The most important reason is that Jesus Christ was resurrected on Sunday, inaugurating the “new Creation” freed from sin. Thus Sunday (= dominus, the Lord’s day) is the fullness of the Jewish Sabbath. We know that the Old Testament is a figure of the New; The Jewish Saturday is a figure of the Christian Sunday. The Catechism of the Church explains it like this:
§2175 – “Sunday is expressly distinguished from Saturday, to which it follows chronologically, each week, and whose ritual prescription it replaces, for Christians. It brings to fullness, in Christ’s Passover, the spiritual truth of the Jewish Sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest in God. In effect, the cult of the law prepared the mystery of Christ, and what was practiced in it prefigured, in some way, some aspect of Christ (1Cor 10,11)”.
The Apostles celebrated Mass “on the first day of the week”; that is, on Sunday, as we see in Acts 20:7: “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread…” In Mt 28:1 we see: “After Saturday, when the first day of the week dawned , Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the Tomb…” In Rev 1, 10, Saint John says that “on the Lord’s day, I was moved by the Spirit…” and the collection was made “on the first day of the week” (1Cor 16, two).
The Epistle of Barnabas (74 AD), one of the oldest documents of the Church, prior to the Apocalypse, said: “We keep the eighth day (Sunday) with joy, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead” (Barnabas 15:6 -8).
Saint Ignatius of Antioch (†107), martyr in the Colosseum of Rome, bishop, said: “Those who lived according to the ancient order of things turned to the new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but the Lord’s day, in which our life was blessed, by Him and by His death” (Letter to the Magnesians. 9,1).
“Due to the Apostolic Tradition that has its origins on the very day of Christ’s resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal Mystery every eighth day, on the day rightly called the Lord’s Day or Sunday” (SC 106). The day of Christ’s resurrection is at the same time “the first day of the week”, a memorial of the first day of creation, and the “eighth day”, on which Christ, after his “rest” on the great Saturday, inaugurates the day “ which the Lord has made”, the “day that knows no end”. (Cat. §1166)
Saint Justin (†165), martyr, wrote: “We all come together on the day of the sun, because it is the first day after the Jewish Sabbath, but also the first day on which God, extracting matter from darkness, created the world and, on this very day, Jesus Christ, our Savior, rose from the dead” (Apology 1,67).
Saint Jerome (†420), said: “The day of the Lord, the day of resurrection, the day of Christians, is our day. That is why it is called the Lord’s day: for it was on that day that the Lord ascended victorious to the Father. If the pagans call it the day of the sun, we too gladly confess it: for today the light of the sun has risen. world, today the sun of justice has appeared, whose rays bring salvation.” (CCL, 78,550.52)
In this way, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Apostolic Tradition show us why since the Resurrection of the Lord the Church has kept Sunday as the Lord’s Day.
Prof. Felipe Aquino
Professor Felipe Aquino is a widower, father of five children. On TV , he presents the program “Escola da Fé” and “Pergunte e Responderemos”, on Radio he presents the program “No Coração da Igreja”. On weekends he holds in-depth meetings throughout Brazil and abroad. He wrote 73 Catholic education books for publishers Cléofas, Loyola and . Teacher page: Twitter: @pfelipeaquino