ARTICLE 3
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT
I. The Sabbath Day
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The third commandment of the Decalogue recalls the holiness of the sabbath: "The seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD."
92
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In speaking of the sabbath Scripture recalls creation: "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it."
93
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Scripture also reveals in the
Lord’s day a memorial of Israel’s liberation from bondage in Egypt: "You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with mighty hand and outstretched arm; therefore the
LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day."94
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God entrusted the sabbath to Israel **to keep as a sign of the irrevocable covenant.**
95 The sabbath is for the Lord, holy and
set apart for the praise of God, his work of creation, and his saving actions on behalf of Israel.
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God’s action is the model for human action. If God “rested and was refreshed” on the seventh day, man too ought to “rest” and should let others, especially the poor, "be refreshed."
96 The sabbath brings everyday work to a halt and provides a respite. It is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money.
97
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The Gospel reports many incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the sabbath law. But Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of this day.
98 He gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation: "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath."
99 With compassion, Christ declares the sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing.
100 The sabbath is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God.
101 "The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."102
**II. The Lord’s Day **
This is the day which
the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
103
The day of the Resurrection: the new creation
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Jesus rose from the dead
"on the first day of the week."
104 Because it is the “first day,” the day of Christ’s Resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the “eighth day” following the sabbath,105
it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ’s Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord’s Day (he kuriake hemera, dies dominica)—Sunday:
We all gather on the day of the sun, for it is the first day [after the Jewish sabbath, but also the first day] when God, separating matter from darkness, made the world; and on this same day Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead.
106
Sunday—fulfillment of the sabbath
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Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ’s Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ, and what was done there prefigured some aspects of Christ:
107
Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer keeping the sabbath, but the Lord’s Day, in which our life is blessed by him and by his death.108
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The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship "as a sign of his universal beneficence to all."
109 Sunday worship fulfills the moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of his people**.
The Sunday obligation
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The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass.”**117 **"The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day."
118
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The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor.
119 Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.
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Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church. The faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity. Together they testify to God’s holiness and their hope of salvation. They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
When you read the Catechism notice the smaller numbers. They are refrences found at the bottom of the page.Some are from the Bible and others are from the Early Church Fathers and other writings.
The Catechsim of the Catholic Church
usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt1art3.shtml
