The Catechism Simply Explained:
By H. Canon Cafferata: New Revised and enlarged edition. 1935. Chapter 5, Page 89.
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.
192. What is the third Commandment?
The third Commandment is. “Remembers that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.”
193. What are we commanded by the third Commandment? By the third Commandment we are to keep Sunday holy.
The Jews’ Sabbath Day was Saturday; we Christians keep Sunday holy. The Church, by the power our Lord gave her, changed the observance of Saturday to Sunday.
A word about Sunday. God said, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day.” The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday; why, then, do we keep Sunday holy instead of Saturday? The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday in commemoration of our Lord having risen from the dead on Easter Sunday, and of the Holy Ghost having descended upon the apostles on Whit Sunday. Protestants who say that they go by the Bible and the Bible only, and that they do not believe anything that is not in the Bible, must be rather puzzled by keeping of Sunday when God distinctly said, “Keep holy the Sabbath Day.” The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible, so, without knowing it, they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church .
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.
192. What is the third Commandment?
The third Commandment is. “Remembers that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.”
193. What are we commanded by the third Commandment? By the third Commandment we are to keep Sunday holy.
The Jews’ Sabbath Day was Saturday; we Christians keep Sunday holy. The Church, by the power our Lord gave her, changed the observance of Saturday to Sunday.
A word about Sunday. God said, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day.” The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday; why, then, do we keep Sunday holy instead of Saturday? The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday in commemoration of our Lord having risen from the dead on Easter Sunday, and of the Holy Ghost having descended upon the apostles on Whit Sunday. Protestants who say that they go by the Bible and the Bible only, and that they do not believe anything that is not in the Bible, must be rather puzzled by keeping of Sunday when God distinctly said, “Keep holy the Sabbath Day.” The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible, so, without knowing it, they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church .
