25th Sunday in Ordinary Time--September 21, 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We know that Sunday Mass and Adoring the Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist (Blessed Sacrament) is of utmost importance to us as Baptized members of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. But why on Sunday? Saint Pope John Paul II wrote a pastoral letter to all Christians in 1998 entitled: “Dies Domini” or “On Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy.” The Holy Father taught of the importance of our worship of God at Holy Mass. The first Sabbath day was when God the Father rested on the seventh day. The rest that God took was an active rest. He looked at all He created and said “it is good.” He observed His creation in action as He rested. Throughout the Old Testament God reminded His people to “remember to keep the Sabbath holy.” This remembering as a way of keeping the Sabbath holy was more than just a passing thought. God called His people to remember that He is the Lord; to remember that He brought them out of slavery; to remember that He gave them the commandments. When the Jewish people gathered on the Sabbath to remember what the Lord did, they actively told the story as if to relive it. For them, to remember was to make the day holy as God continued to create them into His people. The Sabbath is what the Jewish people celebrate from sun-down on Friday to sun-down on Saturday. When the Sabbath is kept holy, they are keeping the third and the first commandments of God. Why then do we as Catholic Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday? God the Father sent His Son into the world to search out what had been lost by sin; to conquer death. This would be a new creation. After Jesus nailed sin to the cross and accepted its consequence, it was complete. The new creation was accomplished. While in the tomb Jesus descended to the dead and took them to Himself. Then, early Sunday morning He appeared to Mary Magdalene whom he delivered from 7 demons. Then He appeared to the apostles. He observed what He had made new, recreated – the new day of the Lord, Sunday. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.

In Christ,
Fr. Steven Guitron