Honoring the Sabbath QUESTION from Angela Medyk May 16, 2000 Why was the Lord's day changed from Saturday to Sunday?
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, O.L.S.M. on June 12, 2000 Dear Mrs. Medyk:
Well we know from the Bible that that apostles and early Christians adopted the practice of meeting for Mass on Sunday from virtually day one.
The reason for this was that our worship as Christians was in honor of the Resurrection of Christ -- which was on Sunday.
In addition there theological reasons that can be asserted. Jesus, as we know from Scripture, FULFILLED the law of Moses and brought a NEW COVENANT.
The Sabbath was a sign of the Old Covenant as was circumcision.
With the New Covenant God established through Jesus a new sign was made -- the day of worship on the day of Resurrection, and the sign of membership changed to baptism.
Jesus died on Friday and rose again on Sunday. This represents the passing of the Old Covenant and the creation of the new. On Friday, in fact, when Jesus died, the veil in the Temple that shield the Holy of Holies ripped AGAINST the grain (which is impossible). This was a major sign that the old covenant with Moses had passed to a New Covenant with Christ.
These sorts of events and signs happened several times in Scripture. There are a total of Five Covenants, and each had its own signs.
Covenant with Adam
Covenant with Noah
Covenant with Abraham
Covenant with Moses
Covenant with Jesus
We have simply passed from one covenant to another, with the new covenant comes its own set of signs and practices.
Back to Index Page