James Gibbons - Sabbath Day / Sunday Commentary

Sabbath Day / Sunday Commentary

James Cardinal Gibbons stated “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." Sunday is implicit only in that it is the day of the Lord's resurrection, and was quickly honored as such by the earliest Christians, as it was never made explicit in the pages of Scripture: "For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible." As it was the first day of the week and the day of the Resurrection, it symbolized the New Life in Christ. According to the Catholic Church and virtually all other Christian denominations - Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic - the ritual elements of the Mosaic law, such as observance of Sabbath or dietary laws, were abrogated by the coming of Christ and the New Covenant; St Thomas Aquinas went so far as to say practicing ritual elements of the Mosaic law was a mortal sin, as it was tantamount to denying that the Messiah had come.

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Famous quotes containing the words sabbath day, sabbath, day, sunday and/or commentary:

    Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
    Bible: Hebrew Exodus, 20:8-11.

    The fourth commandment.

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    Nature confounds her summer distinctions at this season. The heavens seem to be nearer the earth. The elements are less reserved and distinct. Water turns to ice, rain to snow. The day is but a Scandinavian night. The winter is an arctic summer.
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    We may be scum, but at least we’re la crème de la scum.
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