On Sunday, a day of rest
John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Dies Domini on the sanctification of Sunday (May 31 , 1998)
Rest Day
64. For several centuries Christians have lived only on Sunday as a day of worship, without being able to relate to the specific meaning of Sabbath rest. Only in the fourth century, the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize the weekly, providing that in the "Day of the Sun 'judges populations of cities and corporations in the trades cease to work. [107] The Christians rejoiced to see and overcome the obstacles which until then had done heroic times the Lord's Day observance. They could devote themselves to prayer and without disabilities together. [108]
It would be wrong to see legislation that respects the rhythm of the week a mere historical circumstance with no value to the Church and that she could leave. The Councils have maintained, even after the fall of the Empire, the provisions relating to Sunday rest. In countries where Christians are a small number and where public holidays the calendar does not correspond to the Sunday, this is always the Lord's Day, the day when the faithful gather for the Eucharistic assembly. This, however, costs no small sacrifice. For Christians it is not normal that Sunday, a day of celebration and joy, there is also the day of rest, and it is certainly difficult for them to "sanctify Sunday by not having enough free time.
65. Moreover, the relationship between the Lord's day and the day of rest in the civil society has an importance and significance that are beyond strictly Christian perspective. In fact, the alternation between work and rest, characteristic of human nature, is willed by God Himself, as appears from the passage of creation in the Book of Genesis (cf. 2.2 to 3; Ex 20.8 to 11): the Rest is something "sacred" for man to be the condition for release of the series, sometimes too absorbent, land commitments and realize that everything is God's work. The prodigious power which God gives man over creation would be in danger of making him forget that God is the Creator, from which everything depends. In our time is more urgent this recognition, for science and technology have expanded incredibly power which man exercises through his work.
66. should therefore not lose sight that even today, work is for many a hard service, either by the miserable conditions under which it performs and schedules it imposes, especially in the poorest regions world, either because they remain, in the most economically developed societies themselves, too many cases of injustice and abuse of man by man himself. When the Church over the centuries, has legislated on Sunday rest, [109] has considered mainly the work of the servants and workers, not because it was a less worthy about the spiritual demands of practice Sunday, but because it was the most in need of legislation to do it more bearable and allow all the Lord's day holy. In this regard, my Predecessor Leo XIII in the encyclical Rerum Novarum presented the Sunday rest as a worker's right that the State must guarantee. [110]
still governs our historical context of the obligation to strive for everyone to enjoy freedom, rest and relaxation are necessary for the dignity of men, with demands for religious, family, cultural and interpersonal , which can hardly be met if not safeguarded at least one day off per week in which to enjoy together the opportunity to rest and to celebrate. Obviously the right of workers to rest presupposes their right to work and, as we reflect on this issue on the Christian understanding of Sunday, we remember with deep sympathy for the discomfort of many men and women who, for lack of work, are forced in days of inactivity.
67. Through Sunday rest, daily concerns and tasks can find their proper perspective: the material things about which we worry give way to spiritual values, the people with whom we live, in the encounter and dialogue more serene, its true face. The beauties of nature too often marred by logic, which turns against man can be rediscovered and enjoyed. Day of peace with God, with himself and his fellows, Sunday is also a time when man is invited to take a look regenerated on the wonders of nature, drifting in the wonderful and mysterious harmony, as St. Ambrose, by a "inviolable law of harmony and love," connecting the various elements of the cosmos in a "bond of unity and peace." [111] He then becomes aware, in the words of the Apostle, that "Everything God created is good and has not refuse any food that is eaten with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer" ( 1 Tm 4:4-5). Therefore, if after six days of work, and for many small five-man looking for a time of relaxation and attention to other aspects of life, it meets a genuine need, in full harmony with the perspective the Gospel message. The believer is thus called upon to meet this demand, combined with expressions of their personal faith and community, manifested in the celebration and sanctification of the Lord's day.
Therefore, it is natural for Christians to ensure that, even in the special circumstances of our time, the civil law takes into account their duty to keep Sunday holy. However, a duty of conscience is the organization of Sunday rest so that they can participate in the Eucharist, refraining from work and cases incompatible with the sanctification of the Lord's day, with characteristic joy and spirit needed rest and body. [112]
68. addition, since the break it, so it is not something empty or cause of boredom, must of spiritual enrichment, greater freedom, possibility of contemplation and fraternal communion, the faithful have to choose between mass culture and entertainment which society offers, which are more in line with a life consistent with the precepts of the Gospel. In this perspective, the lively Sunday rest and acquires a "prophetic", claiming not only the absolute primacy of God, but also the primacy and dignity of the person in relation to the demands of social and economic life, anticipating, in way, the "new heavens" and the "new earth" where the liberation from the bondage of the needs will be final and total. In short, the Lord's Day thus becomes also, in the most proper way, the day of man . NOTES
[107] Cf Edict of Constantine, 321 July 3: II Theodosian Code, tit. 8, 1, ed. T. Mommsen, 12, 87; Iustiniani Codex, 3, 12, 2, ed. P. Krueger, 248.
[108] Cf Eusebius, Life of Constantine , 4, 18: PG 20, 1165.
[109] The oldest church document on this subject is the canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea (second half of the fourth century): Mansi, II, 569-570. From the sixth to the ninth century many Councils banned "Ruralia operates." The legislation on prohibited work, supported also by civil law, was increasingly precise.
[110] Cf Enc. Rerum Novarum (May 15, 1891): Acta Leonis XIII 11 (1891), 127-128.
[111] Hex. 2, 1, 1: CSEL 321, 41.
[112] Cf Code Canon Law, can. 1247; Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches , can. § § 881 1.4.
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John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Dies Domini on the sanctification of Sunday (May 31 , 1998)
Rest Day
64. For several centuries Christians have lived only on Sunday as a day of worship, without being able to relate to the specific meaning of Sabbath rest. Only in the fourth century, the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize the weekly, providing that in the "Day of the Sun 'judges populations of cities and corporations in the trades cease to work. [107] The Christians rejoiced to see and overcome the obstacles which until then had done heroic times the Lord's Day observance. They could devote themselves to prayer and without disabilities together. [108]
It would be wrong to see legislation that respects the rhythm of the week a mere historical circumstance with no value to the Church and that she could leave. The Councils have maintained, even after the fall of the Empire, the provisions relating to Sunday rest. In countries where Christians are a small number and where public holidays the calendar does not correspond to the Sunday, this is always the Lord's Day, the day when the faithful gather for the Eucharistic assembly. This, however, costs no small sacrifice. For Christians it is not normal that Sunday, a day of celebration and joy, there is also the day of rest, and it is certainly difficult for them to "sanctify Sunday by not having enough free time.
65. Moreover, the relationship between the Lord's day and the day of rest in the civil society has an importance and significance that are beyond strictly Christian perspective. In fact, the alternation between work and rest, characteristic of human nature, is willed by God Himself, as appears from the passage of creation in the Book of Genesis (cf. 2.2 to 3; Ex 20.8 to 11): the Rest is something "sacred" for man to be the condition for release of the series, sometimes too absorbent, land commitments and realize that everything is God's work. The prodigious power which God gives man over creation would be in danger of making him forget that God is the Creator, from which everything depends. In our time is more urgent this recognition, for science and technology have expanded incredibly power which man exercises through his work.
66. should therefore not lose sight that even today, work is for many a hard service, either by the miserable conditions under which it performs and schedules it imposes, especially in the poorest regions world, either because they remain, in the most economically developed societies themselves, too many cases of injustice and abuse of man by man himself. When the Church over the centuries, has legislated on Sunday rest, [109] has considered mainly the work of the servants and workers, not because it was a less worthy about the spiritual demands of practice Sunday, but because it was the most in need of legislation to do it more bearable and allow all the Lord's day holy. In this regard, my Predecessor Leo XIII in the encyclical Rerum Novarum presented the Sunday rest as a worker's right that the State must guarantee. [110]
still governs our historical context of the obligation to strive for everyone to enjoy freedom, rest and relaxation are necessary for the dignity of men, with demands for religious, family, cultural and interpersonal , which can hardly be met if not safeguarded at least one day off per week in which to enjoy together the opportunity to rest and to celebrate. Obviously the right of workers to rest presupposes their right to work and, as we reflect on this issue on the Christian understanding of Sunday, we remember with deep sympathy for the discomfort of many men and women who, for lack of work, are forced in days of inactivity.
67. Through Sunday rest, daily concerns and tasks can find their proper perspective: the material things about which we worry give way to spiritual values, the people with whom we live, in the encounter and dialogue more serene, its true face. The beauties of nature too often marred by logic, which turns against man can be rediscovered and enjoyed. Day of peace with God, with himself and his fellows, Sunday is also a time when man is invited to take a look regenerated on the wonders of nature, drifting in the wonderful and mysterious harmony, as St. Ambrose, by a "inviolable law of harmony and love," connecting the various elements of the cosmos in a "bond of unity and peace." [111] He then becomes aware, in the words of the Apostle, that "Everything God created is good and has not refuse any food that is eaten with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer" ( 1 Tm 4:4-5). Therefore, if after six days of work, and for many small five-man looking for a time of relaxation and attention to other aspects of life, it meets a genuine need, in full harmony with the perspective the Gospel message. The believer is thus called upon to meet this demand, combined with expressions of their personal faith and community, manifested in the celebration and sanctification of the Lord's day.
Therefore, it is natural for Christians to ensure that, even in the special circumstances of our time, the civil law takes into account their duty to keep Sunday holy. However, a duty of conscience is the organization of Sunday rest so that they can participate in the Eucharist, refraining from work and cases incompatible with the sanctification of the Lord's day, with characteristic joy and spirit needed rest and body. [112]
68. addition, since the break it, so it is not something empty or cause of boredom, must of spiritual enrichment, greater freedom, possibility of contemplation and fraternal communion, the faithful have to choose between mass culture and entertainment which society offers, which are more in line with a life consistent with the precepts of the Gospel. In this perspective, the lively Sunday rest and acquires a "prophetic", claiming not only the absolute primacy of God, but also the primacy and dignity of the person in relation to the demands of social and economic life, anticipating, in way, the "new heavens" and the "new earth" where the liberation from the bondage of the needs will be final and total. In short, the Lord's Day thus becomes also, in the most proper way, the day of man . NOTES
[107] Cf Edict of Constantine, 321 July 3: II Theodosian Code, tit. 8, 1, ed. T. Mommsen, 12, 87; Iustiniani Codex, 3, 12, 2, ed. P. Krueger, 248.
[108] Cf Eusebius, Life of Constantine , 4, 18: PG 20, 1165.
[109] The oldest church document on this subject is the canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea (second half of the fourth century): Mansi, II, 569-570. From the sixth to the ninth century many Councils banned "Ruralia operates." The legislation on prohibited work, supported also by civil law, was increasingly precise.
[110] Cf Enc. Rerum Novarum (May 15, 1891): Acta Leonis XIII 11 (1891), 127-128.
[111] Hex. 2, 1, 1: CSEL 321, 41.
[112] Cf Code Canon Law, can. 1247; Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches , can. § § 881 1.4.
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