Because of the influence of the coronavirus, many Catholics are no longer attending Sunday Mass. The bishops have given a universal dispensation from the Sunday obligation of attending Mass for fear of spreading the coronavirus. While the bishops have this authority as successors of the apostles to give this dispensation from attending Sunday Mass,⁽¹⁾Canon 1245. I am grateful to Dr. Edward Peters who helped me clarify some of my ideas for this article. it must be remembered that no one can be dispensed from the obligation of the divine law, to obey the third commandment. 

            The third commandment is clear: Keep holy the Sabbath. Hence, the faithful are not totally free to do whatever they want on Sundays during this time of the coronavirus. The faithful must firstly keep the positive precept of the commandment: The worship of God. “The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship.”⁽²⁾Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2176. The Church states that if for grave reasons participation in Mass is impossible, it is recommended that the faithful, “engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family.” Canon 1248. It is part of the natural law to worship God. If the faithful are not going to attend Mass, they still need to practice prayer and reading of Scripture in their homes.  

            Secondly, the faithful must keep the negative precept of the commandment: Abstaining from work. Today, unfortunately, this negative aspect of the commandment is virtually non-existent for most Catholics.⁽³⁾I do not have any hard data on this question, but it does not take a great deal of observation to note that among Catholics today, observance of the Sabbath Day rest is virtually non-existent. Not only is it not lived out, it is not preached by the priests, and only rarely discussed among the faithful.

            When God instituted the Sabbath, He told Moses, “The seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord” (Exodus 31:15). The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew “Shabbat”, signifying cessation. Refraining from work was so serious that Moses commanded that if someone even did light work on the Sabbath, he should be killed (Cf. Numbers 15:32-36). 

            The Sabbath day rest may seem like an obscure point, but for centuries Church teaching mandated prohibitions from doing various forms of what is called opus servile on Sundays.⁽⁴⁾The Latin phrases opus servile, opera servilia, and opus corporale are used interchangeably in this context by the various sources I reference in this article. The Latin word servile may be translated slavish or servile work while corporale refers to bodily work. For example, the teachings from St. Thomas Aquinas, the Roman Catechism (Catechism of the Council of Trent), St. John Vianney, and the 1917 Code of Canon Law clearly assert that the faithful were forbidden from labor and commercial activity on Sundays, even at times labeling this activity as a serious sin. How is it that the habit and discipline of the Sabbath day rest, once so prominent in the Catholic tradition, have become virtually non-existent? 

            In this article, I will present a survey of the teachings on the Sabbath day rest, as distinct from, although not unrelated to, the worship of God. In Part I, I will demonstrate how the tradition of the Church has articulated the necessity of abstaining from opus servile beginning with Sacred Scripture, continuing with the above mentioned sources, and then lastly with the approved message from the apparition of Our Lady of LaSalette from 1846.

            In Part II, I will then present the Church’s post-conciliar teachings on the Sabbath from the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini. I will demonstrate that there has been a notable shift in emphasis during the post-conciliar era of what the Church teaches concerning the Sabbath day rest. In the post-conciliar documents, the negative precepts of the third commandment, i.e. the explicit prohibitions from opus servile on Sunday, are no longer taught as they were prior to the Council and the Sabbath day rest is now presented in more general terms, emphasizing the need for leisure. 

            In the final section of this article, I argue that the negative precept of the third commandment, to abstain from opus servile on the Sabbath day, is still obligatory for faithful Catholics even though the post-conciliar documents on this point remain undeveloped. Lastly, I will suggest ways in which faithful Catholics might live out this precept of the Sabbath day rest in their lives today. 

Part I

The Sabbath Day Rest according to the Scriptures

            When the Lord spoke the 3^rd Commandment to Moses, he said: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8-10; Cf. Deuteronomy 5:12-14). The cessation from work commanded on the Sabbath is repeated throughout the five books of the Torah, and is one of the fundamental demands and “signs” of the covenant with God (Cf. Exodus 31:12-18). The Israelites kept it holy by setting the day apart from the other six days, banishing from it any profane activity. The Sabbath remained an integral part of Jewish life right up until the time of Christ.

            The rest mandated by God was not in order to do something that they could sanctify the Sabbath, but rather the rest itself acquired “a cultic value”.⁽⁵⁾The Navarre Bible: The Pentateuch, ed. José María Casciaro (Scepter Publishers: Princeton, NJ, 1999), 328. For example, God did not prescribe any sacrifices or rites for the Sabbath. It was only necessary that the whole Jewish community, even the animals, spend the day in rest.

            The first command, “remember”, is essential. Firstly, it recalls how the Lord rested on the seventh day of Creation: “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all His work” (Genesis 2:3). It is precisely God’s rest that made the Sabbath holy. 

            Second, the Sabbath was a time to remember how God delivered the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt: “Remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15). They rested from their labor to acknowledge that they were no longer slaves and to remember the marvels God had done. 

            In the New Testament, Christ observed the Jewish Sabbath as well but rebuked the Jews for their exaggerated sense of rest, noting, for example, how charity towards one’s neighbor (Mark 3:1-5), and the need to eat (Mark 2:23-27), surpass the Sabbath observance. Christ then provides the authoritative interpretation of how rest is to be observed: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Lastly, with Christ’s death on the cross, He abrogated the old ceremonial laws of Moses, including the Mosaic observance of the Sabbath.⁽⁶⁾Roman Catechism, trans. John A. McHugh and Charles J. Callan (Tan Books and Publishers, Inc.: Rockford, Il, 1982), 398.

            The early Church transferred the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday. They saw that the natural law still demands time set aside to honor God, and with the authority of the Church (Matthew 16:19; 18:18), chose Sunday because it is the day Christ rose from the dead. The Church still teaches that rest is needed on the Sabbath, and in addition to the Old Testament mysteries of the Sabbath that are to be remembered, there are now the new mysteries surrounding Christ. For example, St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “The quiet of the Sabbath signifies the rest of His body in the sepulcher.”⁽⁷⁾Thomas Aquinas, Collationes in decem praeceptis (Explanation of the Ten Commandments). This work dates from 1273, a year before his death. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://isidore.co/aquinas/TenCommandments.htm#5. Sunday rest now also recalls Jesus’ glorious resurrection, and points to the heavenly rest when all sin will be eradicated, dwelling eternally in the peace of Christ.⁽⁸⁾Cf. Psalm 94:11; Hebrews 4:8-11. Cf. Roman Catechism, 401- 402.

The Sabbath Day Rest according to Saint Thomas Aquinas 

            St. Thomas explains that God’s rest on the seventh day in Genesis must be understood within the context of God’s immutability: God does not rest in His works, “as though needing them for His own happiness.”⁽⁹⁾“Unde post conditionem omnium operum, non dicitur quod in suis operibus requievit, quasi eis ad suam beatitudinem indigens, sed ab eis requievit, utique in seipso, quia ipse sufficit sibi et implet desiderium suum.” Summa Theologica, I.73.2. From all eternity, God rests and is happy in enjoyment of Himself; but which, according to St. Thomas, properly belongs to the seventh day after creation because God rested on this day in Genesis.⁽¹⁰⁾Ibid. From this understanding, Aquinas concludes, “It is right that the seventh day should have been sanctified, since the special sanctification of every creature consists in resting in God.”⁽¹¹⁾“Quantum vero ad secundum, competit septimae diei sanctificatio. Maxime enim sanctificatio cuiuslibet attenditur in hoc quod in Deo requiescat.” Ibid., I.73.3. Therefore, according to Aquinas, there is a unique form of sanctification that comes from simply resting in God.

            The commandment to Keep the Sabbath holy is partly moral and partly ceremonial. St. Thomas writes: “It is a moral precept in the point of commanding man to set aside a certain time to be given to Divine things…But, in so far as this precept specializes the time as a sign representing the Creation of the world, it is a ceremonial precept.”⁽¹²⁾Ibid., II-II.122.4.1. Once Christ’s Passion occurred, the ceremonial laws were done away with: “The New Law does not void observance of the Old Law except in the point of ceremonial precepts.”⁽¹³⁾Ibid., I-II.107.2.1; Cf. I-II.103. 3,4. Therefore, the moral precepts of the third commandment must still be kept by the faithful. However, the Church declared that the Lord’s Day, the day of the resurrection, took the place of the Sabbath, so the specific time when the moral precepts are obligatory is now on Sunday.⁽¹⁴⁾Ibid., II-II.122.4.4.

            In the Explanation of the Ten Commandments, St. Thomas explains that there are two modes of keeping the Sabbath holy: keeping it “pure” and then consecrating it to God.⁽¹⁵⁾“Istis ergo duobus modis debemus festa celebrare; quia et pure, et mancipando se divino servitio.” Explanation of the Ten Commandments. St. Thomas uses both the latin words purus and mundus in this context. He also states in the Summa Theologica that while both modes are to be observed, the one end of observing the Sabbath is Divine Worship. II-II.122.4.3. This would be the negative and positive modes of observing the Sabbath. The negative mode consists of keeping the Sabbath pure by avoiding three things: servile work, sin, and idleness. The positive mode consists of consecrating the Sabbath to God by offering Sacrifice, listening to the Word of God, and contemplating divine things. Since our topic here is Sunday rest, I will focus on Aquinas’ explanation of servile work.

            According to St. Thomas, the justification for the avoidance of servile work comes from both Scripture and reason. He quotes two passages from the Old Testament: Both the prophets: “Neither do any work; sanctify the Sabbath day” (Jeremiah 17:22); and the law: “You shall do no servile work therein” (Leviticus 23:25). Using arguments from reason. Aquinas states that intellectual work is not servile because one cannot be bound in the same way to do this kind of work.⁽¹⁶⁾Explanation of the Ten Commandments. The body may be bound in service to another, but the soul always retains its liberty.⁽¹⁷⁾Cf. Summa Theologica, II-II.104.6.1. Cf. II-II.122.4.3. The intellect, as part of the soul, always retains its liberty. Therefore, the negative precept of the third commandment always refers to servile kind of work.

            Yet Aquinas clarifies that, “the prohibition to work on the Lord’s day is not so strict as on the Sabbath.”⁽¹⁸⁾Ibid., II-II.122.4.4. For example, the Old Testament Sabbath laws against cooking and traveling, are no longer applicable. St. Thomas argues that the observance of the Sabbath is “not figurative” as it was in the Old Testament when even small things were unlawful. ⁽¹⁹⁾St. Thomas’ reasoning here, that the new law is “not figurative”, is unclear to me. He adds: “[I]n the New Law, dispensation is more easily granted than in the Old, in the matter of certain forbidden works, on account of their necessity, because the figure pertains to the profession of truth (protestationem veritatis), which it is unlawful to omit even in small things; while works, considered in themselves, are changeable in point of place and time.” Ibid.

            Based on the life of Christ, St. Thomas gives four exceptions when servile work would be permitted on Sunday: 

            1) By necessity: The Lord excused the disciples plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-4). 

            2) For the service of the Church: The priests did all things necessary in the Temple on the Sabbath day (Matthew 12:5).

            3) For the good of our neighbor: On the Sabbath Jesus cured one having a withered hand (Matthew 12:9-13).

            4) By authority of our superiors: Thus, God commanded the Jews to circumcise on the Sabbath (John 7:22-23).⁽²⁰⁾Explanation of the Ten Commandments.

            In summary, St. Thomas teaches that there are two modes of keeping the Sabbath holy: not only attending Mass, but in keeping it “pure” by avoiding servile work. He states there is a special sanctification that comes from resting in God on the Sabbath, and that abstaining from servile work is necessary for the faithful. By noting that there are specific exceptions to abstaining from the rest, St. Thomas holds that while the work prohibited on the Lord’s day is not as strict as it was on the Jewish Sabbath, there are certain limitations on what work is permitted on Sundays. 

            St. Thomas Aquinas’ language of “avoiding servile work” was eventually adopted by the Catholic Church’s official teaching in the Roman Catechism, promulgated after the Council of Trent in 1566.⁽²¹⁾Although there have been many catechisms published by various sources in the history of the Catholic Church, there have only been two official Catechisms promulgated with the approval of the Church’s teaching authority: The Roman Catechism under Pope St. Pius V in 1566 and the Catechism of the Catholic Church under Pope St. John Paul II in 1994. The Roman Catechism explains that resting on the Sabbath means abstaining from servile work: “All servile works are forbidden, not because they are improper in themselves, but because they withdraw the attention from the worship of God, which is the great end of the Commandment.”⁽²²⁾The Roman Catechism, 404. Similar to Aquinas, the Catechism also makes limited exceptions to servile work, such as decorating the altar or church. It even continues the Jewish teaching that beasts of burden should not work on Sundays, explaining that it requires human labor to direct them. 

            Lastly, the Roman Catechism places the prohibition from servile work as one of the three necessary parts of the third commandment: Remembering, consecrating the day for worship, and forbidding servile work. 

The Sabbath Day Rest according to Saint John Vianney

             A pastoral application of how the saints applied the Church’s teaching on  Sabbath day rest can be found in the famous example of the holy Curé of Ars. In 1818, St. John Vianneyarrived in the small farm town of Ars as its new parish priest. Most people were failing to keep the Sabbath holy at that time because they were working and spending their evenings in the local taverns. Their new pastor made it his mission to make them give up their work in the fields, close the taverns, and to attend Holy Mass. 

            Shaking, he preached fearlessly against the profanation of Sunday: “You labor, but what you earn proves the ruin of your soul and your body. If we ask those who work on Sunday, ‘What have you been doing? They might answer: ‘I have been selling my soul to the devil and crucifying our Lord…’ When I behold people driving carts on Sunday, it seems to me I am seeing them carting their souls to hell.”⁽²³⁾Abbé Francis Trochu, The Cure D’Ars, trans. Dom Ernest Graf (Tan Books and Publishers, Inc.: Rockford, Il, 1977),142. Much of the contents of this famous book by Trochu were taken from St. John Vianney’s process of canonization. He would preach so hard against Sunday work that he often lost his voice.⁽²⁴⁾Ibid., 143. He would not tolerate that shops should open on Sundays, and even refused to bless objects that had been purchased on that day.⁽²⁵⁾Ibid., 223.

            When people came to him for a dispensation from the law of the Church so they could work on Sunday, the holy Cure refused to yield: “I know two infallible ways to become poor, and they are: Sunday work and taking other people’s property.”⁽²⁶⁾Ibid., 143. He feared that dispensations would lead to further abuses against the Sabbath and he was confident that God would protect the farmer who trusted in the Sunday rest. “Yes, elsewhere priests may grant permission to work on Sunday; I, at Ars, cannot do so.”⁽²⁷⁾Ibid., 144. After many years in Ars, there were signs that St. John Vianney did grant dispensations, for example when the crops were threatened by persistent bad weather.

            St. John Vianney battled against the profanation of Sunday for eight years before it started to bear good fruit. The fields and gardens in Ars came to a standstill as the entire village engaged in Sunday worship. The Sabbath became a place of peace, tranquility, and recollection. One of the hotel owners in Ars spoke of the atmosphere that St. John Vianney had created: “Our holy Curé would never allow me to do business on Sundays and feast days, nor did the other carters harness their horses on those days.”⁽²⁸⁾Ibid., 223. He would not even let carts enter the village or leave it. 

            The people of Ars were both mocked or admired by people from surrounding villages but as one peasant of Ars replied, “Oh, we are no better than the others, but surely it would be too shameful a thing to commit such sins when we live close to a saint.”⁽²⁹⁾Ibid., 215.

            St. John Vianney was certainly more of a rigorist compared to his contemporaries in the enforcement of the Sabbath day, and one can argue with his methods, but one cannot argue with the fruit of his labors. Certainly, the villagers of Ars became the most devout observers of the Sabbath. 

The Sabbath Day Rest according to Our Lady of LaSalette⁽³⁰⁾While Catholics are not obliged to accept the approved apparition of Our Lady of LaSalette as a matter of faith, her message also supports the teaching of abstaining from servile work on the Sabbath.

            In 1846, Our Lady of La Salette appeared to two uneducated shepherd children, Melanie and Maximin, in what is perhaps the most spectacular settings of all approved Marian apparitions, high in the French Alps. At that time in France, the French Revolution and the continual political upheaval following Napoleon’s wars led to fewer and fewer people going to Sunday Mass.⁽³¹⁾Msgr. John S. Kennedy, “The Lady in Tears”, in A Woman Clothed with the Sun, ed. John J. Delaney (Image Book: New York, 1961), 90. Piety had fallen out of favor, and there was far more cursing among the people than praying. 

            Unlike other approved Marian apparitions where Our Lady so often appeared gloriously standing as if clothed with the sun, this time she appeared seated with her face in her hands, weeping. Only after the two shepherd children approached her did she speak, telling them not to be afraid. What was the reason for her weeping? God’s imminent punishment for the people because they failed to keep the Sabbath holy.   

            With a commanding and motherly voice, she warned, “If my people will not obey, I shall be compelled to loose my Son’s arm. It is so heavy, so pressing that I can no longer restrain it…I have appointed six days for working. The seventh I have reserved for myself. And no one will give it to me. This it is which causes the weight of my Son’s arm to be so crushing.”⁽³²⁾Ibid., 93. The apparition also asserts that Our Lady was weeping because people regularly violate the Second Commandment, i.e. swearing, using the Lord’s name in vain. The Blessed Virgin also confided a secret to the children that was later transmitted in writing directly to Pope Blessed Pius IX. The Blessed Virgin went on to explain to the two children how these sins were the reason for the previous year’s crops of grain spoiling in their region. 

            The positive reaction of the local people was immediate. Pilgrimages from other villages, far and wide, started coming, climbing up the mountain in large numbers. A spring of water flowed from the apparition sight and cures were reported from those who called on the Blessed Virgin under the title of Our Lady of LaSalette. The local priest noted how the message of Our Lady was having an effect on his parishioners: violation of the Sabbath day rest ceased to be the common practice.⁽³³⁾Ibid., 100.

            Similar to other modern day apparitions, such as Lourdes and Fatima, newspapers from all over France mocked the alleged story of the uneducated shepherds. The local police harassed the families of the children. The local bishop was lectured by the French officials to stop the promotion of these lies.⁽³⁴⁾Cf. Ibid., 97-102.

            In 1851, after a lengthy inquiry by the local bishops and Pope Blessed Pius IX, they declared that the apparition of Our Lady of LaSalette, “…bears in itself all the marks of truth, and the faithful have grounds to believe it indubitable and certain.” The formal declaration noted that Our Lady told the two children, “of evils threatening her people, especially because of blasphemy and the profanation of Sunday.”⁽³⁵⁾Formal Declaration of Bishop Philibert de Bruillard (1765 – 1860), the Bishop of Grenoble, from November 16, 1851 quoted in ibid., 109.

Part II: To be continued…