“the first day of the week”
What is the Sabbath? “The Sabbath is the Jewish day of rest…it began on Friday night at sundown. No manual labor was done on the Sabbath. This meant complete withdrawal from business and trade interests, and giving oneself to family, friends and religion. Already in apostolic times (Acts 20:7) Christians transferred the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week.” [1]
Why is the Sabbath on the seventh day for Jews? For the Jewish people, Saturday is the day of rest. God rested on the seventh day. The creation story has a pattern to show that God is a God of order, not chaos. Day one and day four concern the creation of light; day two and day five have to do with the separation of water from the sky and the animals that dwell in them; lastly, day three and day six deal with the dry land and the creatures that live on it.
Day 1 – God separates light from dark (Gn. 1:4) |
Day 4 – Sun, Moon and Stars (Gn. 1:14-16) |
Day 2 – God separates body of water in sky from the body of water below (Gn. 1:6) | Day 5 – Water creatures and Birds (Gn. 1:20) |
Day 3 – God separates water from dry land (Gn. 1:9) |
Day 6 – Land Animals and Man (Gn. 1:24-27) |
[1] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 476
[2] Compendium: Catechism of the Catholic Church; Appendix B: Formulas of Catholic Doctrine; page 193
[3] From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday; Office of Readings – Holy Saturday
[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church; 1166
[5] CCC 2175
[6] Revelation 21:5
[7] Spiritual Reading in this Link to Liturgy packet
[8] Fr. Francis Fernandez; In Conversation with God; Volume Two; 61.3
[9] Fr. Francis Fernandez; In Conversation with God; Volume Two; 61.2
[10] John 15:13
[11] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 141
[12] Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, Section 21, December 11, 1925
[13] Pope Pius XII, Address, September 7, 1947
[14] Fr. Francis Fernandez; In Conversation with God; Volume Two; 61.3