From:      Rhonda Steiner
To:           heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Subject:      Popes Letter - Why keep Sunday? (Part 2 of 6)


Shalom,

Thought you might find this Letter from Pope John Paul II on why
catholics should keep Sunday holy, intresting.  (I'll warn you though,
its rather lengthy

http://www.cin.org/jp2/diesdomi.html

Rhonda

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                                        (PART 2 of 6)

>From Eddie:
***************

     Is the Pope's teaching on Sunday being the Sabbath scriptural?
Here is the answer:  In II Timothy 2:15 it is written:

"STUDY to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing (interpreting) the word of truth"

    In Acts 17:11 it is written:

"These (the Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in
that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched
the scriptures daily, whether these things were so".

   May God bless you in your studies with the help of the Ruach
HaKodesh / Holy Spirit leading and guiding you into all truth (John
16:13)

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                                        (PART 2 of 6)


                                       APOSTOLIC LETTER

                                          DIES DOMINI

                               OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II

               TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY AND FAITHFUL OF THE CATHOLIC
               CHURCH

                               ON KEEPING THE LORD'S DAY HOLY


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.

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