By the third commandment we are commanded to worship God in a special manner on Sunday, the Lord’s day. “Keep you My Sabbath: for it is holy unto you: he that shall profane it, shall be put to death: he that shall do any work in it, his soul shall perish out of the midst of his people. Six days shall you do work: in the seventh day is the sabbath, the rest holy to the Lord” (Exodus 31: 14-15).
God commanded the observance of a definite day, in order that man may devote one day a week to the special worship of his Creator. Natural law obliges man to adore and thank God for His continuous blessings. If God gives us six days to work for ourselves, we ought to be glad to devote one day to Him, exclusively.
“We should participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for by it, and by the true Mass alone, do we offer adoration to God, we obtain instruction in our Faith, and we secure our sanctification. If we offer Holy Mass with the implicit intention of participating in the services, we are not mere spectators watching those services. We become actors in a divine drama, as members of a great family completely united in mind and spirit, one in a bond of charity, using the ceremonies of the Church for our sanctification. We are assisting at Mass even if we don’t know Latin.”
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(Vatican Radio) In the first appointment of his one day pastoral visit to the Italian region of Molise Saturday, Pope Francis urged people to follow God in ‘breaking the mold’ imposed by the current socio-economic system, to transform their reality into a more human – and family- centered one.
He called for work-free Sunday’s so mothers and fathers can spend time playing with their children, a ‘science’ he said that we are losing; he urged for a creative joining of forces and ‘jobs pact’ for the region, which suffers from heavy unemployment and he spoke in praise of the ‘labor’ of working mothers. Pope Francis’ first meeting in Campobasso was with the world of labor and industry in the Aula Magna of the University of Molise. The Pope was greeted by the Rector and then was briefly addressed by a farmer and a Fiat factory employee, the mother of a toddler who is expecting her second child.The Pope thanked them for their words of welcome and for sharing their life experiences, their struggles and hopes with him.
Echoing the Rectors words he said “Our God is the God of the surprises: it is true. Every day there is another surprise!…But… God also breaks the mold. And if we do not have the courage to break the mold, we will never move forward because our God impels us to this: to be creative about the future. This is a beautiful theological definition. ”
“My visit to Molise – he continued – starts from this encounter with the world of work, but the place in which we find ourselves is aUniversity. And this is significant: it expresses the importance of research and formation in responding to new and complex questions that the current economic crisis poses, locally, nationally and internationally. A young farmer gave witness to this a short while ago, with his choice to do a degree course in agriculture and to work the land as a ‘vocation’. The farmer’s remaining on the land is not stationary; it is creating a dialogue, a fruitful dialogue, a creative dialogue. It is this dialogue between man and his land that makes it flourish, fruitful for all of us. This is important. A good educational program does not offer easy solutions, but it helps to have a more open and creative vision to better exploit the territories resources. ”
“I fully agree – he pointed out – what has been said about ‘safeguarding’ the earth, to bear fruit without ‘exploitation’. This is one of the greatest challenges of our time: conversion to a development that respects Creation. In America, my homeland, I see many forests, which have been stripped … that becomes land that cannot be cultivated, that cannot give life. This is our sin: we exploit the earth and do not let it give us what it harbors within, with the help of our cultivation”
“My visit to Molise – he continued – starts from this encounter with the world of work, but the place in which we find ourselves is aUniversity. And this is significant: it expresses the importance of research and formation in responding to new and complex questions that the current economic crisis poses, locally, nationally and internationally. A young farmer gave witness to this a short while ago, with his choice to do a degree course in agriculture and to work the land as a ‘vocation’. The farmer’s remaining on the land is not stationary; it is creating a dialogue, a fruitful dialogue, a creative dialogue. It is this dialogue between man and his land that makes it flourish, fruitful for all of us. This is important. A good educational program does not offer easy solutions, but it helps to have a more open and creative vision to better exploit the territories resources. ”
“I fully agree – he pointed out – what has been said about ‘safeguarding’ the earth, to bear fruit without ‘exploitation’. This is one of the greatest challenges of our time: conversion to a development that respects Creation. In America, my homeland, I see many forests, which have been stripped … that becomes land that cannot be cultivated, that cannot give life. This is our sin: we exploit the earth and do not let it give us what it harbors within, with the help of our cultivation”
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