TWENTY-SEVENTH INSTRUCTION.

The Third Commandment.

What it commands The obligation of hearing Mass-Sunday a day of rest. What it forbids-Unnecessary servile work, and all profanation of the Lord's Day-Innocent recreation not forbidden-Why we are to rest from work.

Q. What is the third Commandment?

A. The third Commandment is, "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day."

The third commandment instructs us in the obligation we are under of devoting one particular day in the week to the worship of Almighty God-Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Every day, indeed, belongs to God, since man is the creature of God and time is God's gift; hence the catechism tells us that we are bound to serve God all our days. It is, however, fitting that besides rendering to him this general service by daily prayer and the keeping of his commandments, we should also devote certain days in a special manner to his worship. Upon these days we rest, that is, abstain from our daily work, and we do so in order to be able to spend a portion of our time in adoring God, thanking him for his daily favours, and imploring from him those helps and graces which we continually stand in need of both for soul and body. Hence the day set apart for the worship of God is called the Sabbath, which means the day of rest, and this is the name which God himself has given to it in the Holy Scripture.

The institution of the Sabbath, my dear children, is as old as the world, for it was immediately after the Creation that God commanded Adam to set apart this day as a day of rest from his ordinary labour, in honour of his own Divine rest from the work of the Creation. "For in six days," says the Scripture," the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh. Therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" (Gen. ii. 2, 3). In obedience to

the Divine commandment the holy patriarchs, who lived before the time of Moses, devoted the seventh day of the week to the worship of God, spending it with their families in the duties of prayer and sacrifice. It was not, however, till the time of Moses that Almighty God, in giving his commandments on Mount Sinai, explained in express words the manner in which the Sabbath was to be sanctified to his service. "Six days shalt thou labour," he said, "and shall do all thy works. But on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates" (Exod. xx. 9, 10). And again God commanded Moses that on the seventh day of the week a special sacrifice of two lambs without spot or blemish should be offered up, in addition to the daily morning and evening sacrifices which were prescribed (Numb. xxviii. 9, 10).

When our B. Lord came down upon earth, he confirmed and established the law respecting the strict observance of the Sabbath, which God had already delivered to the Jews. He showed them, however, that they had fallen into some mistakes regarding the manner of keeping it, and that the exact observance of it did not prevent the performance on that day of works of necessity or works of charity. He also, no doubt, instructed the Apostles as to the manner in which the Sabbath was to be observed in the Christian Church, and how it was to be sanctified, as soon as the Old Law and the ancient sacrifices should be done away with, by the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of

the Mass.

You will have noticed, my dear children, that the day on which we keep the Sabbath is not the same as that on which it was observed by the Jews. They kept and still keep the Sabbath upon Saturday, we upon Sunday; they on the seventh, we on the first day of the week. Hence the Jews close their shops and attend their synagogues upon Saturday, but Sunday is observed as the day of rest by all Christians, even by those sects who are separated from the Catholic Church. You will ask, what is the

reason of this? It is because the Apostles, who were the first pastors of the Church, by the authority which they had received from our B. Lord to regulate all that regards his public worship, changed the day appointed for the keeping of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday—from the seventh to the first day of the week. And why did they do so? To honour the glorious Resurrection of our Lord and the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, both of which mysteries were accomplished on the first day of the week. From this we may understand how great is the authority of the Church in interpreting or explaining to us the commandments of God authority which is acknowledged by the universal practice of the whole Christian world, even of those sects who profess to take the Holy Scriptures as their sole rule of faith, since they observe as the day of rest not the seventh day of the week commanded by the Bible, but the first day, which we know is to be kept holy, only from the tradition and teaching of the Catholic Church.

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Q. What are we commanded by the third Commandment? A. By the third Commandment we are commanded to keep the Sunday holy.

Q. How are we to keep the Sunday holy?

A. We are to keep the Sunday holy by hearing Mass and resting from servile works.

We are commanded, my dear children, by this commandment, to keep the Sunday holy. Now the catechism teaches us that there are two things which we must do in order to fulfil this duty-we must hear Mass, and we must also rest or abstain from servile work. It is by hearing Mass and resting from servile work that we consecrate and set apart this day to the service of God.

The Holy

In the first place, we must hear Mass. Sacrifice of the Mass is, as you know, the most sacred, the most solemn, and the highest act of religion. Man cannot worship God in any way that is so worthy of him and so pleasing in his sight as by offering up or assisting at Mass. And why so? Because the Mass is the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus

Christ, the Second Person of the B. Trinity, and the Beloved Son of the Eternal Father. Hence it is a Sacrifice of infinite value, and one with which Almighty God cannot fail to be well pleased. In no way, therefore, can we honour God so profoundly, atone for our sins so effectually, or obtain his grace so securely, as by hearing Mass devoutly and uniting our prayers and intentions with those of the priest. For this reason the Church teaches us that one of the chief means of sanctifying the Sunday is to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and has moreover laid upon us a strict injunction, which you will find among the commandments of the Church, not to be absent from this duty under pain of mortal sin.

But notice that we are bound not only to be present at Mass, but to assist at it with attention and devotion. To do this we must banish from our minds all wilful distractions, and spend the time of Mass in fervent prayer and good and holy thoughts. We should also assist at Mass with profound reverence, kneeling respectfully in body and prostrate in soul before that Lord of heaven and earth who is present upon the altar. Ah, if we could only see with our eyes what we know by faith takes place at the holy Mass, we should be lost in admiration, reverence, and love! We should behold the Son of God, equal in all things to his Eternal Father, coming down, as it were, from his throne of glory, concealing the majesty and splendour of his Godhead and of his Glorified Body under the form of a little host, and offered to God for the sins and wants of man by the hands of the priest. And all around we should behold the Angels bowing in profound adoration, while they sing with heavenly voices that song, which cannot be heard by mortal ears, but which we hope one day to sing with them in Paradise, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Oh! my dear children, never profane these awful mysteries by any bad behaviour at the time of Mass, for example, by playing, looking round, whispering or talking. Remember that our B. Lord sees you from the altar, and that you grieve him and prevent him from bestowing his grace upon you by such conduct. The

Angels also see you, they are struck with horror, and would, out of a holy zeal, severely punish you, did not the Mercy of God restrain them.

There is another point which we must take notice of in regard to the obligation of hearing Mass, and that is, that we are bound to be present during the whole of the Mass; for it is the Mass, and not a part of it only, that we are bound to hear. If any one, therefore, comes late to Mass or goes away before it is finished, he is guilty of sin, which is mortal or venial according to circumstances. If he has been wilfully absent from a considerable portion of the Mass, or from an important part of it, he has been guilty of grievous sin; but if he has missed only a small part of the Mass he is still guilty of sin, though the offence is only venial. You will ask me, perhaps, how late a person must be to cause him to miss Mass and commit a mortal sin. This is very difficult to determine. It is commonly thought, however, that if a person comes in to Mass after the Gospel is ended, he does not fulfil the obligation, and is consequently guilty of grievous sin. Such a one, if possible, must stay to hear another Mass, or go elsewhere for the purpose, so that he may be able to fulfil the law of the Church. I may remark that persons who are in the habit of coming late to church through their own fault are very often guilty of grievous sin, for though they may come in before the Gospel is ended, yet they expose themselves to the imminent danger of missing a considerable portion of the Holy Sacrifice. When, therefore, you come to Mass, take care to be at church a few minutes before it commences, not only that you may be in no danger of being late, but also that you may have time to recollect yourselves and prepare your minds for the great mysteries at which you are about to assist. Nothing can be more unbecoming, irreverent, and disedifying than for people to make a practice of crowding in when the Mass is already beginning, or of leaving church before it is finished, or while the priest is yet at the altar.

You see, my dear children, from what I have told you, how strict is the obligation of hearing Mass upon