The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 281: Keep Holy the Lord’s Day

Episode Date: October 8, 2023

We begin exploring the third commandment and learn about rest and worship concerning the Lord’s Day. The Catechism points out that God models what he wants for us as he also rested on the seventh day. Fr. Mike explains the importance of prioritizing rest for ourselves because we are free and no longer enslaved people. The Catechism describes how we are to keep the Lord’s Day holy with “outward, visible, public, and regular worship ‘as a sign of his universal beneficence to all.’” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 2168-2176. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism Any Year Podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in the Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 281, we were getting paragraphs 2168 to 2176. As always, I'm using the ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach,

but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 281.

You guys, I know I said this yesterday, but this is incredible. I mean, we're close to 300, which means we're close to 365, which means we're close to completing the entire catacasem. Here we are completed yesterday, the second commandment. Today we're starting the third commandment,

which is so good because why? Well, you know the first through the third commandment, today we're starting the third commandment, which is so good, because why? Well, you know the first through the third commandment directly relate to God, and then, of course, starting after this, commandments four through ten, how do we relate to each other? But I just, there's something about this, of course, the first commandment, and have no other gods before the Lord God, and the second commandment, to keep Holy the Lord's name. But the third commandment about, I remember the the Sabbath day to keep it holy, there's something again we come back to this worship, come back to what we owe to God.

Remember we talked about this before because the Catechism highlights this that the virtue of justice, the primary sub-virtue of justice is the virtue of religion, and the way in which we express live out the virtue of religion is through worship. And so what we'll talk about today is just the beginnings of that. That here we are, and this commandment to keep holy to Sabbath is not for the Lord, it's not because He needs anything, it's not because He needs our worship, it is because we need it. This commandment corresponds to how human beings have made a corresponds to the human heart.

And this is just so important for us to recognize this, because if we don't recognize this, one of the things that we forget is we forget what it is to be human. To be human is to be oriented towards worship of God. To recognize that we are not the center of the universe. The God is the source, he's the origin, and he's the point, he is the entire point of existence.

He's the source of existence. He is the whole purpose and goal of existence. And so worship ensures that we don't collapse in ourselves, right? Worship ensures that we experience freedom, true freedom by offering the Lord true worship. And so this commandment we get to dive into today is all about that. So we ask the Lord to be with us as we invoke His name, Father in heaven. In the name of your Son Jesus Christ,

we ask that you please fill our hearts with a love of you so that worship can flow from us and can be directed toward your glory, it can be director towards interceding on behalf of this world. Lord God, give us a heart that longs to worship you. Give us hearts that desire of all, that your name is glorified, that you are glorified. Lord God, for every part of our heart

that is opposed to worship, every part of our heart that wants to fall in and ourselves, every part of our heart that wants to be small or selfish, we ask you to please convert that, transform it so that we can truly belong to you, that we can truly be yours. And that every piece of our worship, particularly our worship and the Sunday Mass, is truly for you, for your glory and for the salvation of this world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

amen. It is day 281, we are reading paragraphs 2168 to 2176. Article 3, the Third Commandment. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. In it, you shall not do any work. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. The Sabbath Day 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. 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. 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, 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. God entrusted the Sabbath to Israel to keep as a sign of the irrevocable covenant. 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. 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. 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.

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. He gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation, saying, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. With compassion, Christ declares the Sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing. The Sabbath is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God. The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

The Lord's day, this is the day which the Lord has made, that us rejoice and be glad in it. The Day of the Resurrection, the New Creation. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, 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, 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. Hey Kuryake Emera, D.S. Dominica, Sunday. As St. Justa Marta wrote in the second century, 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. Sunday, fulfillment of the Sabbath. 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. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote, 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. 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. 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. Alright, there we have paragraphs 2168-2176. Man, as I said, it's so powerful and so incredible how important this is.

Now, let's go back to the commandments themselves. So at the very beginning of this article today, we have Exodus chapter 20 and then also a kind of a quote from Deuteronomy 5, of course, where it's, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor into all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to your, the Lord God, and it you shall do not do any work. Going on, Jesus is quoted in Mark's Gospel as saying, the Sabbath withmate for man, not the man for the Sabbath, so the Son of Man is the Lord, even if the Sabbath. Okay, these are the beginnings of how we understand this. What's the very beginning? Here's Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Remember the Sabbath day. So six days you shall labor, do all your work. Seventh day, Sabbath day to the Lord your God, and hit you shall not do any work. There is

a pointing to the story of creation. And that story of creation, of course, is that here is God who makes heavens and the earth, everything that's in them. And the day one through day six, and on the seventh day he rests. So what we're invited to do is, we're invited into living like the Lord, right? We're invited into working six days and resting that seventh day. We're invited to live and structure our lives around almost the very first description of God in Genesis chapter one, which is so incredible. We're invited into this. Now the next piece of this is also explained and unpacked in Deeronomy chapter 5, where it says, 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. This is so incredible for us. First, the commandment in, obviously, Exodus 20, directly pointed to the fact that we're called to live like the Lord. Six days of work, one day of rest, okay? But also, Deuron V highlights this. Remember the context for the commandment. The context for the commandment is the Exodus.

So here is the Lord God who brings his people, whom he loves, right? Out of slavery, there were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. And now they're free. And to think about this, think about the gift of this. As a slave, question, pop quiz campers, as a slave, how many days off of work do you have a week? Man is zero, you don't have no days off.

Why? Because you're a slave. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is. It doesn't matter if you've been working nonstop. You haven't had a day off for your entire life. You're a slave. Therefore, you must work every single day. Now here is the Lord God.

And he's brought his beloved people, the chosen people of God, from slavery to freedom. And part of the first things he commands them, right? Part of the first things he says, you have to do this is now that you're free, now that you're no longer slaves. You must rest from your labors. Think about how this is connected to the relationship of what God is doing in their lives.

Now, let's bring this to ourselves. You know, we're going to talk about Sunday rest in a couple days. But think about how we resist Sunday rest. In fact, I know this for a fact that when we get to paragraph 2184 and following, it when it talks about the obligation to rest from work, that there are going to be so many people who are like, yeah, but what about this? What about this? But can I work? What do I have to work?

All the questions we're going to have. And in the real questions, because we're trying to apply this to our lives. But there's this aspect of this, the beginning of this commandment, which is, listen, you are no longer a slave. So why in the world do we buck against this commandment to rest on the Sabbath day? Why in the world do we buck against this God trying to make it so clear that you do not have to live like a slave? You are free. You are free.

You are free, therefore, there is a day of rest. Now, paragraph 2172 highlights this. It says, God's action is the model for human action. Remember, six days, one day off. If God rested and was refreshed on the seventh day, then we too ought to rest and should let others, especially the poor, be refreshed. This is part of it. And this is gonna be one of those things that I told you before

is going to convict us. So if the day of rest is for us to rest and to let others be refreshed, what does that mean for how I'm going to structure that day? This is going to be really convicting, but goes on to say, 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. I can think about the way in which this does, as member of the First Commandment, is to not have any gods before the Lord God himself. How many of us are willing to give our whole entire lives for wealth, for power, for security, for status, for all these things?

The worship of money, the worship of power, the worship of influence, the worship of status, the worship of security. I can't take a day off. If I take a day off my whole life's that stake, right? My securities that stake. My status is that stake. And yet What would that mean about status, security, wealth, influence? It might indicate that those things have become an idol in my life. And this third commandment frees me, frees me from that idol, but it has to, it means this, it means I have to actually kill my idol. It means I actually have to, or at least kill that part of my own heart, that it's unwilling to take a break.

It's unwilling to resist the servitude of work. It's unwilling to resist the worship of money, or of status, or of security. And so this is where it becomes so personal. Because here, every one of us, every one of us, and I just putting myself under that umbrella, everyone includes me, includes you. Because I don't, I don't take a break very well. I'll just say that right now. This is such a convicting commandment, because yes, absolutely. We're going to talk about the Lord's Day and the Sunday obligation that we have, the Sunday such a convicting commandment, because yes, absolutely. We're gonna talk about the Lord's Day

and the Sunday obligation that we have, the Sunday Eucharist, absolutely. I will do that without fail to worship the Lord in the mass, without fail, and yet, and then I don't rest. And I think, okay, then what's that mean? What are my idols then? The Server II of Work, if I can't take a break. And let me just bring to you all, And I think, okay, then what's that mean? What are my idols then? The server-to-dove work.

If I can't take a break. And let me just bring to you all. I know. And after 280 plus days, I'm kind of friends by now. And so I think you know me. And I have to ask the question, I have to ask the Lord this question. To God, why do I not give my soul permission to take a break? And the answer, of course, is because stuff needs you to get done, right?

And if I give a whole day to not doing anything to arresting, then I just, I'm afraid, God, I won't get done. Because all the other six days now are, now they're busier, because I arrested, because I didn't do work on that one seventh day. And I'm afraid of that. I just have to let you know that. But I'm afraid of taking a break, because if I take a break,

then the work's not gonna get done. And yet, what does 2172 say? Says 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. Remember that, what I said at the top of this whole thing is God saying, rest why?

Because you're not a slave. And I would even point to myself and say, I don't make good guys. I'm so sorry to bring this in my own personal stuff into this. But even those of us who work for the church, even those of us who are saying, no, have a lord, you're giving me a mission. He says, yeah, I also give you a commandment and that commandment is to rest. So what am I going to do? And I'm going to sacrifice the mission? Because I don't, I'm not willing to rest. Are you going to sacrifice the mission? Because you're not willing to rest.

And this is just so important for all of us to understand like to what is, what's driving us? What's driving my inability to rest? What's driving your inability to rest? Or not maybe not inability on willingness? What's driving your unwillingness or my unwillingness to enter into the Lord's rest? And this is what I'm gonna take this to prairie guys. Again, as I'm saying, just letting these things come to the surface so that I am not talking about any of these things from a high horse.

I am talking about these things from a very low perspective, because I'm just as guilty as everybody. Now the Catechism goes on to say, and highlight the fact that that day of rest, that day of worship of the Lord, has been transferred from Saturday, right, the Sabbath day to Sunday. And why? Well, it makes it very, very clear. Perigaph 21.74. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Because it's the first day, the day of Christ's resurrection, recalls the first creation. It's the eighth day following the Sabbath, therefore it symbolizes the new creation

ushered in by the Lord's resurrection. So for Christians, it has become the first of all days, first of all feasts, it is the Lord's day. So ever since the very beginning, the beginning of Christianity, those early Christians recognized that the Lord's day is now Sunday. And it was transferred from that day of rest, the day of the Lord, from Saturday to Sunday.

And this is just important for us to understand. There are some Christians who will say, no, no, no, it's still the Sabbath, it's still Saturday, and that's not accurate, not for Christians at least. Then paragraph 2175 and 2176, go on to clarify in a very powerful way that Sunday is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. So Sunday is expressly distinguished from the Sabbath, which it follows chronologically every week. So it is, it's not as if we're also keeping the Sabbath

in the ways, it is expressly distinguished from that Saturday. For Christians, its Sundays, ceremonial observance, replaces that of the Sabbath. In Christ 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 that was done there, and now it's fulfilled.

So, as we find ourselves, we don't hold on to Saturday as that day because it's been fulfilled in Jesus. The last paragraph, 2176, I think just hits my heart in a way that hopefully hits your heart where it says, 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. Isn't that just, that's it. Remember, all of us are recreated for worship. We're created to offer to God our best, our worst, our everything. And this celebration of Sunday comes to our moral commandment and just it corresponds

with the deepest desire of the human heart, which is to render to God the outward, right? So it's not just kind of like an inward thing visible, not just kind of a made up thing, public. It's not my own thing, that case, and regular worship, not like when I feel like it. All four of those words are very important and outward visible, public, and regular worship. Outward, because again, it has to be directed toward the Lord, not inward. It's not about how I feel. Visible, there is something concrete and tangible about this. It's public. It's not my own private worship I'm offering to God. Even though sometimes people say, no, I'm going to go into the woods and often regard my worship. No, you're going for a walk and maybe you're talking to God. It's not the same thing. It's not the same thing at all.

And regular worship. I'm not just going when I feel like it. Tomorrow we're going to talk about how vitally important it is that we recognize that the Sunday you Christ is not an odd again, off again thing, it's not when it's convenient, it's when it's convenient and inconvenient. It isn't always in every week kind of a situation because we have to be willing to give the Lord the worship that He deserves that belongs to Him in season and out of season, whether convenient or inconvenient. Regardless of how I'm feeling or regardless of my circumstances, we have to be willing to have those kinds of hearts, those kinds of lives that are willing to say at least once

a week, everything else fails in comparison to worship of God. At least once a week, everything else doesn't stand a chance that can't hold a candle to the need that I have in my heart. In need of my have in my humanity, the need that there is in the universe to stop at least once a week and say God has no rival. At least once a week. God has no rival. Whether I like this or don't like it, whether it's convenient or inconvenient, whether it's in season or out of season, every Sunday, I must be there. That's what we're talking about tomorrow. But right now, please pray for each

other because we need this rest. We need this worship. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. Obviously, my eyes follow my neck. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.