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WHY DO CATHOLICS...? ARCHIVE
The following question was answered as a part of our Why Do Catholics...? series. If you would like to submit a question for our Why Do Catholics...? series, email faithform@abecket.org or leave your question in the Faith Formation box in the Parish Office.

Why do Catholics celebrate on Sunday as the principal day for celebration of the Eucharist? The bible says “Keep Holy the Sabbath.” Isn’t the Sabbath actually Saturday?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says: “By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which is appropriately called the Lord's Day or Sunday. The first Christians were of course Jews who had accepted the Good News of Christ’s salvation. They still considered themselves Jews and so kept the Sabbath day by refraining from labor and attending prayers at the synagogue, but then on Sunday, the day of the Lord’s resurrection, they would meet for prayers, telling of the message and stories of Christ and to “break bread” in early Eucharist celebration. Finally, when this Christian “sect” of Judaism was expelled from the Jewish synagogue and Jewish life (after 70 AD) these early Christian Jews, along with the Gentile converts, continued to celebrate on Sunday exclusively. You could say it is for Christians the “new” Sabbath.

By the way, the reason that Catholics can also attend Sunday Eucharistic liturgy on Saturday evening (after 4:00 PM) is that the Church had long maintained the custom of beginning the celebration of important feasts the evening before, with first vespers. This was inspired by the concept of a day in the ancient world which divided our 24 hours into four nocturnal vigils and four daylight hours, (for example, in the Jewish timetable the new day began at sunset the day before. the day commencing at first vigil).

Laura Broyles, Adult Faith Formation Director
laura.broyles@abecket.org

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