The Ten Commandments (not the 10 Suggestions) were a gift from our Lord, which spelled out the Natural Law, which God has written on each person’s heart.
The first three Commandments concern our relationship with God and are found on the first tablet. The last seven Commandments, concern our relationships with other people and are found on the second tablet. If we cannot keep the first three Commandments, we will not be able to keep the last seven.
The Third Commandment reads: “REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THE LORD’S DAY. ”
Which day is The Lord’s Day or Sabbath? For the first Chosen People, the last day of the week — Saturday — was the Sabbath. But, for the new Chosen People, the Sabbath is celebrated on Sunday, the first day of the week. “And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, being to depart on the morrow; and he continued his speech until midnight.” (Acts: 20:7)
Who had the authority to change the day of the Sabbath? Who has the authority to declare that other days of the year be observed as the Sabbath is observed?
“[41] He [Andrew] findeth first his brother Simon, and saith to him: ‘We have found The Messias’, which is, being interpreted, The Christ. [42] And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: ‘Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas’, which is interpreted Peter. (St. John 1: 41–42)
Now, why would Jesus change Simon’s name to Cephas/Peter? God only changes names for a good reason. Jesus did not ask Simon’s permission to change his name; He just did it. Peter is the English translation of Cephas, and they both mean “Rock”. When Jesus asked the Apostles Who they said that He was, “[16] Simon Peter answered and said: ‘Thou art Christ, The Son of The Living God.’ [17] And Jesus answering, said to him: ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father, Who Is in Heaven. [18] And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ And I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven. (St. Matthew: 16:16–19)
This is where the authority of the Visible Head of The Catholic Church, the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father, the Pope, is established by Jesus, while He was still on earth. Our Lord did not come to the earth as a Baby Human, live, suffer, put up with Apostles, who did not understand Who He Was and what His Mission was, die a horrendously painful Death, rise from the dead, and then tell His Apostles that they could go out and do whatever they wanted to do. No, He trained them for three, long years, died, rose from the dead, trained them for 40 more days, ascended into Heaven, and then sent back The Paraclete — The Holy Ghost — to give His Apostles everything, that they needed to live and spread The Faith to all others, no matter what.
The power and authority given to St. Peter, have been handed down from St. Peter to each and every Pope until now, and this will continue until the end of the time, as our Lord has not left us orphans. The Holy Ghost will not physically allow the Holy Father, as Head of The Church on earth, to teach anything, which is wrong concerning what we believe (faith) and how we behave (morals) to get to Heaven. That is the guarantee, which Jesus Christ, God The Son, has given to His Church, called The Catholic Church, since 100 A.D. by St. Ignatius of Antioch. “Catholic” in this context meaning “universal” and “right-teaching”, to distinguish the members of Jesus’ Church from other Christians, who were not following our Lord’s Teachings.
ALL SUNDAYS OF THE YEAR ARE, PROPERLY SPEAKING, HOLYDAYS OF OBLIGATION.
THE OTHER HOLYDAYS OF OBLIGATION FOR THE USA ARE:
JANUARY 1ST (-new regulation — unless it falls on a Saturday or a Monday),
ASCENSION THURSDAY,
ASSUMPTION, AUGUST 15TH (-new reg. — unless it falls on a Saturday or a Monday),
ALL SAINTS’ DAY, NOVEMBER 1ST (-new reg. — unless it falls on a Saturday or a Monday),
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, DECEMBER 8TH, and
CHRISTMASS, DECEMBER 25TH.
For The Universal Church: St. Joseph’s Feast, March 19th, and the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29th, are Holydays of Obligation, but the U.S. Bishops have somehow opted out of their being obligatory in the U.S.
Whether or not a Holyday of Obligation lands on a Saturday or a Monday, let’s observe it as well as we can.
“If you keep The Lord’s Day, holy, The Lord will keep you holy.”
Remember, that, besides going to Holy Mass on Sundays and other Holydays of Obligation, we should refrain from working (unless we could not keep our job), from encouraging others to work, through shopping, bowling, eating out,… as much as we can; thus, we should rest and not do work around the house, we should do acts of charity for others in need or for our enemies, and we should pray and/or read The Bible more. When it concerns a true emergency, we can do what is necessary to address that emergency, even on Sunday.
Even if one has not been taught the huge importance of Sunday — the rest of our week is blessed or cursed according to how we treat God’s Day — we are still responsible for doing the necessary research to learn The Faith, passed down to us and living it. If one misses going to Holy Mass on a Sunday or on another Holyday of Obligation, when one could have gotten there, one commits a mortal sin. This sin breaks one’s relationship with God, whether one knows it or not. If one does this, one cannot go to Holy Communion until one goes to Confession. If one does go to Holy Communion, without Confession, one commits the sin of sacrilege, which digs an even deeper hole for him. One needs to go to Confession, as soon as possible, and, with true sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment, confess one’s sin/s and make his relationship with our Lord right, again. Take a look at:
for a good way to prepare yourself to make a good Confession.
The Lord is NOT waiting for anyone to sin or to fall! He is waiting for one, who has committed mortal sin, to realize what he has done and come back to Him — He would probably say (if He were not All-Knowing), “Where have you been? What took you so long to get here?” He did not come to send us to hell; instead, through His Church, He gave us every means to get to Heaven the quickest, most direct way, possible, and He wants EVERYONE to belong to HIS Church, The Catholic Church.
WHAT are you waiting for?
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