Just read the recent letter from the Pope emphasizing the critical importance of attending mass on Sunday, and that attending mass during the week was not a substitute. It had been my understanding that Saturday mass was considered just as valid -- is this incorrect?

Katherine

-- Katherine Davis (kld123@hotmail.com), July 14, 1998

Answers

Saturday evening Mass is fine.

Only in the last few years (since Vatican II, I think) have we been offered a Saturday evening Mass to take the place of Sunday obligation. To allow this, the Church labels the Saturday Mass a vigil, and makes it, in essence, part of Sunday.

So, when you go to Mass on Saturday evening, the Church considers it part of Sunday! For example, you could not receive Communion at the Saturday vigil Mass and then receive it again during the Sunday Mass, because that would be breaking the Church's rule on receiving Communion twice in one day.

-- Joseph L. Shetler (shetler@ghg.net), July 18, 1998.

Dear Katherine, I keep Saturday as the sabbath. My understanding is that God set the seventh day of the week aside to be the sabbath. I am concerned by the Pope's use of the words "punished as a heratic" in his letter. The Catholic Church has a historical reputation of putting to death the people that they labled heratics. I do not want to die, however if I must choose between obeying the Law of God and obeying the law of men....I must choose God's Law and eternal life. Realize that the Catholic Church has changed the 10 commandments without God's approval. Please study your bible, so that you will not be confused by the change of the 3rd and 4th commandments by the Catholic Church. In America it is wrong to mix Church and State. If the Pope has his way, there will be a Sunday Law. This law will force people to worship on Sunday. If this happens, Jews, seventh day Baptists, seventh day Adventists, seventh day Catholics, seventh day evengelicals and others will be in violation of this man made law. This is not Constitutional,yet....They will have to change our constitution...The keepers of the true Sabbath (Saturday) will be persecuted, killed and treated very badly. But those who keep Saturday will be keeping God's law. I am writing you because I want to share the truth, as I understand it, with you. I do not want you to be tricked by satan into forsaking God's true sabbath (Saturday) as is mentioned in Genesis. Some people say that Genesis is an old book and has no relevence in todays world. God does not lie, his laws do not change. Please pray for the truth. I know this may seem crazy to you if you never heard this before. Don't take my word for it, take the word of God which is in your bible (King James Version). Don't take even the Pope's word, only you are responsible for your relationship with God. I am a Seventh Day Catholic. I invite you to consider what I have said and read your bible. I would be happy to answer any more questions you may have. Sincerely, Ned

-- Ned A Kenal (nak@whitelake.net), August 22, 1998.

Mass was authorized in the evening in 1953. (Christus Dominus) then Saturday vigil was available for those who were not able to attend on Sunday because of work or other obligations. It was not intended to replace Sunday Mass if you could attend on Sunday.

THE SABBATH SATURDAY OR SUNDAY OR BOTH?

There is a difference between the obligation of a day of rest and the determination of which day it will be. If you are Jewish then of course Saturday is your Sabbath day! If you are Christian however that day is no longer Saturday, but Sunday and it has nothing to do with Constantine. He just enacted a civil law requiring rest on the already well established "Christian Sabbath" day. The fourth, (or third) commandment does not specify a specific day just "a day of rest", the meaning of the word Sabbath. The Jewish people chose the 7th day, the day God rested in Genesis, and the Christians chose the "8th" day, the day of the resurrection. The day has "shifted", by who's authority? The Church's. The Church established by Christ and clothed with his authority ( MT 2:28 / JN 20:21) and by "the power of the keys" ( Mt 16:19) given to Peter to bind and loose! Peter chose to replace Judas on the Church's authority, the Apostles added Paul to their number by their authority, the authority given them by Christ.

Is the "Sunday Sabbath" unbiblical? No, it may not be found in the Bible, but it is not against any teaching of the Bible. John does mention the "Lord's Day". If one studies the writings of the Apostolic Fathers and the pre-Nicene Fathers one finds that Sunday is well established as the day of Christian worship from the close of the first century on. St. Ignatius of Antioch, at the beginning of the second century, referred to the drastic change that took place with the coming of Christ when "those who walked in ancient customs came to a new hope, no longer Sabbathing but living the Lord's Day, on which we came to life through him and through his death.'' Since the Apostles and disciples were "Jewish-Christians" they met in the synagogue on Saturday and in the Christian home communities on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist until Christianity separated itself from Jewish practice. Before the year A.D. 100, we already have written record of the Sunday practice of assisting at Mass in the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. It is expressed in mandatory form in the Didache. In the middle of the second century, Justin the Martyr left a detailed account of how the faithful gathered together for the celebration of the sacred mysteries. He also explained why Sunday was observed among Christians. The Bible does shed some light on the subject; Jesus rose on the first day of the week, he appeared to the Apostles on the first day of the week, and never again on the Sabbath. The Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost Sunday. The Apostles met on the "first day of the week" (Act 20:7) etc. The Jewish Sabbath honored and gave thanks to God as the Creator. The Lord's day honors and gives thanks to God for the Redemption of mankind through Christ.

-- Br. Rich S.F.O. (REPSFO@Prodigy.net), August 29, 1998.

Dear Katherine,

Why don't you just come out and say it your a Seventh Day Adventist.

-- Br. Rich S.F.O. (REPSFO@Prodigy.net), August 29, 1998.

The above was for Ned, who I believe is really a Seventh Day Adventist.

-- Br. Rich S.F.O. (REPSFO@Prodigy.net), August 29, 1998.

In Biblical times the new day began at sunset, so that saturday eavening in our reckoning would be sunday in those days. This ancient practice has been tacken up again in the church liturgy to make it easier for us. There are other good liturgical reasons for this.

-- Irving Bennett (ibennett@sinfo.net), September 29, 1998.

Mass on saturday only counts for sunday mass if you receiv the eucarist after 5 p.m. is what I have been taught. BUt it is necesary for you to attend mass on Sunday if possible (since sunday is the sabath) but if not possible it is allright to attend saturday evening mass.

-- kristina mcbride (kristinamcbride@hotmail.com), October 04, 1998.

Sunday is in no way scriptural. I find it difficult to get pass many scriptures that say I am to keep God's commandments. For instance, John 14:15 says "If you love me keep my commandments", John 14:21 continues with "He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself in him", Matt 5:17-19 say "Do not think I come to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one title will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." There are many other scripture in the new testement that say we must keep God's commandments. I am not saying that keeping the commandments saves us. We all know that we are saved by grace. It is that grace from God that gives us the power to overcome sin. We all know that sin is transgression of God's law. My question to you is why would God change something he said he would not. Remember Mal:3:6 "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Are we not the sons of Jacob grafted into the family of Isreal. Rev. 22:18 warns us not to change scripture at the cost of our salvation. Sorry, those who continue to disobey God's law will be punished. Please read the book of Daniel and what it says about the little horn coming from the 4th beast and compare that to the beast of Rev 13. May God bless you.

-- Anthony Craig (craignae@yahoo.com), January 10, 2001.

"My question to you is why would God change something he said he would not." (Anthony Craig)

God did not "change something," Anthony. But he gave the apostles of Jesus the authority to observe the Christian day of rest+worship on a day other than Saturday.
Jesus told them: "He who hears you, hears me" ... and "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
So moved by the events of the Resurrection and Pentecost (which occurred on the "eighth" day of the week), they chose Sunday. My patron saint refers to this in Rev. 1:10 -- "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day ..."
Anthony, please go to the unca tegorized list of all threads (at least 1,000) developed on this forum since its inception near the beginning of 1998. You will find many threads on your topic, and you can learn much from them.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), January 10, 2001.

All the above makes no sense to a person such as Ned. In his post reccur such phrases as a ''historical reputation for putting people to death,'' and, ''the law of men'', and ''tricked by Satan into forsaking God's true sabbath, --if the Pope has his way,'' and ''They will change our Constitution.'' This is the time-worn grist of the anti-Catholic's mill; good only for frustrating a person of good will. Every time a Ned tells us to ''Read your Bible,'' I wonder to myself, ''Is there no way out for these poor fundamentalist Bible-thumpers, so in love with the Book, and oblivious to the Gospel? For the life of me, when has a Catholic ever been taught in Church about how Protestants ''put to death a Catholic'', because of his faith? No; the Church looks ahead and teaches its faithful to forgive and forget the martyrdoms of Tyburn and Londonderry and hundreds of other places where Catholics were ruthlessly exterminated.

Yet, here we have a ''Seventh Day Catholic'' spouting off all the bizarre propaganda he hears in his church, directly in a Catholic forum. What a pathetic individual you are, Ned. May God just forgive you for your ignorance!

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), January 10, 2001.

Eugene,

That does make since to the "Neds" out there. I was one of them for quite a while. I just could not find any reference to Sunday sabbath but could find many references to Saturday sabbath. It just doesn't make any since why God would say that he does not change and then others say that the DAY changed. Who do you believe? Well I think we need to believe God. He is right, he does not change. We are to keep the Saturday sabbath, but it is spiritual not physical. Anyone who makes it to the kingdom of God will then finally keep the real Sabbath. The real Sabbath is eternal living with God and not having to labor anymore and God feeds us. Look at the requirements for keeping the Sabbath, no man could keep them here on earth. The only way is to be in the living presence of God in his kingdom not here on earth in satans world. Notice how when the Sabbath was first given to Moses it was in the presence of God, while he actually fed the Jews on that day with the manna. That is the Sabbath that we should in our hearts long for, not a earthly day that only profits are earthly evil bodies and not our souls. The rest we need is that rest that Jesus promissed, eternal life! No Adventist or Catholic earthly Sabbath can save my soul! No, only the Lords day can give me the rest that I seek. The true sabbath is the seventh day that God rested after doing his good work and then dwelled among us(Adam and Eve). As was in the begining so shall be in the end, there is nothing new under the sun!

-- Israel (notofthis@world.com), January 11, 2001.

Dear Israel,
God commanded that a day of rest should be observed by His people; not that Saturday was the day of rest. In the beginning, this was on the 7th day.

By the very same (God, in His Divine Son) authority,-- the day of rest (still observed by the faithful) is now the 1st day of the week. Are you telling me that God Our Creator is unchanging, or --that He is narrow-minded? Does His only-begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, mislead the Church saying, ''The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.'' --???

Of course, we must believe God, Israel. The will of God must be above everything, and the Church must do HIS will. When a particular biblical teaching comes to an end, it is always because Our Lord Jesus Christ has brought it to its end.

Recall the moment of Jesus' death on the cross. We are told in Scripture: Mark 15, 37-- Jesus cried out with a loud voice, expiring. Then verse :38 says, ''And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.''

This is because God departed the holy temple in that moment; and the hour of the New Testament was at hand. The Old Testament had been where the temple was. Jesus' death and subsequent resurrection announced a new beginning. The beginning of the Church, and New Testament! Jesus is the Lord. He passes on His own authority, in the matter of a Sabbath day, in all matters, to His Mystical Body the Church. No human person can argue he or she knows God's will because he/she reads the Old Testament. The Will of God is Jesus Christ's Will.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), January 11, 2001.

Hello, Eugene.

I wanted to let you (and other visitors) know a couple of things about the Seventh Day Adventists -- the great majority of whom are decent Christians who are not out there verbally trying to make mincemeat out of us. According to a page at their own Internet site, "... the denomination was not officially organized until May 21, 1863." They therefore lack the fullness of the Christian faith that we are blessed to have (the whole deposit of faith, handed down through the bishops via the twin fonts of revelation, scripture and tradition). They have no apostolic succession and no Magisterium, so errors are bound to result. According to another SDA Internet page, the following is true of their beliefs on the subject we are discussing:
"The beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God's unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath."

The problem we may have been encountering here, from time to time, is contact with a virulently anti-Catholic splinter group of Adventist extremists, members of which try to poison the minds of the public (especially poorly educated Latin-Americans) with fictional tales about our Church that they place in huge newspaper ads. They also make a habit of frequenting Catholic internet sites like this one, attempting to disrupt us and waste our time. If I recall correctly, the main SDA denomination is suing the splinter group for using their name to promote hatred and beliefs not officialy held by the SDA. (When someone comes here and simply urges us to observe a Saturday "sabbath," I do not automatically assume that he/she is from the splinter group.)

I have been aware of all these goings-on for several years because of my membership (along with 400,000 other people) in an anti-defamation organization called the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. The November issue of CLRCR's excellent monthly publication, "Catalyst," contained the following, the latest skirmish in the ongoing conflict:
"The publishers of two more newspapers that ran the "Earth's Final Warning" hate ads have apologized in print. Roger Kintzel of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Michael E. Waller of the Baltimore Sun apologized to readers for running the anti-Catholic ads; they appeared on August 26 and October 8-9, respectively. William Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore criticized his local newspaper for running the ad. The Catholic League has protested the propriety of running these Catholic-bashing ads whenever they appear. At stake is not a legal issue — we never question the legality of placing these ads -- but a moral one. Our point is simply that no newspaper is forced to accept any ad. [The U.S. Constitution does not require publication on 'free speech' grounds.] The full page, single spaced ads, are the work of a Seventh Day Adventist splinter group based in Palm Beach, Florida. The Eternal Gospel Church has run dozens of these hate ads in dailies all over the country. Most recently, they ran in the Marietta Times of Ohio and the Montgomery Journal in Alexandria, Virginia. The league is awaiting a response from the publishers of these two newspapers. In one sense, the ads are so dumb that it is tempting to discount them. On the other hand, the ads are definitely feeding anti-Catholicism and must be protested every time they run. We're still not sure who's funding this group, but whoever they are, they're loaded. Ads of this size cost upwards of $100,000 each."

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), January 11, 2001.

Follow-ups to my message above:

(1) The "Eternal Gospel Church" (which formerly identified itself as "Eternal Gospel Church of Seventh-Day Adventists") has an Internet site at http://finalwarning.org/ -- and you can view the offensive newspaper ad if you have downloaded the Adobe Acrobat reader.

(2) I was pleased to have just found the following news report:
"May 1, 2000 -- Judge James King ruled on April 27 that stops the Eternal Gospel church from identifying itself as a Seventh-Day Adventist church because it has no relationship with the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. The judge's order says the Eternal Gospel church should not use the name Seventh-day Adventist nor the initials SDA in any of its signs or advertising or other materials. The Eternal Gospel church's use of the name Seventh-day Adventist has "resulted in confusion and damage" to the Adventist Church, Judge King said. The church could carry on whatever ministry it wished, according to the judge, but it could not identify itself as an Adventist church. The Eternal Gospel church had placed newspaper advertising around the United States and had broadcast radio programs in South Florida, with each ad and program announcing that the church was an Adventist church."

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), January 11, 2001.

Eugene,

Not trying to start an argument but show understanding. Remember in REV. it says to "THEM" that have understanding. The word is "THEM" not "HIM". No, I am not a catholic and neither a pope but I am one of "THEM", Hope you are as well.

I Think you are missunderstanding what I have written. I am not trying to say that the word "Sabbath" means a certain day of the week. The word "Sabbath" means "REST, as in cease to work/labor. It does not mean to "WORSHIP". Sabbath has nothing to do with "WORSHIP", it is all about ceasing our earthly duties to survive. We are to worship God daily and thru out eternity. If I am wrong here, could you please supply me with some scriputral references that equate "WORSHIP" and "REST"? As for the first verse you quoted, try repeating the verse using the word "REST"(which is the meaning) with the word "Sabbath". EX.

''The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.'' --???

"The Rest was made for man, and not man for the rest. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the rest."

To further the meaning of the word "Sabbath", you could say that it means "ETERNAL LIFE". Now try this also:

"Eternal life was made for man, and not man for Eternal life. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of Eternal life."

Another meaning for the word "Sabbath" could also be "The Kingdom of Heaven". Now try that one:

"The kingdom of Heaven was made for man, and not man for The Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of The Kingdom of Heaven."

Yes, I am saying that God DOES NOT CHANGE HIS LAW. God's son did not come to earth to change his father's law but to fulfil it. Jesus is never quoted as saying that the "Sabbath" is now Sunday. Jesus tells us that it is good to do good on the Sabbath. He tells us that he is our REST. What is the point of Jesus being accused of breaking the Sabbath? That would be the most opportune time time to tell his followers that Sunday is now the Sabbath, but no such thing is recorded. I wonder why? I believe it is because Jesus was showing us the true meaning to the Sabbath. The only work to be done is the work of God/Jesus while we humans rely soley on our God for our needs. I believe if you research this topic enough you should realize that the first Sabbath that was given to man was to Adam when he was being led out of the garden. It is God's statement in which he tells Adam that he can no longer enter the garden unless he reaches forth his hand and asks for the tree of life. I think we can very easily after reading the scriptures relate that Jesus IS LIFE, and Jesus IS REST. Adam was just sentenced to DEATH and LABOR. Adam has his way from this sentence, very simply Jesus- the LIFE and REST(sabbath) giver.

And another meaning to the word "Sabbath"-"Life and Rest". Try it again:

"Life and Rest was made for man, not man for Life and Rest. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of Life and Rest."

And another-"Tree of Life"

The "Tree of Life" was made for man, not man for the "Tree of Life". Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the "Tree of Life."

Does any of this make since or am I completely wrong?

-- Israel (notofthis@world.com), January 11, 2001.

Eugene,

Sorry I forgot to answer your second part:

"Recall the moment of Jesus' death on the cross. We are told in Scripture: Mark 15, 37-- Jesus cried out with a loud voice, expiring. Then verse :38 says, ''And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.'' "

I believe this is very simply magnifing what had just happened. Jesus is that veil that seperates man from God. Jesus's body was just torn so to speak by a sword. It's interesting that it is also a sword that keeps man(Adam) from entering the garden of Eden. When Jesus was "finished", he was stating that he was done showing man who he was. Jesus is the veil and the sword is his word.

This is where I very much dissagree with the teaching of catholicism. Jesus was not tearing down a earthly temple/synagogue so that he could build a new building called "the church". He was destroying the physical to show us the spiritual reality of himself and how we are to percieve him. Thats how Jesus can build his church on what Peter has realized- the truth , Jesus is the son of God. The old testament is a school master and the new testament is ????? the understanding of it. We don't need to go back to school/temple/catholicism to realize what we have learned.

Jesus is God!

Jesu is Life!

Jesus is Rest!

Jesus is the veil!

Jesus is our only hope!

-- Israel (notofthis@world.com), January 11, 2001.

When it is all said and done, Israel, you have your belief and I have mine. I wouldn't dream now of encroaching on your intellectual property. God bless you and let His light shine upon you.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), January 12, 2001.

Jmj

I noticed that this old thread contains a few errors of fact, so I decided to correct them for future readers.

Joseph Shetler stated: "So, when you go to Mass on Saturday evening, the Church considers it part of Sunday! For example, you could not receive Communion at the Saturday vigil Mass and then receive it again during the Sunday Mass, because that would be breaking the Church's rule on receiving Communion twice in one day."

This is incorrect in two ways.
(1) Reception on Saturday night and on Sunday morning is considered receiving on separate days. Midnight marks the change in days, even though the liturgical celebration of Sunday can begin as early as 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
(2) We are permitted to receive Communion twice on the same day anyway! The only restriction is that the second reception must be at Mass, not at a "Communion service." Thus one can attend 8:30 a.m. Mass on Saturday and a 1:00 p.m. Wedding Mass (or 6:00 p.m. Vigil Mass) and receive Communion both times.

Rich stated: "Mass was authorized in the evening in 1953. (Christus Dominus) then Saturday vigil was available for those who were not able to attend on Sunday because of work or other obligations."

Perhaps he didn't mean for it to come out this way, but it appears that he is saying that there has been Sunday vigil Mass (Saturday night) since 1953. Actually Mass was permitted in the evening (not just morning) of any day of the week in 1953. But the actual permission for Sunday vigil Mass on Saturday evening did not come until after Vatican II ended (1965).

St. James, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- (jgecik@amdg.ihs), September 09, 2001.

I have never seen a scripture advising anyone on a particular day of worship. The sabbath was created for rest. God should receive worship everyday. I wish that we could all flee from our man made traditions and come together. Satan's army is building while God's army is fighting itself.

-- DeShawn J. Robins (Drobins128@yahoo.fr), December 17, 2002.

Hello, DeShawn.

You wrote: "God should receive worship every day."
You are so right. And God receives the most perfect form of worship, the holy sacrifice of the Mass, about 400,000 times every single day, all around the world.

You also wrote: "I have never seen a scripture advising anyone on a particular day of worship." There are verses hinting that the Apostles, as Christians, worshiped on Sunday. But my actual reply to your words is this: You don't NEED to see a scripture. The Church that Jesus founded teaches everything that was handed down to us from the time of the Apostles, even by word of mouth -- not just in scripture. One of the things handed down with perfect clarity is that we are required to worship in a most special way on Sunday, "the Lord's day."

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 18, 2002.

Dear John,

i think your statement might contain sentences that i do not agree with it. may i recalled what you have previously said:

you mentioned that the apostles worship on sunday. As i go true the New Testament (Book of Acts to Revelation) i found that there is no indication that the first christian or the apostles worship on sunday. furthermore it states PAUL worship on sabbath with the new believers who are in fact the first christians. Secondly you mentioned that there is no need to refer to the scripture. let me illustrate with that; if i am lawyer then i argue without the principle of law, it is obvoius that the judge will not consider my argument because first of all in law opinion is not a relevant argument to save your client. In law you have to based on principle (lEGISLATIONS, AND COMMON LAW) secondly it will be considered as it has not weight. GOD spoke to Isaiah and HE said "to the law and to the testemony, if they speak not according to it then there is no light in them" which meant a person who talk about God Principle must Know first that principle or must know what was saying in the scripture. if the person mentioned an opinions he must prouve it.

thirdly you mentioned that the LORD'S DAY in the book of revelation is sunday. as i read through the passage concerning the LORD'S DAY, there is no indication at all mentioning that such day is sunday. but IF there are, there is a need to prouve with the HOLY SCRIPTURE. since i go through the scripture there is no single indication that the Lord Jesus has put an end to Sabbath and ask sunday to be keeped.

GOD bless

Alain.

-- Alain (shear2r@yahoo.com), January 13, 2003.

Alain, the Bible as it exists today was compiled by the very same Catholic Church that you hate so much. If you consider this Book to be inspired by God, then you are accepting the Church's authority over it - whether you like it or not.

The very same Church that said, "This book, and not that one, is part of the Bible," is the one that says, "Sunday, and not Saturday, is the Sabbath Day for Christians.

-- Christine L. :-) (christine_lehman@hotmail.com), January 14, 2003.

Dear Alain,

The Lord Jesus did not have to personally change the day of Christian worship, because He gave full authority on such matters to His Church, and especially to the Apostle He appointed visible head of His Church. To that Apostle, and to no other human being, Jesus gave the Keys to the Kingdom, the universal symbol of authority. Peter and his successors have full authority to declare something binding on all Christians - including the day of worship. And by the word of God Himself, whatsoever His Vicar binds on earth is also bound in heaven.

It was by that very authority that the Apostles declared that the Christian community would meet on Sunday, the day of Our Lord's Resurrection, to celebrate the Eucharist - and every Christian on earth did so until misguided sects of the 19th century strayed from traditional Christian beliefs. It is not necessary to specifically confirm each decision of the Church from scripture, because scripture clearly describes the blanket authority Christ gave His Church in making such decisions. "Whatsoever you bind on earth is bound in heaven". "Whatsoever" is the most general, broad-ranging term Jesus could have used, thereby granting the Church and the Pope a wide range of authority over doctrinal, moral, liturgical, and administrative matters.

However, if you would like scriptural confirmation that the early Christian Church celebrated the Eucharist on Sunday, read Acts 20:7.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), January 14, 2003.

I saw an earlier message in this thread saying that if you go to Mass on Saturday evening and receive Communion, then you can't receive Communion the next day, because it violates the rules of receiving Communion twice in one day. This is wrong. You can receive Communion twice in one day. I was wondering though if you do receive Communion Saturday evening. Does that mean you can't take Communion twice the next day (Sunday)?

-- nathaniel lathy (nlathy@aol.com), October 30, 2003.

Nathaniel, several years ago I asked that question of a priest who has some expertise in liturgical matters. He said that the twice-a-day rule pertains to a midnight-to-midnight, 24-hour period. Thus, you may receive twice on Sunday after receiving once on Saturday evening. However the second time on Sunday must be at a Mass that you attend (not, for example, at a Communion service -- or at home when someone brings Jesus to a bedridden family member).

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), November 01, 2003.

I would like to answer in my own way if I might some of the issues that have been brought up in this forum. I am a Seventh-day Adventist, and will not try to hide this fact. I will not go on if anyone has a problem with an Advenist posting here. Please let me know. If no objections are voiced, I will post later this week.

In Christ, Philip

-- Philip Lee (pelee1973@yahoo.com), January 03, 2004.

Philip,
You might try posting separate threads with the subject you would like to discuss. Form it as a question and make your denomination clear in the post. The thread will probably expand into a dialog and if you do it that way, it won't clutter up someone else's post where they were looking for Catholic responses.

An idea: you might want to put Interfaith: in the Subject Line.

Personally, I think interfaith dialog is a good thing, but we don't want to confuse people either. Read the rules at the top of the "Moderator's Note" thread, so that you will know what your limits are.

In Christ,
Bill

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@hotmail.com), January 03, 2004.

Dear Philip,

People of any denomination, or no denomination, are free to post here if they want to learn about (not necessarily accept) the teachings of the Catholic Church. However this is not the place for non-Catholics to proselytize or to attack the doctrines of the original Christian Church. And, if you plan on telling us why we should worship on the Jewish Sabbath instead of on the traditional Christian day of worship, you might as well know in advance that no-one here is open to such an idea, and that there is nothing you can say on that subject that will be received as legitimate. With that in mind, please do feel free to post on the forum.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), January 03, 2004.