KEEPING HOLY THE SABBATH DAY

A MESSAGE FOR THE 16th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

To prepare himself to receive the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai, Moses fasted for forty days and forty nights. When he came back down the mountain, his face was so radiant that it seemed as though two bright rays of light shone from it.  With him, he carried two great tablets of stone on which were inscribed those ten great laws which we all learned from the catechism when we were young, and which we strive every day to follow.

The solemnity with which these laws were given to the chosen people was deliberate on the part of God, and was intended to impress upon them the importance of keeping these laws.  The Ten Commandments are not merely guidelines to help us lead a moral life—they are direct orders made to us by our Creator, who demands that we follow them.  The degree to which we keep these commandments is the gauge by which our love for God is measured: “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.”

The Third Commandment is to remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.  In the Christian Church, the Sabbath is kept on the first day of the week, the day on which Christ vanquished Satan by rising from the dead, and on which he poured forth his Holy Spirit upon his Church that she might continue his work of redemption through the daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  We are not obliged to attend daily Mass, but merely to observe this Third Commandment, to go to Mass at least once a week on Sunday. It is a commandment.  God is not joking.  He does not say “Try to keep holy the sabbath day.”  On the contrary, he emphasizes its importance by telling us to “remember” to keep it holy.  Remember—don’t forget, don’t make excuses, don’t fail to make this your first priority every Sunday!

And if you also remember those words of our Lord—“if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments,” you’ll be at his Mass every single week, come rain, come shine; you’ll find somewhere to go to his Mass when you’re traveling on vacation or on business; you’ll arrange your schedule so that your job, your hobbies, your everthing else does not interfere with or prevent you from attending his Mass.  Why? Because it is God who commands it. And we love him enough to obey.