St Paul Says This...

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Why do we have to goto to sunday mass everytime if we always attend mass more than just sunday? St paul says something like this, "Some have prefered days and some don't." And what if whenever the sunday obligation rule was made that it was aimed at worker serfs, back in those days people had to work 6 days a week and some 7 to make a living and feed there family and had to be ordered to goto sunday mass at the least. Of course all this is musing and i am not a schismatic and will believe what the holy magesterium teaches, but just what if, and this needs to be clarified at another vatican council.

[cappie]

The moral obligation to participate in the eucharistic sacrifice on Sundays dates from the very beginning of Christianity, although it did not become a definite law of the Church until the fourth century. The Second Vatican Council reminds us that "apostolic tradition of the Church is, from the very day of the resurrection of Christ, to celebrate the Pasch every eight days, on the day which is called the day of the Lord" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium", 106).

The first mention of this is to be found in Sacred Scripture is in St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians, written in the year 57. The Apostle refers "to the first day of the week" (16, 1-2) as the most appropriate for the collection for the poorer communities. About two years later the Acts of the Apostles tell of the celebration of the eucharist in Troas: "on the first day of the week" (20, 7-8). Here we are given to understand that the celebration takes place in the evening or the night of the day before. This custom was observed in the Church until the last century and has been restored since the Council. From the foregoing it is clear that in Greece, Galatia, Bithynia, and consequently in Palestine and Syria, during the first half of the first century, the celebration of the eucharist on the first day of the week was a common establishment among Christian communities.

We first hear of this day being referred to as the Lord's day in the Apocalypse of St. John, 1, 9-10: "I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day". In Latin it is called "Dominica" or "Dies Dominicus", a name which is retained in the Latin languages: "domingo, domenica, dimanche, domineca", etc.; while in the Germanic languages the pagan name is retained "dies solis" (sonntag, Sunday), in Russia it is called "voskresenie," after the resurrection of the Lord; the Armenians call it "haruthjan" and "deruni," which means "the Lord's Day."

In Didache, 14, I the Sunday celebration seems obligatory: "On Sundays, get together and break the bread and give thanks, confessing your sins in order that your sacrifice may be pure." This testimony pertains to the second half of the first century. In the second century, St. Justin, writing to a pagan, gives us a striking description of Holy Mass being celebrated every Sunday, referred to by him as "dies solis"; and he goes on to explain that those who live in towns and villages attend this sacred assembly ("Apologia" I, 67). During the same period we have Dionisius of Corinth speaking of the first day of the week as a "holy day" ("PG", 20, 388). From here on we can find numerous descriptions of the Sunday Eucharistic celebration and also of the Christians' obligation of participating in the same.

Through the writings of the Fathers of the Church, especially in that of St. Ignatius of Antioch, we can see the changes that took place in these Christians converted from Judaism. This saint, in his letter to the Magnesians says: "...they gave up keeping the Sabbath and began by living according to the Sunday celebration, the day in which a new life was born for us through the grace of the Lord and the merits of his death" (9, 1).

In the writings of St. Justin we can find the same line of thought. Having described the Sunday Eucharistic celebration as resembling our Sunday Mass he adds: "We hold this celebration on the ‘dies solis’ because it is the first day, the day in which God created the world, and also the day in which Christ, our Savior rose from the dead". (Apol. 1, 67, 7)

It is observed by Dix and Jungmann, to quote only two of the many specialists on the subject, that the early Christians gave prime importance to the dominical Eucharistic assembly, in spite of varied persecutions and sufferings.

The most expressive testimony of this aspect of the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays can be found in the "Didaskalia Apostolorum" of the third century: "teach the faithful and exhort them to be present at Sunday Mass, less they decrease the Church by their absence and deprive the mystical body of Christ of one of its members; they should hear the words of Christ as directed to each one of them in particular: "he who does not gather with me scatters" (Luke 11,23). Because you are members of Christ your only meeting place is the Church. Because Christ makes himself present as promised and communicates with us, you cannot belittle yourselves nor deprive the Savior of his members, you cannot separate or divide his body (c. 13).

This mystical presence of Christ in the Sunday assembly referred to in the "Didaskalia has been stressed through the tradition of the Church right down to our own day. This awareness of the presence of Christ, the assembly of the faithful, and all the elements of the liturgical celebration give a festive note of joy that cannot be found in any other gathering. It is not without reason that St. John Chrysostom said: "It is to a banquet that the Lord calls you ... you are invited to rest.... In the Church joy triumphs over grief and heals the wounds in your heart. Oh, heavenly call! Let's hurry! But at the same time let's honor this Sunday meeting by what we are and by what we do." ("In Osiam hom. 1,1)

The obligation of hearing Mass on Sundays, being a precept of the Church, could be altered or changed by the competent hierarchy of the Church; but the Church has not done so. On the contrary she has been over-generous in offering facilities for its fulfillment, and by simplifying the rites and offering a greater abundance of biblical and liturgical texts, she has exhorted that the eucharist be celebrated with the maximum power of pastoral efficacy. All the existing problems were studied by the bishops in the Second Vatican Council. Nevertheless in n. 106 of the constitution "Sacrosanctum Concilium" Sunday has been underlined as a day in which the faithful gather "so that by hearing the Word of God, and taking part in the eucharist, they may call to mind the passion, resurrection and glorification of the Lord Jesus, and may thank God." And they add: "Hence the Lord's Day, is the original feast day and it should be proposed to the faithful and taught to them in such a way that it may become in fact a day of joy and freedom from work."

The instruction "Eucharisticum Mysterium" of May 25, 1967, having put forward the theological meaning and apostolic origin of Sunday, goes on to say: "In order that the faithful may willingly fulfill the precept to sanctify this day and should understand why the Church should call them together to celebrate the eucharist every Sunday, from the very outset of their Christian formation Sunday should be presented to them as the primordial feast day, on which, assembled together, they are to hear the Word of God and take part in the Paschal Mystery. Moreover, any endeavor that seeks to make Sunday a genuine day of joy and rest from work should be encouraged." (AAS, 59 (1967), pp. 539-573, no. 25).

Pope Paul VI spoke about the importance of the distribution of the days of the week, in such a way that, on Sunday the Christian imposes on himself some fixed religious observance. He quoted no. 106 of the constitution "Sacrosanctum Concilium" already cited and added: "We will do well in always considering this standard as all-important in our religious and social customs." (1, 1978, p. 17)

The old Spanish liturgy used to admonish the people : "Sunday is a day of light and of life. On that day, Christ, the life of the faithful, rose from the dead. Let us celebrate it with solemnity in order to deserve a blissful peace."

Edited August 15, 2012 by cappie