedom, opportunities for
contemplation and fraternal communion. Therefore, among the forms of
culture and entertainment which society offers, the faithful should choose
those which are most in keeping with a life lived in obedience to the
precepts of the Gospel. Sunday rest then becomes "prophetic", affirming
not only the absolute primacy of God, but also the primacy and dignity of
the person with respect to the demands of social and economic life, and
anticipating in a certain sense the "new heavens" and the "new earth", in
which liberation from slavery to needs will be final and complete. In short,
the Lord's Day thus becomes in the truest sense the day of man as well.
A day of solidarity
69. Sunday should also give the faithful an opportunity to devote
themselves to works of mercy, charity and apostolate. To experience the
joy of the Risen Lord deep within is to share fully the love which pulses in
his heart: there is no joy without love! Jesus himself explains this, linking
the "new commandment" with the gift of joy: "If you keep my
commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept the
Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this that
my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my
commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you" (Jn
15:10-12).
The Sunday Eucharist, therefore, not only does not absolve the faithful
from the duties of charity, but on the contrary commits them even more "to
all the works of charity, of mercy, of apostolic outreach, by means of
which it is seen that the faithful of Christ are not of this world and yet are
the light of the world, giving glory to the Father in the presence of men".
(113)
70. Ever since Apostolic times, the Sunday gathering has in fact been for
Christians a moment of fraternal sharing with the very poor. "On the first
day of the week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you
earn" (1 Cor 16:2), says Saint Paul referring to the collection organized for
the poor Churches of Judaea. In the Sunday Eucharist, the believing heart
opens wide to embrace all aspects of the Church. But the full range of the
apostolic summons needs to be accepted: far from trying to create a
narrow "gift" mentality, Paul calls rather for a demanding culture of
sharing, to be lived not only among the members of the community itself
but also in society as a whole. (114) More than ever, we need to listen
once again to the stern warning which Paul addresses to the community at
Corinth, guilty of having humiliated the poor in the fraternal agape which
accompanied "the Lord's Supper": "When you meet together, it is not the
Lord's Supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his
own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not
have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God
and humiliate those who have nothing?" (1 Cor 11:20-22). James is
equally forceful in what he writes: "If a man with gold rings and in fine
clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also
comes in, and you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and
say, 'Take a seat here, please', while you say to the poor man, 'Stand
there', or, 'Sit at my feet', have you not made distinctions among
yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?" (2:2-4).
71. The teachings of the Apostles struck a sympathetic chord from the
earliest centuries, and evoked strong echoes in the preaching of the
Fathers of the Church. Saint Ambrose addressed words of fire to the rich
who presumed to fulfil their religious obligations by attending church
without sharing their goods with the poor, and who perhaps even
exploited them: "You who are rich, do you hear what the Lord God says?
Yet you come into church not to give to the poor but to take instead".
(115) Saint John Chrysostom is no less demanding: "Do you wish to
honour the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not
pay him homage in the temple clad in silk only then to neglect him outside
where he suffers cold and nakedness. He who said: 'This is my body' is
the same One who said: 'You saw me hungry and you gave me no food',
and 'Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me' ...
What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices,
when he is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger, and then with
what is left you may adorn the altar as well". (116)
These words effectively remind the Christian community of the duty to
make the Eucharist the place where fraternity becomes practical solidarity,
where the last are the first in the minds and attentions of the brethren,
where Christ himself — through the generous gifts from the rich to the very
poor — may somehow prolong in time the miracle of the multiplication of
the loaves. (117)
72. The Eucharist is an event and programme of true brotherhood. From
the Sunday Mass there flows a tide of charity destined to spread into the
whole life of the faithful, beginning by inspiring the very way in which they
live the rest of Sunday. If Sunday is a day of joy, Christians should declare
by their actual behaviour that we cannot be happy "on our own". They
look around to find people who may need their help. It may be that in their
neighbourhood or among those they know there are sick people, elderly
people, children or immigrants who precisely on Sundays feel more keenly
their isolation, needs and suffering. It is true that commitment to these
people cannot be restricted to occasional Sunday gestures. But presuming
a wider sense of commitment, why not make the Lord's Day a more
intense time of sharing, encouraging all the inventiveness of which Christian
charity is capable? Inviting to a meal people who are alone, visiting the
sick, providing food for needy families, spending a few hours in voluntary
work and acts of solidarity: these would certainly be ways of bringing into
people's lives the love of Christ received at the Eucharistic table.
73. Lived in this way, not only the Sunday Eucharist but the whole of
Sunday becomes a great school of charity, justice and peace. The
presence of the Risen Lord in the midst of his people becomes an
undertaking of solidarity, a compelling force for inner renewal, an
inspiration to change the structures of sin in which individuals, communities
and at times entire peoples are entangled. Far from being an escape, the
Christian Sunday is a "prophecy" inscribed on time itself, a prophecy
obliging the faithful to follow in the footsteps of the One who came "to
preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives and new
sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Lk 4:18-19). In the Sunday
commemoration of Easter, believers learn from Christ, and remembering
his promise: "I leave you peace, my peace I give you" (Jn 14:27), they
become in their turn builders of peace.
CHAPTER V
DIES DIERUM
Sunday: the Primordial Feast,
Revealing the Meaning of Time
Christ the Alpha and Omega of time
74. "In Christianity time has a fundamental importance. Within the
dimension of time the world was created; within it the history of salvation
unfolds, finding its culmination in the 'fullness of time' of the Incarnation,
and its goal in the glorious return of the Son of God at the end of time. In
Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, time becomes a dimension of God,
who is himself eternal". (118)
In the light of the New Testament, the years of Christ's earthly life truly
constitute the centre of time; this centre reaches its apex in the
Resurrection. It is true that Jesus is God made man from the very moment
of his conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, but only in the
Resurrection is his humanity wholly transfigured and glorified, thus
revealing the fullness of his divine identity and glory. In his speech in the
synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia (cf. Acts 13:33), Paul applies the words of
Psalm 2 to the Resurrection of Christ: "You are my Son, this day I have
begotten you" (v. 7). It is precisely for this reason that, in celebrating the
Easter Vigil, the Church acclaims the Risen Christ as "the Beginning and
End, the Alpha and Omega". These are the words spoken by the
celebrant as he prepares the Paschal candle, which bears the number of
the current year. These words clearly attest that "Christ is the Lord of
time; he is its beginning and its end; every year, every day and every
moment are embraced by his Incarnation and Resurrection, and thus
become part of the 'fullness of time'". (119)
75. Since Sunday is the weekly Easter, recalling and making present the
day upon which Christ rose from the dead, it is also the day which reveals
the meaning of time. It has nothing in common with the cosmic cycles
according to which natural religion and human culture tend to impose a
structure on time, succumbing perhaps to the myth of eternal return. The
Christian Sunday is wholly other! Springing from the Resurrection, it cuts
through human time, the months, the years, the centuries, like a directional
arrow which points them towards their target: Christ's Second Coming.
Sunday foreshadows the last day, the day of the Parousia, which in a way
is already anticipated by Christ's glory in the event of the Resurrection.
In fact, everything that will happen until the end of the world will be no
more than an extension and unfolding of what happened on the day when
the battered body of the Crucified Lord was raised by the power of the
Spirit and became in turn the wellspring of the Spirit for all humanity.
Christians know that there is no need to wait for another time of salvation,
since, however long the world may last, they are already living in the last
times. Not only the Church, but the cosmos itself and history are
ceaselessly ruled and governed by the glorified Christ. It is this life-force
which propels creation, "groaning in birth-pangs until now" (Rom 8:22),
towards the goal of its full redemption. Mankind can have only a faint
intuition of this process, but Christians have the key and the certainty.
Keeping Sunday holy is the important witness which they are called to
bear, so that every stage of human history will be upheld by hope.
Sunday in the Liturgical Year
76. With its weekly recurrence, the Lord's Day is rooted in the most
ancient tradition of the Church and is vitally important for the Christian.
But there was another rhythm which soon established itself: the annual
liturgical cycle. Human psychology in fact desires the celebration of
anniversaries, associating the return of dates and seasons with the
remembrance of past events. When these events are decisive in the life of
a people, their celebration generally creates a festive atmosphere which
breaks the monotony of daily routine.
Now, by God's design, the great saving events upon which the Church's
life is founded were closely linked to the annual Jewish feasts of Passover
and Pentecost, and were prophetically foreshadowed in them. Since the
second century, the annual celebration of Easter by Christians — having
been added to the weekly Easter celebration — allowed a more ample
meditation on the mystery of Christ crucified and risen. Preceded by a
preparatory fast, celebrated in the course of a long vigil, extended into the
fifty days leading to Pentecost, the feast of Easter — "solemnity of
solemnities" — became the day par excellence for the initiation of
catechumens. Through baptism they die to sin and rise to a new life
because Jesus "was put to death for our sins and raised for our
justification" (Rom 4:25; cf. 6:3-11). Intimately connected to the Paschal
Mystery, the Solemnity of Pentecost takes on special importance,
celebrating as it does the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles
gathered with Mary and inaugurating the mission to all peoples. (120)
77. A similar commemorative logic guided the arrangement of the entire
Liturgical Year. As the Second Vatican Council recalls, the Church
wished to extend throughout the year "the entire mystery of Christ, from
the Incarnation and Nativity to the Ascension, to the day of Pentecost and
to the waiting in blessed hope for the return of the Lord. Remembering in
this way the mysteries of redemption, the Church opens to the faithful the
treasury of the Lord's power and merits, making them present in some
sense to all times, so that the faithful may approach them and be filled by
them with the grace of salvation". (121)
After Easter and Pentecost, the most solemn celebration is undoubtedly
the Nativity of the Lord, when Christians ponder the mystery of the
Incarnation and contemplate the Word of God who deigns to assume our
humanity in order to give us a share in his divinity.
78. Likewise, "in celebrating this annual cycle of the mysteries of Christ,
the holy Church venerates with special love the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of God, united forever with the saving work of her Son". (122) In
a similar way, by inserting into the annual cycle the commemoration of the
martyrs and other saints on the occasion of their anniversaries, "the Church
proclaims the Easter mystery of the saints who suffered with Christ and
with him are now glorified". (123) When celebrated in the true spirit of the
liturgy, the commemoration of the saints does not obscure the centrality of
Christ, but on the contrary extols it, demonstrating as it does the power of
the redemption wrought by him. As Saint Paulinus of Nola sings, "all things
pass, but the glory of the saints endures in Christ, who renews all things,
while he himself remains unchanged". (124) The intrinsic relationship
between the glory of the saints and that of Christ is built into the very
arrangement of the Liturgical Year, and is expressed most eloquently in the
fundamental and sovereign character of Sunday as the Lord's Day.
Following the seasons of the Liturgical Year in the Sunday observance
which structures it from beginning to end, the ecclesial and spiritual
commitment of Christians comes to be profoundly anchored in Christ, in
whom believers find their reason for living and from whom they draw
sustenance and inspiration.
79. Sunday emerges therefore as the natural model for understanding and
celebrating these feast-days of the Liturgical Year, which are of such value
for the Christian life that the Church has chosen to emphasize their
importance by making it obligatory for the faithful to attend Mass and to
observe a time of rest, even though these feast-days may fall on variable
days of the week. (125) Their number has been changed from time to
time, taking into account social and economic conditions, as also how
firmly they are established in tradition, and how well they are supported by
civil legislation. (126)
The present canonical and liturgical provisions allow each Episcopal
Conference, because of particular circumstances in one country or
another, to reduce the list of Holy Days of obligation. Any decision in this
regard needs to receive the special approval of the Apostolic See, (127)
and in such cases the celebration of a mystery of the Lord, such as the
Epiphany, the Ascension or the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of
Christ, must be transferred to Sunday, in accordance with liturgical norms,
so that the faithful are not denied the chance to meditate upon the mystery.
(128) Pastors should also take care to encourage the faithful to attend
Mass on other important feast-days celebrated during the week. (129)
80. There is a need for special pastoral attention to the many situations
where there is a risk that the popular and cultural traditions of a region
may intrude upon the celebration of Sundays and other liturgical
feast-days, mingling the spirit of genuine Christian faith with elements
which are foreign to it and may distort it. In such cases, catechesis and
well-chosen pastoral initiatives need to clarify these situations, eliminating
all that is incompatible with the Gospel of Christ. At the same time, it
should not be forgotten that these traditions — and, by analogy, some
recent cultural initiatives in civil society — often embody values which are
not difficult to integrate with the demands of faith. It rests with the
discernment of Pastors to preserve the genuine values found in the culture
of a particular social context and especially in popular piety, so that
liturgical celebration — above all on Sundays and holy days — does not
suffer but rather may actually benefit. (130)
CONCLUSION
81. The spiritual and pastoral riches of Sunday, as it has been handed on
to us by tradition, are truly great. When its significance and implications
are understood in their entirety, Sunday in a way becomes a synthesis of
the Christian life and a condition for living it well. It is clear therefore why
the observance of the Lord's Day is so close to the Church's heart, and
why in the Church's discipline it remains a real obligation. Yet more than
as a precept, the observance should be seen as a need rising from the
depths of Christian life. It is crucially important that all the faithful should
be convinced that they cannot live their faith or share fully in the life of the
Christian community unless they take part regularly in the Sunday
Eucharistic assembly. The Eucharist is the full realization of the worship
which humanity owes to God, and it cannot be compared to any other
religious experience. A particularly efficacious expression of this is the
Sunday gathering of the entire community, obedient to the voice of the
Risen Lord who calls the faithful together to give them the light of his word
and the nourishment of his Body as the perennial sacramental wellspring of
redemption. The grace flowing from this wellspring renews mankind, life
and history.
82. It is with this strong conviction of faith, and with awareness of the
heritage of human values which the observance of Sunday entails, that
Christians today must face the enticements of a culture which has accepted
the benefits of rest and free time, but which often uses them frivolously and
is at times attracted by morally questionable forms of entertainment.
Certainly, Christians are no different from other people in enjoying the
weekly day of rest; but at the same time they are keenly aware of the
uniqueness and originality of Sunday, the day on which they are called to
celebrate their salvation and the salvation of all humanity. Sunday is the
day of joy and the day of rest precisely because it is "the Lord's Day", the
day of the Risen Lord.
83. Understood and lived in this fashion, Sunday in a way becomes the
soul of the other days, and in this sense we can recall the insight of Origen
that the perfect Christian "is always in the Lord's Day, and is always
celebrating Sunday". (131) Sunday is a true school, an enduring
programme of Church pedagogy — an irreplaceable pedagogy, especially
with social conditions now marked more and more by a fragmentation and
cultural pluralism which constantly test the faithfulness of individual
Christians to the practical demands of their faith. In many parts of the
world, we see a "diaspora" Christianity, which is put to the test because
the scattered disciples of Christ can no longer easily maintain contact with
one another, and lack the support of the structures and traditions proper
to Christian culture. In a situation of such difficulty, the opportunity to
come together on Sundays with fellow believers, exchanging gifts of
brother- hood, is an indispensable help.
84. Sustaining Christian life as it does, Sunday has the additional value of
being a testimony and a proclamation. As a day of prayer, communion and
joy, Sunday resounds throughout society, emanating vital energies and
reasons for hope. Sunday is the proclamation that time, in which he who is
the Risen Lord of history makes his home, is not the grave of our illusions
but the cradle of an ever new future, an opportunity given to us to turn the
fleeting moments of this life into seeds of eternity. Sunday is an invitation to
look ahead; it is the day on which the Christian community cries out to
Christ, "Marana tha: Come, O Lord!" (1 Cor 16:22). With this cry of
hope and expectation, the Church is the companion and support of human
hope. From Sunday to Sunday, enlightened by Christ, she goes forward
towards the unending Sunday of the heavenly Jerusalem, which "has no
need of the sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light
and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rev 21:23).
85. As she strains towards her goal, the Church is sustained and enlivened
by the Spirit. It is he who awakens memory and makes present for every
generation of believers the event of the Resurrection. He is the inward gift
uniting us to the Risen Lord and to our brothers and sisters in the intimacy
of a single body, reviving our faith, filling our hearts with charity and
renewing our hope. The Spirit is unfailingly present to every one of the
Church's days, appearing unpredictably and lavishly with the wealth of his
gifts. But it is in the Sunday gathering for the weekly celebration of Easter
that the Church listens to the Spirit in a special way and reaches out with
him to Christ in the ardent desire that he return in glory: "The Spirit and the
Bride say, 'Come!'" (Rev 22:17). Precisely in consideration of the role of
the Spirit, I have wished that this exhortation aimed at rediscovering the
meaning of Sunday should appear in this year which, in the immediate
preparation for the Jubilee, is dedicated to the Holy Spirit.
86. I entrust this Apostolic Letter to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin,
that it may be received and put into practice by the Christian community.
Without in any way detracting from the centrality of Christ and his Spirit,
Mary is always present in the Church's Sunday. It is the mystery of Christ
itself which demands this: indeed, how could she who is Mater Domini
and Mater Ecclesiae fail to be uniquely present on the day which is both
dies Domini and dies Ecclesiae?
As they listen to the word proclaimed in the Sunday assembly, the faithful
look to the Virgin Mary, learning from her to keep it and ponder it in their
hearts (cf. Lk 2:19). With Mary, they learn to stand at the foot of the
Cross, offering to the Father the sacrifice of Christ and joining to it the
offering of their own lives. With Mary, they experience the joy of the
Resurrection, making their own the words of the Magnificat which extol
the inexhaustible gift of divine mercy in the inexorable flow of time: "His
mercy is from age to age upon those who fear him" (Lk 1:50). From
Sunday to Sunday, the pilgrim people follow in the footsteps of Mary, and
her maternal intercession gives special power and fervour to the prayer
which rises from the Church to the Most Holy Trinity.
87. Dear Brothers and Sisters, the imminence of the Jubilee invites us to a
deeper spiritual and pastoral commitment. Indeed, this is its true purpose.
In the Jubilee year, much will be done to give it the particular stamp
demanded by the ending of the Second Millennium and the beginning of
the Third since the Incarnation of the Word of God. But this year and this
special time will pass, as we look to other jubilees and other solemn
events. As the weekly "solemnity", however, Sunday will continue to
shape the time of the Church's pilgrimage, until that Sunday which will
know no evening.
Therefore, dear Brother Bishops and Priests, I urge you to work tirelessly
with the faithful to ensure that the value of this sacred day is understood
and lived ever more deeply. This will bear rich fruit in Christian
communities, and will not fail to have a positive influence on civil society as
a whole.
In coming to know the Church, which every Sunday joyfully celebrates the
mystery from which she draws her life, may the men and women of the
Third Millennium come to know the Risen Christ. And constantly renewed
by the weekly commemoration of Easter, may Christ's disciples be ever
more credible in proclaiming the Gospel of salvation and ever more
effective in building the civilization of love.
My blessing to you all!
From the Vatican, on 31 May, the Solemnity of Pentecost, in the year
1998, the twentieth of my Pontificate.
INDEX
Introduction
DIES DOMINI
The Celebration of the Creator's Work
"Through him all things were made" (Jn 1:3)
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gn 1:1)
"Shabbat": the Creator's joyful rest
"God blessed the seventh day and made it holy" (Gn 2:3)
"To keep holy" by "remembering"
From the Sabbath to Sunday
Chapter II
DIES CHRISTI
The Day of the Risen Lord and of the Gift of the Holy Spirit
The first day of the week
Growing distinction from the Sabbath
The day of the new creation
The eighth day: image of eternity
The day of Christ-Light
The day of the gift of the Spirit
The day of faith
An indispensable day!
Chapter III
DIES ECCLESIAE
The Eucharistic Assembly: Heart of Sunday
The Eucharistic assembly
The Sunday Eucharist
The day of the Church
A pilgrim people
The day of hope
The table of the word
The table of the Body of Christ
Easter banquet and fraternal gathering
From Mass to "mission"
The Sunday obligation
A joyful celebration in song
A celebration involving all
Other moments of the Christian Sunday
Sunday assemblies without a priest
Radio and television
Chapter IV
DIES HOMINIS
Sunday: Day of Joy, Rest and Solidarity
The fulfilment of the Sabbath
The day of rest
A day of solidarity
Chapter V
DIES DIERUM
Sunday: the Primordial Feast, Revealing the Meaning of Time
Christ the Alpha and Omega of time
Sunday in the Liturgical Year
(1) Cf. Rev 1:10: "Kyriake heméra"; cf. also the Didaché 14, 1, Saint
Ignatius of Antioch, To the Magnesians 9, 1-2; SC 10, 88-89.
(2) Pseudo-Eusebius of Alexandria, Sermon 16: PG 86, 416.
(3) In Die Dominica Paschae II, 52: CCL 78, 550.
(4) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 106.
(5) Ibid.
(6) Cf. Motu Proprio Mysterii Paschalis (14 February 1969): AAS 61
(1969), 222-226.
(7) Cf. Pastoral Note of the Italian Episcopal Conference "Il giorno del
Signore" (15 July 1984), 5: Enchiridion CEI 3, 1398.
(8) Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 106.
(9) Homily for the Solemn Inauguration of the Pontificate (22 October
1978), 5: AAS 70 (1978), 947.
(10) No. 25: AAS 73 (1981), 639.
(11) Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium
et Spes, 34.
(12) For our Jewish brothers and sisters, a "nuptial" spirituality
characterizes the Sabbath, as appears, for example, in texts of Genesis
Rabbah such as X, 9 and XI, 8 (cf. J. Neusner, Genesis Rabbah, vol. I,
Atlanta 1985, p. 107 and p. 117). The song Leka Dôdi is also nuptial in
tone: "Your God will delight in you, as the Bridegroom delights in the
Bride ... In the midst of the faithful of your beloved people, come O Bride,
O Shabbat Queen" (cf. Preghiera serale del sabato, issued by A. Toaff,
Rome, 1968-69, p. 3).
(13) Cf. A. J. Heschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man
(22nd ed., 1995), pp. 3-24.
(14) "Verum autem sabbatum ipsum redemptorem nostrum Iesum
Christum Dominum habemus": Epist. 13, 1: CCL 140A, 992.
(15) Ep. ad Decentium XXV, 4, 7: PL 20, 555.
(16) Homiliae in Hexaemeron II, 8: SC 26, 184.
(17) Cf. In Io. Ev. Tractatus XX, 20, 2: CCL 36, 203; Epist. 55, 2:
CSEL 34, 170-171.
(18) The reference to the Resurrection is especially clear in Russian, which
calls Sunday simply "Resurrection" (Voskresenie).
(19) Epist. 10, 96, 7.
(20) Cf. ibid. In reference to Pliny's letter, Tertullian also recalls the
coetus antelucani in Apologeticum 2, 6: CCL 1, 88; De Corona 3, 3:
CCL 2, 1043.
(21) To the Magnesians 9, 1-2: SC 10, 88-89.
(22) Sermon 8 in the Octave of Easter 4: PL 46, 841. This sense of
Sunday as "the first day" is clear in the Latin liturgical calendar, where
Monday is called feria secunda, Tuesday feria tertia and so on. In
Portuguese, the days are named in the same way.
(23) Saint Gregory of Nyssa, De Castigatione: PG 46, 309. The
Maronite Liturgy also stresses the link between the Sabbath and Sunday,
beginning with the "mystery of Holy Saturday" (cf. M. Hayek, Maronite
[Eglise], Dictionnaire de spiritualité, X [1980], 632-644).]
(24) Rite of Baptism of Children, No. 9; cf. Rite of Christian Initiation
of Adults, No. 59.
(25) Cf. Roman Missal, Rite of Blessing and Sprinkling of Holy Water.
(26) Cf. Saint Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 27, 66: SC 17, 484-485. Cf.
also Letter of Barnabas 15, 8-9: SC 172, 186-189; Saint Justin,
Dialogue with Trypho 24; 138: PG 6, 528, 793; Origen, Commentary
on the Psalms, Psalm 118(119), 1: PG 12, 1588.
(27) "Domine, praestitisti nobis pacem quietis, pacem sabbati, pacem
sine vespera": Confess., 13, 50: CCL 27, 272.
(28) Cf. Saint Augustine, Epist. 55, 17: CSEL 34, 188: "Ita ergo erit
octavus, qui primus, ut prima vita sed aeterna reddatur".
(29) Thus in English "Sunday" and in German "Sonntag".
(30) Apologia I, 67: PG 6, 430.
(31) Cf. Saint Maximus of Turin, Sermo 44, 1: CCL 23, 178; Sermo 53,
2: CCL 23, 219; Eusebius of Caesarea, Comm. in Ps. 91: PG 23,
1169-1173.
(32) See, for example, the Hymn of the Office of Readings: "Dies
aetasque ceteris octava splendet sanctior in te quam, Iesu, consecras
primitiae surgentium (Week I); and also: "Salve dies, dierum gloria,
dies felix Christi victoria, dies digna iugi laetitia dies prima. Lux
divina caecis irradiat, in qua Christus infernum spoliat, mortem
vincit et reconciliat summis ima" (Week II). Similar expressions are
found in hymns included in the Liturgy of the Hours in various modern
languages.
(33) Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, VI, 138, 1-2: PG 9, 364.
(34) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Dominum et Vivificantem (18
May 1986), 22-26: AAS 78 (1986), 829-837.
(35) Cf. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, Sunday Letters 1, 10: PG 26,
1366.
(36) Cf. Bardesanes, Dialogue on Destiny, 46: PS 2, 606-607.
(37) Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium,
Appendix: Declaration on the Reform of the Calendar.
(38) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 9.
(39) Cf. John Paul II, Letter Dominicae Cenae (24 February 1980), 4:
AAS 72 (1980), 120; Encyclical Letter Dominum et Vivificantem (18
May 1986), 62-64: AAS 78 (1986), 889-894.
(40) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Vicesimus Quintus Annus (4
December 1988), 9: AAS 81 (1989), 905-906.
(41) No. 2177.
(42) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Vicesimus Quintus Annus (4
December 1988), 9: AAS 81 (1989), 905-906.
(43) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 41; cf. Decree on the Pastoral Office
of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus, 15.
(44) These are the words of the Embolism, formulated in this or similar
ways in some of the Eucharistic Prayers of the different languages. They
stress powerfully the "Paschal" character of Sunday.
(45) Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops
of the Catholic Church on Certain Aspects of the Church as Communion
Communionis Notio (28 May 1992), 11-14: AAS 85 (1993), 844-847.
(46) Speech to the Third Group of the Bishops of the United States of
America (17 March 1998), 4: L'Osservatore Romano, 18 March 1998,
4.
(47) Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 42.
(48) Sacred Congregation of Rites, Instruction on the Worship of the
Eucharistic Mystery Eucharisticum Mysterium (25 May 1967), 26: AAS
59 (1967), 555.
(49) Cf. Saint Cyprian, De Orat. Dom. 23: PL 4, 553; De Cath. Eccl.
Unitate, 7: CSEL 31, 215; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 4; Constitution on
the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 26.
(50) Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (22
November 1981), 57; 61: AAS 74 (1982), 151; 154.
(51) Cf. Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Directory for Masses
with Children (1 November 1973): AAS 66 (1974), 30-46.
(52) Cf. Sacred Congregation of Rites, Instruction on the Worship of the
Eucharistic Mystery Eucharisticum Mysterium (25 May 1967), 26: AAS
59 (1967), 555-556; Sacred Congregation for Bishops, Directory for the
Pastoral Ministry of Bishops Ecclesiae Imago (22 February 1973), 86c:
Enchiridion Vaticanum 4, 2071.
(53) Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles
Laici (30 December 1988), 30: AAS 81 (1989), 446-447.
(54) Cf. Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Instruction Masses for
Particular Groups (15 May 1969), 10: AAS 61 (1969), 810.
(55) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 48-51.
(56) "Haec est vita nostra, ut desiderando exerceamur": Saint
Augustine, In Prima Ioan. Tract. 4, 6: SC 75, 232.
(57) Roman Missal, Embolism after the Lord's Prayer.
(58) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 1.
(59) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church Lumen Gentium, 1; cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Dominum
et Vivificantem (18 May 1986), 61-64: AAS 78 (1986), 888-894.
(60) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7; cf. 33.
(61) Ibid., 56; cf. Ordo Lectionum Missae, Praenotanda, No. 10.
(62) Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 51.
(63) Cf. ibid., 52; Code of Canon Law, Canon 767, 2; Code of Canons
of the Eastern Churches, Canon 614.
(64) Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum (3 April 1969): AAS 61
(1969), 220.
(65) The Council's Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium speaks of
"suavis et vivus Sacrae Scripturae affectus" (No. 24).
(66) John Paul II, Letter Dominicae Cenae (24 February 1980), 10:
AAS 72 (1980), 135.
(67) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 25.
(68) Cf. Ordo Lectionum Missae, Praenotanda, Chap. III.
(69) Cf. Ordo Lectionum Missae, Praenotanda, Chap. I, No. 6.
(70) Ecumenical Council of Trent, Session XXII, Doctrine and Canons
on the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, II: DS 1743; cf. Catechism of
the Catholic Church, 1366.
(71) Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1368.
(72) Sacred Congregation of Rites, Instruction on the Worship of the
Eucharistic Mystery Eucharisticum Mysterium (25 May 1967), 3b: AAS
59 (1967), 541; cf. Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Mediator Dei (20
November 1947), II: AAS 39 (1947), 564-566.
(73) Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1385; cf. also
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the
Catholic Church concerning the Reception of Eucharistic
Communion by Divorced and Remarried Faithful (14 September
1994): AAS 86 (1994), 974-979.
(74) Cf. Innocent I, Epist. 25, 1 to Decentius of Gubbio: PL 20, 553.
(75) II, 59, 2-3: ed. F. X. Funk, 1905, pp. 170-171.
(76) Cf. Apologia I, 67, 3-5: PG 6, 430.
(77) Acta SS. Saturnini, Dativi et aliorum plurimorum Martyrum in
Africa, 7, 9, 10: PL 8, 707, 709-710.
(78) Cf. Canon 21, Mansi, Conc. II, 9.
(79) Cf. Canon 47, Mansi, Conc. VIII, 332.
(80) Cf. the contrary proposition, condemned by Innocent XI in 1679,
concerning the moral obligation to keep the feast-day holy: DS 2152.
(81) Canon 1248: "Festis de praecepto diebus Missa audienda est":
Canon 1247, 1: "Dies festi sub praecepto in universa Ecclesia
sunt...omnes et singuli dies dominici".
(82) Code of Canon Law, Canon 1247; the Code of Canons of the
Eastern Churches, Canon 881, 1, prescribes that "the Christian faithful
are bound by the obligation to participate on Sundays and feast days in the
Divine Liturgy or, according to the prescriptions or legitimate customs of
their own Church sui iuris, in the celebration of the divine praises".
(83) No. 2181: "Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a
grave sin".
(84) Sacred Congregation for Bishops, Directory for the Pastoral Ministry
of Bishops Ecclesiae Imago (22 February 1973), 86a: Enchiridion
Vaticanum 4, 2069.
(85) Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 905, 2.
(86) Cf. Pius XII, Apostolic Constitution Christus Dominus (6 January
1953): AAS 45 (1953), 15-24; Motu Proprio Sacram Communionem
(19 March 1957): AAS 49 (1957), 177-178. Congregation of the Holy
Office, Instruction on the Discipline concerning the Eucharist Fast (6
January 1953): AAS 45 (1953), 47-51.
(87) Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 1248, 1; Code of Canons of the
Eastern Churches, Canon 881, 2.
(88) Cf. Missale Romanum, Normae Universales de Anno Liturgico et
de Calendario, 3.
(89) Cf. Sacred Congregation of Bishops, Directory for the Pastoral
Ministry of Bishops Ecclesiae Imago (22 February 1973), 86:
Enchiridion Vaticanum 4, 2069-2073.
(90) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 14; 26; John Paul II, Apostolic Letter
Vicesimus Quintus Annus (4 December 1988), 4; 6; 12: AAS 81
(1989), 900-901; 902; 909-910.
(91) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 10.
(92) Cf. Interdicasterial Instruction on Certain Questions concerning the
Collaboration of Lay Faithful in the Ministry of Priests Ecclesiae de
Mysterio (15 August 1997), 6; 8: AAS 89 (1997), 869; 870-872.
(93) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church Lumen Gentium, 10: "in oblationem Eucharistiae concurrunt".
(94) Ibid., 11.
(95) Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 1248, 2.
(96) Cf. Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Directory for Sunday
Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest Christi Ecclesia (2 June 1988):
Enchiridion Vaticanum 11, 442-468; Interdicasterial Instruction on
Certain Questions concerning the Collaboration of Lay Faithful in the
Ministry of Priests Ecclesiae de Mysterio (15 August 1997): AAS 89
(1997), 852-877.
(97) Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 1248, 2; Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Sacerdotium Ministeriale (6 August 1983),
III: AAS 75 (1983), 1007.
(98) Cf. Pontifical Commission for Social Communications, Instruction
Communio et Progressio (23 May 1971), 150-152; 157: AAS 63
(1971), 645-646; 647.
(99) This is the Deacon's proclamation in honour of the Lord's Day: cf. the
Syriac text in the Missal of the Church of Antioch of the Maronites
(edition in Syriac and Arabic), Jounieh (Lebanon) 1959, p. 38.
(100) V, 20, 11: ed. F. X. Funk, 1905, p. 298; cf. Didache 14, 1: ed. F.
X. Funk, 1901, p. 32; Tertullian, Apologeticum 16, 11: CCL 1, 116. See
in particular the Epistle of Barnabas, 15, 9: SC 172, 188-189: "This is
why we celebrate as a joyous feast the eighth day on which Jesus was
raised from the dead and, after having appeared, ascended into heaven".
(101) Tertullian for example tells us that on Sunday it was forbidden to
kneel, since kneeling, which was then seen as an essentially penitential
gesture, seemed unsuited to the day of joy. Cf. De Corona 3, 4: CCL 2,
1043.
(102) Ep. 55, 28: CSEL 342, 202.
(103) Cf. Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Derniers
entretiens, 5-6 July 1897, in: Oeuvres complètes, Cerf - Desclée de
Brouwer, Paris, 1992, pp. 1024-1025.
(104) Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete in Domino (9 May 1975), II: AAS
67 (1975), 295.
(105) Ibid. VII, l.c., 322.
(106) Hex. 6, 10, 76: CSEL 321, 261.
(107) Cf. The Edict of Constantine, 3 July 321: Codex Theodosianus II,
tit. 8, 1, ed. T. Mommsen, 12, p. 87; Codex Iustiniani, 3, 12, 2, ed. P.
Krueger, p. 248.
(108) Cf. Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine, 4, 18: PG 20,
1165.
(109) The most ancient text of this kind is can. 29 of the Council of
Laodicea (second half of the fourth century): Mansi, II, 569-570. From
the sixth to the ninth century, many Councils prohibited "opera ruralia".
The legislation on prohibited activities, supported by civil laws, became
increasingly detailed.
(110) Cf. Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum (15 May 1891): Acta
Leonis XIII 11 (1891), 127-128.
(111) Hex. 2, 1, 1: CSEL 321, 41.
(112) Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 1247; Code of Canons of the
Eastern Churches, Canon 881, 1; 4.
(113) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 9.
(114) Cf. also Saint Justin, Apologia I, 67, 6: "Each of those who have an
abundance and who wish to make an offering gives freely whatever he
chooses, and what is collected is given to him who presides and he assists
the orphans, the widows, the sick, the poor, the prisoners, the foreign
visitors — in a word, he helps all those who are in need": PG 6, 430.
(115) De Nabuthae, 10, 45: "Audis, dives, quid Dominus Deus dicat?
Et tu ad ecclesiam venis, non ut aliquid largiaris pauperi, sed ut
auferas": CSEL 322, 492.
(116) Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, 50, 3-4: PG 58, 508-509.
(117) Saint Paulinus of Nola, Ep. 13, 11-12 to Pammachius: CSEL 29,
92-93. The Roman Senator is praised because, by combining participation
in the Eucharist with distribution of food to the poor, he in a sense
reproduced the Gospel miracle.
(118) John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente (10
November 1994), 10: AAS 87 (1995), 11.
(119) Ibid.
(120) Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 731-732.
(121) Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 102.
(122) Ibid., 103.
(123) Ibid., 104.
(124) Carm. XVI, 3-4: "Omnia praetereunt, sanctorum gloria durat in
Christo qui cuncta novat, dum permanet ipse": CSEL 30, 67.
(125) Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 1247; Code of Canons of the
Eastern Churches, Canon 881, 1; 4.
(126) By general law, the holy days of obligation in the Latin Church are
the Feasts of the Nativity of the Lord, the Epiphany, the Ascension, the
Body and Blood of Christ, Mary Mother of God, the Immaculate
Conception, the Assumption, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul and All
Saints: cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 1246. The holy days of obligation
in all the Eastern Churches are the Feasts of the Nativity of the Lord, the
Epiphany, the Ascension, the Dormition of Mary Mother of God and
Saints Peter and Paul: cf. Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches,
Canon 880, 3.
(127) Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 1246, 2; for the Eastern
Churches, cf. Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Canon 880, 3.
(128) Cf. Sacred Congregation of Rites, Normae Universales de Anno
Liturgico et de Calendario (21 March 1969), 5, 7: Enchiridion
Vaticanum 3, 895; 897.
(129) Cf. Caeremoniale Episcoporum, ed. typica 1995, No. 230.
(130) Cf. ibid., No. 233.
(131) Contra Celsum VIII, 22: SC 150, 222-224.
m VIII, 22: SC 150, 222-224.
(131) Contra Celsum VIII, 22: SC 150, 222-224.
Liturgico et de Calendario (21 March 1969), 5, 7: Enchiridion
Vaticanum 3, 895; 897.
(129) Cf. Caeremoniale Episcoporum, ed. typica 1995, No. 230.
(130) Cf. ibid., No. 233.
(131) Contra Celsum VIII, 22: SC 150, 222-224.