Expert: George A. Card,sfo, M.I - 7/20/2010

Question
QUESTION: why is you catholics dont believe in the sabbath? if the sabbath is of the old covenant then why did paul keep the sabbath. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Acts 17:2. Also show me where in the Bible the sabbath was done away with or the Lord said not to keep the sabbath. ive never sunday worship mentioned in the bible. Jesus actually never speaks about sunday worship or the changing of the sabbath. with all said how can anyone proclaim sunday is the correct day to worship

ANSWER: Peace


Dear Dante
    The Sabbath was not done away with by Catholics. We in a sense moved to Sunday, the day our Savior rose from the dead, and ascend to His throne in Heaven.
    Just because St. Paul, reason with them three sabbath days does not mean he observed it as they did, according to OT ritual laws.
     The "Ten Commandants" are moral laws, one being:  we are observe a day, as a day of rest of mind, body and spirit before God in worship and fellowship with our fellow believers.   It doesn't tell us how to observe it. How do you observe the Sabbath? How do you know which day is correct?
     As a Catholic, I know ritual laws can change, but not moral laws. How do I know this, I know by the witness of the Church.
         George


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: the text says it was paul's manner so it wasnt just on those three days. i observe the sabbath by following the example of Jesus and worshiping on the sabbath. i was just curious as to why you observe sunday when it is never mentioned as a day people customarily woshiped on biblically.

Answer
Below is based on notes from a talk I gave some time ago.  I hope it is of some use for your good. I couldn’t find all my notes, so it would take some time to write something more complete. Due to work, I don’t have such time.  So I offer it to you and my prayers that God will bless you a clearer understanding of His Will. Blessed be His Name!!
The "Lord's Day" is one of the traditional Christian  names for Sunday, the first day  of the Judaeo-Christian seven-day week, observed by most Christians as the memorial of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is said in the four canonical gospels of the New Testament to have taken place early on the first day of the week.
Very early in the history of Christianity, the tradition of Christ's Sunday morning resurrection gave rise to the Christian custom, later to become an obligation, of gathering every Sunday morning to worship the Christian Lord, Jesus — hence the name "Lord's Day".
"Lord's Day" is the English translation of the ancient Greek kyriake hemera, a term that first appears in Christian literature in the latter half of the first century. Within a few decades, however, the term kyriake hemera became ubiquitous in Christianity, so that hemera was ellided. Thus, when a Christian writer referred to the kyriake, his readers understood that Sunday was meant.
The first appearance of the term kyriake hemera is in the New Testament, in the Book of Revelation, which was written in the latter decades of the first century. In Rev. 1:10, the author writes, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." Most Christian commentators interpret Rev. 1:10 as a reference to Sunday, but some argue that because Revelation contains numerous eschatological visions, kyriake hemera in this passage should be taken as a reference to the end of the world or Judgment Day, which Old Testament prophets often called the Day of the Lord.
To some Early Christians, Sunday was not only the "Lord's Day" and the first day of the week but was also symbolically the Eighth Day — the Day of Christ's Resurrection, when a "new creation" was made to replace the original seven day creation as described in Genesis, see also Supersessionism. The concept of a spiritual "Eighth Day" appears in the writings of early Christian writers such as in the examples set out below. For much of the history of Christianity it has been customary, especially in the Roman Catholic church, to celebrate major festivals for a period of eight days; both this period, and the eighth day that completes it, are called an octave
The concept of the eighth day appears in the following early Christian writings as in below of St. Justin Martyr:
Now, sirs," I said, "it is possible for us to show how the eighth day possessed a certain mysterious import, which the seventh day did not possess, and which was promulgated [intimated] by God through these rites." .... "The command of circumcision, again, bidding the Jews always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and remain the first." .... "You know, then, sirs, " I said, "that God has said in Isaiah to Jerusalem: 'I saved thee in the deluge of Noah.' By this which God said was meant that the mystery of saved men appeared in the deluge. For righteous Noah, along with the other mortals at the deluge, i.e., with his own wife, his three sons, and their wives, being eight in number, were a symbol of the eighth day, wherein Christ appeared when He rose from the dead, for ever the first in power. For Christ, being the first-born of every creature, became again the chief of another race regenerated by Himself through water, and faith, and wood, containing the mystery of the cross; even as Noah was saved by wood when he rode over the waters with his houseshold." (Dialogue with Trypho; XXIV;XLI;CXXXVIII)