NOTE: The following are DIRECT excerpts from John Paul II's Apostolic letter, "Dies Domini:On Keeping the Lord's Day Holy".  This document was released on May 31, 1998.  It was fitting that it was released on this day, which was the feast of Pentecost - the day on which we commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.  In a time when there is a threat that Sunday will be relegated to merely another day on which the duty to worship Our Lord is forgotten and when business as usual fails to cease, John Paul II penned a gem that reminds Catholics, non-Catholic Christians, and all men and women of good will of the inherent need to give thanks to our Creator and to break free of the "oppresive rhythm" of ordinary life in order to adore God and to renew our relationships with one another.  We would like to hear your stories about how your family observed Sundays in the past or how you observe Sundays now.  We will begin posting responses at the end of this web page within the coming weeks.  You can e-mail your stories to italiancatholiconline@yahoo.com.  Here are the excerpts from Dies Domini:

NOTES FROM DIES DOMINI (The numbers at the end of each excerpt are the section from the actual document from which it comes.  To view Dies Domini in its entirety, go to http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_05071998_dies-domini_en.html)  

Introduction 

-         Sunday has been called “The Lord’s Day” from Apostolic times 1

-         It is Easter which returns week by week 1

-         Sunday…is an invitation to relive in some way the experience of the two disciples of Emmaus, who felt their heart “burn within them” as the Risen One walked with them on the road, explaining the Scriptures and revealing himself in the “breaking of the bread” 1

-         Sunday is the “fundamental feast day”, established not only to mark the succession of time but to reveal time’s deeper meaning. 1

-         Until quite recently, it was easier in traditionally Christian countries to keep Sunday holy because it was an almost universal practice and because, even in the organization of civil society, Sunday rest was considered a fixed part of the work schedule. 4

-         The custom of the “weekend” has become more widespread, a weekly period of respite, spent perhaps far from home and often involving participation in cultural, political or sporting activities which are usually held on free days.  This social and cultural phenomenon is by no means without its positive aspects if, while respecting true values, it can contribute to people’s development and the advancement of the life of society as a whole.  All of this responds not only to the need for rest, but also to the need for celebration which is inherent in our humanity. 4

-         The disciples of Christ, however, are asked to avoid any confusion between the celebration of Sunday…and the “weekend”…this will require a genuine spiritual maturity.  (e.g. rest and relaxation in a simple sense vs. keeping the Lord’s day holy) 4

-         In the minds of many of the faithful, not only the sense of the centrality of the Eucharist but even the sense of the duty to give thanks to the Lord and to pray to him with others in the community of the Church seems to be diminishing. 4

-         I would strongly urge everyone to rediscover Sunday: Do not be afraid to give your time to Christ!  Yes, let us open our time to Christ, that he may cast light upon it and give it direction.  He is the One who knows the secret of time and the secret of eternity, and he gives us “his day” as an ever new gift of his love…Time given to Christ is never time lost, but is rather time gained, so that our relationships and indeed our whole life may become more profoundly human. 4 

Chapter 1: The Celebration of the Creator’s Work 

o   For the Christian, Sunday is above all an Easter celebration, wholly illumined by the glory of the Risen Christ.  It is the festival of the “new creation”…”Through him all things were made, and without him nothing was made.” (John 1:3) 8

o   The poetic style of the Genesis story conveys well the awe which people feel before the immensity of creation and the resulting sense of adoration of the One who brought all things into being from nothing…a hymn to the Creator of the universe, pointing to him as the only Lord in the face of recurring temptations to divinize the world itself…a hymn to the goodness of creation, all fashioned by the mighty and merciful hand of God. 9

o   “God saw that it was good.” (Gen 1:10,12, etc)…sheds a positive light upon every element of the universe…the world is good insofar as it remains tied to its origin and, after being disfigured by sin, it is again made good when, with the help of grace, it returns to the One who made it.  It is clear that this process directly concerns not inanimate objects and animals, but human beings, who have been endowed with the incomparable gift and risk of freedom.  9

o   The first chapters of Genesis constitute in a sense the first “gospel of work”…”Created in God’s image, man was commissioned to subdue the earth and all it contains, to rule the world in justice and holiness, and, recognizing God as the creator of all things, to refer himself and the totality of things to God so that with everything subject to God, the divine name would be glorified in all the earth.” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World – Gaudium et Spes, 34) 10

o   It would be banal to interpret God’s “rest” as a kind of divine “inactivity”.  By its nature, the creative act which founds the world is unceasing and God is always at work…The divine rest…emphasizes the fullness of what has been accomplished…God’s gaze full of joyous delight upon creation…It is a gaze which God casts upon all things, but in a special way upon man, the crown of creation…discloses something of the nuptial shape of the relationship which God wants to establish with the creature made in his own image, by calling that creature to enter a pact of love.  This is what God will gradually accomplish, in offering salvation to all humanity through the saving covenant made with Israel and fulfilled in Christ.  It will be the Word Incarnate, through the eschatological gift of the Holy Spirit and the configuration of the Church as his Body and Bride, who will extend to all humanity the offer of mercy and the call of the Father’s love. 11

o   The Sabbath…Sunday…Israel and then the Church declare that they consider it not just a matter of community religious discipline but a defining and indelible expression of our relationship with God…Although the precept may merge naturally with the human need for rest, it is faith alone which gives access to its deeper meaning and ensures that it will not become banal and trivialized. 13

o   In the first place, therefore, Sunday is the day of rest because it is the day “blessed” by God and “made holy” by him…Time and space belong to him.  He is not the God of one day alone, but the God of all the days of humanity…If God sanctifies the 7^th day w/a special blessing and makes it “his day” par excellence, this must be understood within the deep dynamic of the dialogue of love which knows no interruption, yet is never monotonous 14

o   All human life, and therefore all human time, must become praise of the Creator and thanksgiving to him.  But man’s relationship w/God also demands times of explicit prayer, in which the relationship becomes an intense dialogue, involving every dimension of the person.  “The Lord’s Day” is the day of this relationship par excellence when men and women raise their song to God and become the voice of all creation. 15

o   The day of rest…speaking vividly as it does of “renewal” and “detachment”, of the interruption of the often oppressive rhythm of work expresses the dependence of man and the cosmos upon God…the universe and history belong to God; and without a constant awareness of that truth, man cannot serve in the world as co-worker of the Creator.  15

o   “Remember the Sabbath in order to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8)…Before decreeing that something be done, the commandment urges that something be remembered…a call to awaken remembrance of the grand and fundamental work of God which is creation…Rest therefore acquires a sacred value: the faithful are called to rest not only as God rested, but to rest in the Lord. 16

o   The main point of the precept is not just any kind of interruption of work, but the celebration of the marvels which God has wrought. 17

o   Because the 3^rd Commandment depends upon the remembrance of God’s saving works and because Christians saw the definitive time inaugurated by Christ as a new beginning, they made the first day after the Sabbath a festive day, for that was the day on which the Lord rose from the dead.  18 

Chapter II: The Day of the Risen Lord and the Gift of the Holy Spirit 

o   “We 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”: so wrote Pope Innocent I at the beginning of the 5^th century. 19

o   This is what the Christian Sunday does, leading the faithful each week to ponder and live the event of Easter, true source of the world’s salvation. 19

o   The Book of Revelation gives evidence of the practice of calling the first day of the week “the Lord’s Day” (Rev 1:10) “On the Lord’s day I was caught up in ecstasy, and I heard behind me a piercing voice like the sound of a trumpet.” 21

o   As early as the beginning of the 2^nd century, it was noted by Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, in his report on the Christian practice of “gathering together on a set day before sunrise and singing among themselves a hymn to Christ as to a god.” 21

o   In those early Christian times, the weekly rhythm of days was generally not part of life in the regions where the Gospel spread, and the festive days of the Greek and Roman calendars did not coincide w/the Christian Sunday.  For Christians, therefore, it was very difficult to observe the Lord’s Day on a set day each week.  This explains why the faithful had to gather before sunrise. 22

o   St. Ignatius of Antioch writes: “If those who were living in the former state of things have come to a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath but keeping the Lord’s Day, the day on which our life has appeared through him and his death.” 23

o   Christian thought spontaneously linked the Resurrection, which took place on the “first day of the week”, with the first day of that cosmic week (Gen 1:1-2:4) which shapes the creation story in the Book of Genesis: the day of the creation of light (Gen 1:3-5).  This link invited an understanding of the Resurrection as the beginning of a new creation, the first fruits of which is the glorious Christ, “the first born of all creation” (Col 1:15) and the “first born from the dead”. (Col 1:18) 24

o   Sunday is the day above all other days which summons Christians to remember the salvation which was given to them in baptism and which has made them new in Christ. 25

o   Wise pastoral intuition suggested to the Church the Christianization of the notion of Sunday as “the day of the sun”, which was the Roman name for the day and which is retained in some modern languages.  This was in order to draw the faithful away from the seduction of cults which worshipped the sun, and to direct the celebration of the day to Christ, humanity’s true “sun”.  Writing to the pagans, St. Justin uses the language of the time to note that Christians gather together “on the day named after the sun.” 27

o   Sunday, the day of light, could also be called the day of “fire”, in reference to the Holy Spirit…The “weekly Easter” thus becomes, in a sense, the “weekly Pentecost”, when Christians relive the Apostles’ joyful encounter with the Risen Lord and receive the life-giving breath of his Spirit. 28

o   The first appearance of the Risen Lord becomes an event renewed in the “today” of each of Christ’s disciples.  Gathered in his presence in the Sunday assembly, believers sense themselves called to…”Doubt no longer, but believe” (as St. Thomas was invited to do) 29

o   What began as a spontaneous practice later became a juridically sanctioned norm…The Church feels herself called to a new catechetical and pastoral commitment, in order to ensure that, in the normal course of life, none of her children are deprived of the rich outpouring of grace which the celebration of the Lord’s Day brings. 30 

Chapter 3: The Eucharistic Assembly – Heart of Sunday 

o   As the day of Resurrection, Sunday is not only the remembrance of a past event: it is a celebration of the living presence of the Risen Lord in the midst of his own people. 31

o   Those who have received the grace of baptism are not saved as individuals alone, but as members of the Mystical Body…It is important therefore that they come together to express fully the very identity of the Church, the ekklesia, the assembly called together by the Risen Lord who offered his life “to reunite the scattered children of God” (John 11:52)  They have become “one” in Christ (Galatians 3:28) through the gift of the Spirit. 31

o   At Sunday Mass, Christians relive with particular intensity the experience of the Apostles on the evening of Easter when the Risen Lord appeared to them as they were gathered together (John 20:19).  In a sense, the People of God of all times were present in that small nucleus of disciples, the first fruits of the Church.  Through their testimony, every generation of believers hears the greeting of Christ, rich with the messianic gift of peace, won by his blood and offered with his Spirit: “Peace be with you!”  Christ’s return among them “a week later” (John 20:26) can be seen as a radical prefiguring of the Christian community’s practice of coming together every seven days, on “the Lord’s Day” or Sunday, in order to profess faith in his Resurrection and to receive the blessing which he had promised. 33

o   It is true that, in itself, the Sunday Eucharist is no different from the Eucharist celebrated on other days, nor can it be separated from liturgical and sacramental life as a whole. 34

o   But because of its special solemnity and the obligatory presence of the community, and because it is celebrated “on the day when Christ conquered death and gave us a share in his immortal life”, the Sunday Eucharist expresses w/greater emphasis its inherent ecclesial dimension…In celebrating the Eucharist, the community opens itself to communion w/the universal Church. 34

o   As I (John Paul II) have noted elsewhere, among the many activities of a parish, “none is as vital or as community-forming as the Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Day and his Eucharist. 35

o   For Christian families, the Sunday assembly is one of the most outstanding expressions of their identity and their “ministry” as “domestic churches”, when parents share w/their children at the one Table of the word and of the Bread of Life…it is first of all the parents who must teach their children to participate in Sunday Mass; they are assisted in this by catechists.  36

o   On Sunday, the day of gathering, small group Masses are not to be encouraged: it is not only a question of ensuring that parish assemblies are not without the necessary ministry of priests, but also of ensuring that the life and unity of the Church community are fully safeguarded and promoted. 36

o   Sunday after Sunday the Church moves toward the final “Lord’s Day”, that Sunday which knows no end…the Lord’s Day recalls w/greater intensity the future glory of his “return”.  This makes Sunday the day on which the Church, showing forth more clearly her identity as “Bride”, anticipates in some sense the eschatological reality of the heavenly Jerusalem. 37

o   Sunday is not only the day of faith, but is also the day of Christian hope.  To share in “the Lord’s Supper” is to anticipate the eschatological feast of the “marriage of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9)…the Christian community waits “in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ”…the Church, coming together for the Eucharistic celebration, shows to the world that she makes her own “the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of people today, especially of the poor and all those who suffer”.  38

o   The table of the word offers the same understanding of the history of salvation and especially of the Paschal Mystery which the Risen Lord himself gave to his disciples: it is Christ who speaks, present as he is in his word “when Sacred Scripture is read in the Church” 39

o   It should also be borne in mind that the liturgical proclamation of the word of God, especially in the Eucharistic assembly, is not so much a time for meditation and catechesis as a dialogue between God and his People, a dialogue in which the wonders of salvation are proclaimed and the demands of the Covenant are continually restated.  On their part, the People of God are drawn to respond to this dialogue of love by giving thanks and praise, also by demonstrating their fidelity to the task of continual “conversion”.  The Sunday assembly commits us therefore to an inner renewal of our baptismal promises, which are in a sense implicit in the recitation of the Creed. 41

o   The rhythm of the week prompts us to gather up in grateful memory the events of the days which have just passed, to review them in the light of God and to thank him for his countless gifts, glorifying him “through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit”.  The Christian community thus comes to a renewed awareness of the fact that all things were created through Christ (Col 1:16, John 1:3), and that in Christ, who came in the form of a slave to take on and redeem our human condition, all things have been restored (Eph 1:10), in order to be handed over to God the Father, from whom all things come to be and draw their life.  Then, giving assent to the Eucharistic doxology with their “Amen” the People of God look in faith and hope towards the eschatological end, when Christ “will deliver the kingdom to the Father…so that God may be everything to everyone” (1 Cor 14:24, 28). 42

o   This “Eucharistic” rejoicing which “lifts up our hearts” is the fruit of God’s “descending” movement towards us, which remains forever etched in the essential sacrificial element of the Eucharist…the descent by which Christ “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a Cross”. (Phil 2:8) 43

o     The Mass in fact truly makes present the sacrifice of the Cross.  Under the species of bread and wine, upon which has been invoked the outpouring of the Spirit who works with absolutely unique power in the words of consecration, Christ offers himself to the Father in the same act of sacrifice by which he offered himself on the Cross…To his sacrifice Christ unites the sacrifice of the Church…The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer and work, are united w/those of Christ and w/his total offering, and so acquire a new value.  The truth that the whole community shares in Christ’s sacrifice is especially evident in the Sunday gathering, which makes it possible to bring to the altar the week that has passed, w/all its human burdens. 43

o   The communal character of the Eucharist emerges in a special way when it is seen as the Easter banquet, in which Christ himself becomes our nourishment.  In fact, “for this purpose Christ entrusted to the Church this sacrifice: so that the faithful might share in it, both spiritually, in faith and charity, and sacramentally, in the banquet of Holy Communion…This is why the Church recommends that the faithful receive Communion when they take part in the Eucharist, provided they are properly disposed. 44

o   Need to be ever mindful that communion w/Christ is deeply tied to communion w/our bros. & sisters.  The Sunday Eucharistic gathering is an experience of brotherhood, which the celebration should demonstrate clearly, while ever respecting the nature of the liturgical action. 44

o   Receiving the Bread of Life, the disciples of Christ ready themselves to undertake w/the strength of the Risen Lord and his Spirit the tasks which await them in their ordinary life…Like the first witnesses of the Resurrection, Christians who gather each Sunday to experience and proclaim the presence of the Risen Lord are called to evangelize and bear witness in their daily lives…Once the assembly disperses, Christ’s disciples return to their everyday surroundings with the commitment to make their whole life a gift, a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God (Rom 12:1).  They feel indebted to their bros. and sisters because of what they have rec’d in the celebration, not unlike the disciples of Emmaus who, once they had recognized the Risen Christ “in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:30-32), felt the need to return immediately to share w/their bros. and sisters the joy of meeting the Lord. 45

o   From the earliest centuries, the Pastors of the Church have not ceased to remind the faithful of the need to take part in the liturgical assembly. 46

o   Even if in the earliest times it was not judged necessary to be prescriptive, the Church has not ceased to confirm this obligation of conscience, which rises from the inner need felt so strongly by the Christians of the first centuries.  It was only later, faced w/the half-heartedness or negligence of some, that the Church had to make explicit the duty to attend Sunday Mass: more often than not, this was done in the form of exhortation, but at times the Church had to resort to specific canonical precepts. 47

o   Today, as in the heroic times of the beginning, many who wish to live in accord w/the demands of their faith are being faced w/difficult situations in various parts of the world.  They live in surroundings which are sometimes decidedly hostile and at other times – more frequently in fact – indifferent and unresponsive to the Gospel message. 48

o   Given the nature of Sunday Mass and its importance in the lives of the faithful, it must be prepared w/special care…efforts must be made to ensure that the celebration has the festive character appropriate to the day commemorating the Lord’s Resurrection. 50

o   The faithful must realize that, because of the common priesthood rec’d in Baptism, “they participate in the offering of the Eucharist”.  Although there is a distinction of roles, they still “offer to God the divine victim and themselves w/him.  Offering the sacrifice and receiving Holy Communion, they take part actively in the liturgy.” 51

o   Sharing in the Eucharist is the heart of Sunday, but the duty to keep Sunday holy cannot be reduced to this…it is marked from beginning to end by grateful and active remembrance of God’s saving work.  This commits each of Christ’s disciples to shape the other moments of the day…in such a way that the peace and joy of the Risen Lord will emerge in the ordinary events of life. 52

o   This rather traditional way of keeping Sunday holy has perhaps become more difficult for many people; but the Church shows her faith in the strength of the Risen Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit by making it known that, today more than ever, she is unwilling to settle for minimalism and mediocrity at the level of faith. 52 

Chapter IV: Sunday – Day of Joy, Rest and Solidarity 

o   Even before it was seen as a day of rest, which in any case was not provided for in the civil calendar, Christians celebrated the weekly day of the Risen Lord primarily as a day of joy. 55

o   Sunday, as a weekly echo of the first encounter w/the Risen Lord, is unfailingly marked by the joy w/which the disciples greeted the Master: “The disciples rejoiced to see the Lord”. (John 20:20) 56

o   Certainly, Christian joy must mark the whole of life, and not just one day of the week.  But in virtue of its significance as the day of the Risen Lord, celebrating God’s work of creation and “new creation”, Sunday is the day of joy in a very special way, indeed the day most suitable for learning how to rejoice and to rediscover the true nature and deep roots of joy…should never be confused w/shallow feelings of satisfaction and pleasure, which inebriate the senses and emotions for a brief moment, but then leave the heart unfulfilled and perhaps even embittered…joy is much more enduring and consoling…a “virtue” to be nurtured. 57

o   “Christian joy is a sharing in the unfathomable joy, at once divine and human, found in the heart of the glorified Christ”. (Paul VI) 58

o   Christian Sunday – the fulfillment of the Old Testament Sabbath.  On the Lord’s Day, which…the Old Testament links to the work of Creation and the Exodus, the Christian is called to proclaim the new creation and the new covenant brought about by the Paschal Mystery of Christ.  Far from being abolished, the celebration of creation becomes more profound within a Christocentric perspective, being seen in the light of God’s plan “to unite all things in (Christ), things in Heaven and things on earth”. (Eph 1:10) The remembrance of the liberation of the Exodus also assumes its full meaning as it becomes a remembrance of the universal redemption accomplished by Christ in his death and Resurrection.  More than a “replacement” for the Sabbath, therefore, Sunday is its fulfillment…its extension and full expression…the history of salvation…reaches its culmination in Christ. 59

o   The mystery of the beginning, when the Eternal Word, by a free decision of love, created the world from nothing.  The work of creation was sealed by the blessing and consecration of the day on which God ceased “from all the work which he had done in creation” Gen 2:3).  This day of God’s rest confers meaning upon time, which in the sequence of weeks assumes not only a chronological regularity but also, in a manner of speaking, a theological resonance…time remains open to eternity. 59

o   The rest decreed in order to honor the day dedicated to God is not at all a burden imposed upon man, but rather an aid to help him to recognize his life-giving and liberating dependence upon the Creator, and at the same time his calling to cooperate in the Creator’s work and to receive his grace.  61

o   Christ came to accomplish a new “exodus”, to restore freedom to the oppressed.  He performed many healings on the Sabbath, certainly not to violate the Lord’s Day, but to reveal its full meaning: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)  Opposing the excessively legalistic interpretation of some of his contemporaries, and developing the true meaning of the biblical Sabbath, Jesus, as “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28), restores to the Sabbath observance its liberating character, carefully safeguarding the rights of God and the rights of man.  This is why Christians, called as they are to proclaim the liberation won by the blood of Christ, felt that they had the authority to transfer the meaning of the Sabbath to the day of Resurrection.  The Passover of Christ has in fact liberated man from a slavery more radical then any weighing upon an oppressed people – the slavery of sin, which alienates man from God, and alienates man from himself and from others, constantly sowing within history the seeds of evil and violence. 63

o   For several centuries, Christians observed Sunday simply as a day of worship, without being able to give it the specific meaning of Sabbath rest.  Only in the fourth century did the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize the weekly recurrence, determining that on “the day of the sun” the judges, the people of the cities and the various trade corporations would not work…(Christians) could now devote themselves to prayer in common w/o hindrance. 64

o   Rest is something “sacred”, because it is man’s way of withdrawing from the sometimes excessively demanding cycle of earthly tasks in order to renew his awareness that everything is a work of God.  There is a risk that the prodigious power over creation which God gives to man can lead him to forget that God is the Creator upon whom everything depends. 65

o   Concerning Sunday rest, the Church has had in mind above all the work of servants and workers, certainly not because this work was any less worthy when compared to the spiritual requirements of Sunday observance, but rather because it needed greater regulation to lighten its burden and thus enable everyone to keep the Lord’s Day holy…Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum Novarum spoke of Sunday rest as a worker’s right which the State must guarantee. 66

o   Through Sunday rest, daily concerns and tasks can find their proper perspective: the material things about which we worry give way to spiritual values; in a moment of encounter and less pressured exchange, we see the true face of the people w/whom we live…As the day on which man is at peace w/God, w/himself and w/others, Sunday becomes a moment when people can look anew upon the wonders of nature, allowing themselves to be caught up in that marvelous and mysterious harmony which, in the words of St. Ambrose, weds the many elements of the cosmos in a “bond of communion and peace” by an “inviolable law of concord and love”…If after six days of work – reduced in fact to five for many people – people look for time to relax and the pay more attention to other aspects of their lives, this corresponds to an authentic need which is in full harmony w/the vision of the Gospel message. 67

o   In order that rest may not degenerate into emptiness and boredom, it must offer spiritual enrichment, greater freedom, opportunities for contemplation and fraternal communion.  68

o   Sunday should also give the faithful an opportunity to devote themselves to works of mercy, charity and apostolate.  To experience the joy of the Risen Lord deep within is to share fully the love which pulses in his heart…”I have told you this that my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.  This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:10-12) 69

o   The Sunday Eucharist, therefore, not only does not absolve the faithful from the duties of charity, but on the contrary commits them even more. 69

o   Ever since Apostolic times, the Sunday gathering has in fact been for Christians a moment of sharing w/the very poor…we need to listen once again to the stern warning which Paul addresses to the community at Corinth, guilty of having humiliated the poor in the fraternal agape which accompanied “the Lord’s Supper” 70

o   St. Ambrose addressed words of fire to the rich who presumed to fulfill their religious obligations by attending church w/o sharing their goods w/the poor…St. John Chrysostom: “What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded w/golden chalices, when he is dying of hunger?  Start by satisfying his hunger, and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well.” 71

o   These words effectively remind the Christian community of the duty to make the Eucharist the place where fraternity becomes practical solidarity, where the last are the first in the minds and attentions of the brethren, where Christ himself – through the generous gifts form the rich to the very poor – may somehow prolong in time the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves.  71

o   If Sunday is a day of joy, Christians should declare by their actual behavior that we cannot be happy “on our own”.  They look around to find people who may need their help…It is true that commitment to these people cannot be restricted to occasional Sunday gestures.  But presuming a wider sense of commitment, why not make the Lord’s Day a more intense time of sharing, encouraging all the inventiveness of which Christian charity is capable? 72 

Chapter V: Sunday – The Primordial Feast, Revealing the Meaning of Time 

o   Christ’s…Resurrection is his humanity wholly transfigured and glorified, thus revealing the fullness of his divine identity and glory…”Christ is the Lord of time; he is its beginning and its end; every year, every day and every moment are embraced by his Incarnation and Resurrection, and thus become part of the ‘fullness of time’” 74

o   Since Sunday is the weekly Easter, recalling and making present the day upon which Christ rose from the dead, it is also the day which reveals the meaning of time…Springing from the Resurrection, it cuts through human time, the months, the years, the centuries, like a directional arrow which points them towards their target: Christ’s Second Coming.  Sunday foreshadows the last day, the day of the Parousia, which in a way is already anticipated by Christ’s glory in the event of his Resurrection. 75

o   Christians know that there is no need to wait for another time of salvation, since, however long the world may last, they are already living in the last times.  Not only the Church, but the cosmos itself and history are ceaselessly ruled and governed by the glorified Christ.  75

o   Human psychology in fact desires the celebration of anniversaries, associating the return of dates and seasons w/the remembrance of past events.  When these events are decisive in the life of a people, their celebration generally creates a festive atmosphere which breaks the monotony of daily routine.  76

o   Since the 2^nd century, the annual celebration of Easter by Christians – having been added to the weekly Easter celebration – allowed a more ample meditation on the mystery of Christ crucified and risen. 76

o   Liturgical Year…the Church wished to extend throughout the year “the entire mystery of Christ, from the Incarnation and Nativity to the Ascension, to the day of Pentecost and to the waiting in blessed hope for he return of the Lord.” 77

o   When celebrated in the true spirit of the liturgy, the commemoration of the saints does not obscure the centrality of Christ, but on the contrary extols it, demonstrating as it does the power of the redemption wrought by him.  78 

Conclusion 

o   It is crucially important that all the faithful should be convinced that they cannot live their faith or share fully in the life of the Christian community unless they take part regularly in the Sunday Eucharistic assembly.  The Eucharist is the full realization of the worship which humanity owes to God, and it cannot be compared to any other religious experience. 81

o   Christians today must face the enticements of a culture which has accepted the benefits of rest and free time, but which often uses them frivolously and is at times attracted by morally questionable forms of entertainment.