This post gives my response (only) to the legalistic argument for the Saturday sabbath over the Sunday observance made by Lou, one of the Internet’s more offensive anti-Catholics.
Father Joe writes:
As for Scripture verses that seem to put things in a more balanced perspective, we read:
“For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never be the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 10:1).
Believers in Jesus assemble on Sunday to commemorate the Lord’s Supper and the one sacrifice that makes true and lasting reparation to the throne of God. The Sunday Eucharist, not temple sacrifice or synagogue service, is the foretaste of the “good things” offered by our Savior.
“Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:23-26).
The coming of Christ has changed many things. God, who is Spirit, is reflected in the face of Jesus Christ. This ushers in a new age regarding the economy of images. Thus, the early Christians developed religious art and statuary to convey their faith and devotion. Christian faith in Jesus is paramount and the Sunday observance of his resurrection becomes an element of the new law over the old.
“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them.’ Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law; for ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live’; but the law does not rest on faith, for ‘He who does them shall live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us— for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree’ – that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:10-13).
The law was the Hebrew elaboration upon the Ten Commandments and the various ancient divine mandates. While the commandments retain their binding force, it is in light of Christ’s two-fold commandment to love God and neighbor. The old law is reinterpreted in light of the Christ-event and the lived-situation of converts for whom the “eighth day” was the principal occasion for celebrating their faith and their spiritual adoption.
“For Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who has faith may be justified” (Romans 10:4).
This confirms the Catholic interpretation of Matthew 5:17-18. Heaven and earth, as we knew it, has indeed passed away.
There are various Scriptures that place the spirit of the law over the letter. This might also be applied to the Christian Sunday since believers taking a day to praise and honor God will surely please our Lord. I can just see Lou now with his Seventh Day Adventist proclivities, banging his feet and shouting at God: “That’s not fair, God! They did not keep the right day! They had no right to single out Sunday as a day to commemorate Christ’s resurrection and to assemble. It is Saturday or nothing! They should be punished, not rewarded for remembering and loving you!”
“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God, who has qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, NOT IN A WRITTEN CODE BUT IN SPIRIT; for the written code kills, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE. Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses’ face because of its brightness, fading as this was, will not the DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT BE ATTENDED WITH GREATER SPLENDOR? For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor. Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it. For if what faded away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor. Since we have such a hope, WE ARE VERY BOLD . . .” (2 Corinthians 3:5-12).
Our Lord is alive in his Church, making his presence and authority available. When Christ’s disciples were condemned by the Pharisees for plucking and eating the ears of grain on the Sabbath, our Lord defended them, saying, “And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. FOR THE SON OF MAN IS LORD OF THE SABBATH” (Matthew 12:7-8). The rabid imitation of SDA faith that Lou promotes makes him an heir to the Pharisees. Lou witnesses this attitude on a viciously anti-Catholic website operated by his partner in crime Nicholas. Dispersions against those who worship God on Sunday (and not a pagan deity either) fall upon men and women who act in good faith. Instead of supporting their efforts to bring Jesus Christ back into people’s lives, they ridicule those who want a restoration of blue laws as pawns of the anti-Christ and associates of the Whore of Babylon.
There is a real sickness in their polemics. We need to pray for them.
Furthermore, the law of God mandated circumcision, and yet through the intervention of St. Paul, and the acceptance of St. Peter at the Council of Jerusalem, the Church abrogated that which was a major sign of membership in the People of God. One would not have to become Jewish before becoming a Christian. The matter of transferring the Sabbath to the day that commemorated Christ’s resurrection would seem a far easier matter and there is no critical debate among believers. “He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal” (Romans 2:29). Of course, up until modern times, many Christians, and Catholics in particular, took both Saturday and Sunday as special days of rest to be with family and to reaffirm their commitment to God. Many Catholics attend the Saturday night anticipatory Mass for Sunday. The Neocatechumenal Way, a religious association in the Church for post-baptismal catechesis, celebrates its liturgies ONLY on the Saturday Hebrew Sabbath. A menorah candle burns on the altar and the congregation dances the Jewish Mishnah around the altar at the end of the liturgy. They pledge obedience to the Pope and function entirely within the good graces of the Roman Catholic Church. They have so many vocations that they operate a number of their own seminaries, including a notable one in New Jersey. Thus, one could say that there is a growing restoration of the ancient Hebrew elements and the significance of the Jewish Sabbath, particularly as blended to the resurrection theme so very important on Sunday.
Filed under: Anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Catholic, Church, Sabbath | Leave a comment »
Pope” and “the Modernist Rome.” Some of their sermons online and various writings go so far as to call counterfeit both the “Novus Ordo” priesthood and the “new” Mass. One writer claimed that since Cardinal Ratzinger was made a bishop under the new ritual that he did not share in the episcopacy and thus could not be a genuine pope. People like that will not want to “pollute” themselves with any association with the rest of us. There is a lot of wishful thinking, but after almost a half-century separation, many of them have gotten used to their independence. Slamming the rest of the Church and slurring the Holy Father, at least in sermons and in routine discourse has become second-nature. They do not seem the least bit afraid that they might be committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Even Bishop Bernard Fellay has lamented this problem. It has become a habit hard or next to impossible to break. They will not reconnect with what they see as the enemy.
The Body of Christ has yet another meaning and here we are indebted to St. Paul. The union that exists between Christ and his people (since their baptism into Christ by the waters of the sacrament) is identified as the Body of Christ by St. Paul. Looking at 1 Corinthians 12:27, we read: “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.” St. Paul refers to the Church as the Body of Christ. He likens all of us, united to Christ and to each other, as in an intimate union. At Baptism, each of us, if you will, becomes a cell in that body and at the same time participating in the life of the whole body with its head, Christ. That union is not a physical union as in nailing two boards together, nor is it a moral union as when people are united as members of the same club or organization. This union of Christ and his members is unique; so much so, that we have to make up a new phrase to help us understand it. We call it the Mystical Body of Christ. All of us are united to Christ and to one another. Christ tried to inform us of this union with the parable of the vine and the branches. As the branch must adhere to the vine to live; we must adhere to Christ. Life must flow through Christ, the vine, to the branches, bringing about the fruit of our lives. St. Paul, back when he was Saul, persecuted the early Christians. Our Lord called out to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord responded, “I am Jesus the one you are persecuting” (see Acts 9: 4-5 and Acts 22: 7-8). Again, our attention is called to the union between Christ and his people. Christ also said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me” (Matthew 25: 40). Modern social concerns tell us to see Christ in the poor, underprivileged and handicapped persons. We see in these references a reality telling us of the union that is likened to the human body. Christ is the head. We are the members. All of us are important. St. Paul says, “Does the hand say to the foot, I have no need of you?” (see 1 Corinthians 12: 15). All of us have our mission in the Church, the gathered-together people with Christ. Each of us has a mission. It may be very different from another’s mission; but, each of us is important. When we say in the Nicene Creed, “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” or in the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in … the holy catholic Church,” this does not refer only to the hierarchy but to the whole Christ. At Mass, we beseech God, not to look on our sinfulness, but on the faith of the Church. When I hear this, I think of the known and unknown sacrifices being made by missionaries and martyrs, the unseen raising of children, care for the poor and the sick, and the elderly praying with gnarled hands. This Mystical Body has a structure like the human body with its skeleton; otherwise, it would collapse. Our structure is the Pope, bishops, priests and lay people. The union of people is composed of the saints in heaven, the ones who are striving to get to heaven (pilgrim people) and those waiting for perfection so as to be entirely one with Christ. While Jesus has a human body, a resurrected body; now, he also has the Church as his Mystical Body, where we are united spiritually in its members to Christ and to one another. At baptism we became children of God, members of the divine household and family. We are in union with Christ, both when we pray alone and when we worship together.
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