Sunday is "the foundation and kernel of
the whole liturgical year".
YOUCAT Catechism +
Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 187
Ave Maria series
187 How important is Sunday?
Sunday is the center of Christian time, for on Sunday we
celebrate Christ’s Resurrection, and every Sunday is a miniature Easter. [1163-1167,
1193]
Woodcut illustration: …..Invitation
to the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24; Matthew 22:1-14) by Jan Luyken. …..187
If Sunday is disregarded or abolished, only work days are
left in the week. Man, who was created
for joy, degenerates into a workhorse and a mindless consumer. We must learn on earth how to celebrate
properly, or else we will not know what to do in heaven. Heaven is an endless Sunday. 104-107.
[1163-1167, 1193]
WHEN IS THE LITURGY CELEBRATED?
1163 "Holy Mother Church
believes that she should celebrate the saving work of her divine Spouse in a
sacred commemoration on certain days throughout the course of the year. Once
each week, on the day which she has called the Lord's Day, she keeps the memory
of the Lord's resurrection. She also celebrates it once every year, together
with his blessed Passion, at Easter, that most solemn of all feasts. In the
course of the year, moreover, she unfolds the whole mystery of Christ.
. . . Thus recalling the mysteries of the redemption, she opens up to
the faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in
some way made present in every age; the faithful lay hold of them and are
filled with saving grace."(Sacrosanctum
Concilium 102)33 –Catechism
of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
1165 When the Church celebrates the mystery of Christ, there is a
word that marks her prayer: "Today!" - a word echoing the prayer her
Lord taught her and the call of the Holy Spirit. (compare Matthew 6:11; Hebrews 3:7-4:11; Psalm 95:7)34 This "today" of the living God which
man is called to enter is "the hour" of Jesus' Passover, which
reaches across and underlies all history: –CCC
Life extends over all
beings and fills them with unlimited light; the Orient of orients pervades the
universe, and he who was "before the daystar" and before the heavenly
bodies, immortal and vast, the great Christ, shines over all beings more
brightly than the sun. Therefore a day of long, eternal light is ushered in for
us who believe in him, a day which is never blotted out: the mystical Passover.
(St.
Hippolytus, De pasch. 1-2 Sources Chrẻtiennes 27,117)35 –CCC
1166 "By a tradition handed down from the
apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the
Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is
appropriately called the Lord's Day or Sunday." (Sacrosanctum
Concilium 106)36 The day of Christ's
Resurrection is both the first day of the week, the memorial of the first day
of creation, and the "eighth day," on which Christ after his
"rest" on the great sabbath inaugurates the "day that the Lord
has made," the "day that knows no evening." (Byzantine
liturgy)37 The Lord's Supper is its center, for there the whole community
of the faithful encounters the risen Lord who invites them to his banquet: (compare
John 21:12; Luke 24:30)38 –CCC
The Lord's day, the day
of Resurrection, the day of Christians, is our day. It is called the Lord's day
because on it the Lord rose victorious to the Father. If pagans call it the
"day of the sun," we willingly agree, for today the light of the
world is raised, today is revealed the sun of justice with healing in his rays.
(St.
Jerome, Pasch.: Corpus
Christianorum, Series Latina 78,550)39 –CCC
1167 Sunday is the pre-eminent day for the liturgical assembly, when
the faithful gather "to listen to the word of God and take part in the
Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and glory of the
Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God who 'has begotten them again, by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' unto a living hope": (Sacrosanctum
Concilium 106.)40 –CCC
IN BRIEF
1193 Sunday, the "Lord's Day," is the principal day
for the celebration of the Eucharist because it is the day of the Resurrection.
It is the pre-eminent day of the liturgical assembly, the day of the Christian
family, and the day of joy and rest from work. Sunday is "the foundation
and kernel of the whole liturgical year". (Sacrosanctum
Concilium 106) –CCC
JT Banquet
Teaching
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