The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-02-08
SANCTIFICATION or THE LORDS DAY
BY ATTENDANCE AT MASS
To the Clergy and the Laity of the
Diocese of ST. Paul:

~ ltS StSISy anu 1hS LAZY VI eHS
Diocese of st. Paul:
Beloved Brethren:
1t is the solemn precept of the
Church that the. Lords Day, the Sun
day, be sanctified by attendance at
the holy sacrifice of the Mass. So
solemn is the precept, so imperious in
its requirement, that to disobey is to
incur before God the awful guilt of
mortal sin.
The precept of attendance at the
holy sacrifice of the Mass on Sunday
is not as other precepts of the Church.
1t stands out on plane that is all
it's own-to the extent that the observ-
ance is taken as the most significant
mark of Catholic allegiance, the most
expressive act of public and personal
profession of Catholic faith-to the
extent, again, that the violation be-
comes, in the judgment of the Church,
the first step to self-excommunication,
to self-separation from the gifts and
graces of which the Church is the
guardian and the dispenser.
The exceptional importance attach
ing to the precept of the sanctification
of the Sunday by attendance at the
holy sacrifice of the Mass is explained
both by the purpose to which the Sun
day is set apart, and by the super
eminent dignity of the means through
which that purpose is borne into ef-
feet The purpose is the personal and
public worship of God, the Creator
and Sovereign Lord. The means is
the sacrifice of Calvary repeated in
the sacrifice of the Mass.
Sublime is the purpose: Sublime,
the means. In acts allowed to men
nothing so sublime, as the worship of
God, Creator and Sovereign Lord: in
forms of worship possible to men,
nothing so sublime, as the sacrifice
of Calvary-no other form, indeed,
giving worship adequate in dignity and
value to the claims of the eternal Ma
jesty.
To worship the Almighty God, to
worship Him through the sacrifice of
Calvary repeated in the Mass, is SUI
preme blessedness. That once week,
at least, on Sunday, we make that
blessedness ours, is the precept of
the Church. The precept should not
have been necessary; our hearts
should have hidden us towards the
Eucharistic altar, not once, but again
and again as the week goes by. BY
nature, however, we are sluggish to-
wards God; sluggish towards His
rights over us. Hence the solemn
precept, that we be guarded from the
forgetfulness of God. The precept is
all the more solemn, that the act it
prescribes is of all human acts the
most sublime in it's object, the most
salutary in it's graces.
Strictly speaking, attendance at
Mass on Sunday is not the whole law.
In a manner it is the whole law So
fruitful is the Mass in graces, so di-
rect and potent it is in the trend it
lends to our subsequent conduct, that,
as a rule, the Catholic who is faithful
in hearing Mass on Sunday will in
other matters be the good Catholic;
while he who refrains from hearing
Mass is in serious peril Of general
forgetfulness of the duties OF religion
i'm peril, even, of the total loss of
the Catholic faith.
No higher praise should l covet for
the Diocese of St. Paul than that
its priests are known by their zeal to
gather around the Eucharistic altar,
every Sunday, the entirety of the
flock, and that, so far as opportunities
allow, the flock hearken to the sum-
mons and every Sunday throng the
m
Eternal God, in union with the sacri-
fetal Lamb now slain" again, more
mystically now, though not less really,
than when He went to death on the
Cross of Calvary. That the praise be
merited will be my earnest and con-
tinuOus prayer.
The Divine Proclamation.
observe the day of the Sabbath,
to sanctify it, as the Lord, thy God,
hath commanded thee" This, Jeho-
vah's proclamation from the summit
Of Sina, ratifying in those words the
ordinance of more ancient times,
establishing it as the unwavering law
of Israel One day of the seven was
made, in manner most special, sacred
to the worship of the Creator. From
none of the seven was God to be
moved: on none was allegiance to Him
to be forgotten. other days, however,
are busted with earth and its posses
sions: the soul is harried with
thought of lowly interest and lowly
labor: it is without the leisure, the
freedom to rise in its whole strength
to the regions of the Most High, and
there sweetly nnger in alteration and
praise, in love and prayer. Therefore,
said Jevohah, be there one day re-
served to me, altogether mine, in
which men live, untrammelled and un-
disturbed, for me and with me, to my
greater glory and the more sedulous
care of their salvation: observe the
day of the Sabbath, to sanctify it, as
the Lord, thy God, hath commanded
thee"
Under the New Dispensation the
Sabbath was altered from the seventh
to the first day of the week. The first
day had been chosen by the Saviour
for the mysterious achievements that
sealed authoritatively His mission in
the world-the resurrection .on Easter
morning, the. descent of the Paraclete
or Don+onor& cYrndau Thwfaf norn