From:      Rhonda Steiner
To:           heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Subject:      Popes Letter - Why keep Sunday? (Part 3 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 3 of 6)

>From Eddie:
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     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 3 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 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
Councils from the fourth century onwards (as at the Council of Elvira
of 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)

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