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Daily Meditation: The Sabbath was hallowed at creation. As ordained for man, it had its origin when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7 Desire of Ages, P. 281

What the Catholic Church Says

Since the prophet Daniel predicted a power that would "think to change times and laws" (Daniel 7:25), let us look in more detail at the Catholic Church to see what it says about the subject. We want to be fair, and not accuse anyone falsely. It is, after all, a monumental assertion to say you changed God's law. Quotations cited here are from Catholic sources, without any editing whatsoever.

Catholic Encyclopedia Vol IV, p. 153 "The Church ... after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the third commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's day."

The Question Box, Cardinal Gibbons, p.179, "If the Bible is the only guide for the Christian, then the Seventh-day Adventist is right in observing the Saturday with the Jew ... Is it not strange that those who make the Bible their only teacher, should inconsistently follow in this matter the tradition of the Catholic Church?"

John J. Castlelot, S.S. describes a passage in the book Salvation History And The Commandments p. 294, 1963 ed. by Rev. Leo J. Trese in this way "Nothing is said in the Bible about the change in the Lord's day from Saturday to Sunday. We know of the change only from the tradition of the Church- a fact handed down to us from earliest times by the living voice of the church. That is why we find so illogical the attitude of many non-Catholics, who say that they will believe nothing unless they can find it in the Bible and yet will continue to keep Sunday as the Lord's day on the say-so of the Catholic Church."

This is Catholicism, 1959 edition, John Walsh, S.J., p. 325 says "The Catholic Church transferred the observance from the seventh to the first day of the week. ... The Catholic Church deemed it more fitting to appoint this day, rather than Saturday, the festival day of Christians."

A Doctrinal Catechism, Rev. Stephen Keenan, says "Question-have you any other way of proving that the Church has the power to institute festivals of precept? Answer-had she not such power, she could not have done that which all modern religionists agree with her; she coul dnot have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.".

Understanding the Catholic Faith, Rev. John A. O'Brien, 1955 edition, p. 13, says "The Bible does not contain all the teachings of the Catholic religion, nor does it formulate all the duties of its members. Take, for instance, the matter of Sunday observance, attendance at divine service, and abstention from unnecessary servile work on that day. This is a matter upon which our Protestant neighbors have for many years laid great emphasis; yet nowhere in the Bible is the Sunday designated as the Lord's day; the day mentioned is the Sabbath, the last day of the week. The early Church, conscious of her authority to teach in the name of Christ, deliberately changed the day to Sunday."

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