On the Day of the Lord
God commanded “Remember the Sabbath day in order to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8). “Shabbat”, that literally means “he rested”, must be observed as a day of no work. And when God sanctified the Sabbath (v.11), came the command to make it a day of prayer. Further, he commanded the Israelites to keep the Sabbath as a way of remembering the salvation from Egypt that he has wrought (cf. Dt. 5:15).
In Dies Domini, St. John Paul II emphasized the act of “remembering” as to oblige everyone to truly make the Lord’s day holy. Remembering the grace of creation puts one in awe of the magnificence and goodness of God. Remembering the grace of salvation puts one in debt to the saving power of God. With these marvels of creation and salvation, how can one not keep the Day of the Lord holy by worship, adoration and thanksgiving that are due to God?
With the coming of the New Covenant came the shift from Sabbath to Sunday: from the end of the week to the first day of the week because Christ resurrected on the first day of the week after the Sabbath was over (Mk. 16:9). The Resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental event upon which the Christian Faith rests (DD 2; cf 1Cor 15:14). It is the culmination of the great Paschal Mystery that brought salvation from sin. When the early Christians began to gather on every first day of the week (cf 1Cor 16:2), came the gradual shift of observing the day of the Lord from Sabbath to Sunday. The first day of the week became the day of remembering the Resurrection of Jesus.
On the night of the Passover that became the Holy Thursday of the Holy Week, Jesus transformed the Jewish Feast into the Sacrament of the Eucharist. When he took the bread in remembrance of the unleavened bread at the time of Exodus, he proclaimed: “Take and eat, for this is my body. When he took the chalice of wine in remembrance of the blood of the lambs that were painted onto the lintel and doorposts of the houses of the Israelites, he proclaimed: “Take and drink, for this is my blood, of the new and eternal covenant which shall be poured out for the forgiveness of sins”. And with the command, “Do this in remembrance of me,” came the tradition of breaking bread whenever the disciples gather in an assembly (Latin: Ecclesia = Church). Since the early Christians gathered on the first day of the week, breaking of the bread then became the center of the rite of remembering the Passion, Death and the Resurrection of Jesus (cf. Acts 20:7).
Thus, on Sundays, the head of each week, may the Eucharist be its heart so that truly we remember to keep and make holy the Lord’s Day.
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