By gathering as a parish family to celebrate and receive the Holy Eucharist each Sunday and then “resting in the Lord” as a family for the remainder of the day, we become practically what we are in truth, an image of the triune God Who is love.Ĭertainly there are obstacles in our contemporary culture to living Sunday as a day of worship and rest.
If Christians in the midst of the world are to keep alive a Christian culture and the spirit of Easter throughout the year, it is essential to truly live Sunday as “the Day of the Lord.” Man is an image of God, and God is a community of persons (the Blessed Trinity). This is a tradition going back to the Apostles, taking its origin from the actual day of Christ’s resurrection – a day thus appropriately designated ‘the Lord’s Day’” (SC, 106). The Second Vatican Council reaffirmed that “every seven days, the Church celebrates the Easter mystery. At the beginning of the 5th century, Pope Innocent I wrote that “e celebrate Sunday because of the venerable Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and we do so not only at Easter but also at each turning of the week.” Saint Basil proclaimed “holy Sunday, honored by the Lord’s Resurrection, the first fruits of the other days,” and Saint Augustine called Sunday “a sacrament of Easter.” Truly, the Day of the Lord In connecting Sunday with Easter, Saint John Paul II followed an ancient tradition in the Church. It is Easter which returns week by week, celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and death…” (DD, 1).
In fact, in the weekly reckoning of time, Sunday recalls the day of Christ’s resurrection. In His apostolic letter Dies Domini, Saint John Paul II reminds us that “The Lord’s Day – as Sunday was called from Apostolic times – has always been accorded special attention in the history of the Church because of its close connection with the very core of the Christian mystery.
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