Catechism in Pictures, text & image-32

THE COMMANDMENTS.

The Third Commandment:
Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.

1. The Third Commandment requires us to sanctify Sunday.
2. Sunday (in Latin Dies Dominica) is the Lord's day, i. e., is the day specially consecrated to His service under the New Law.
3. Before the coming of Christ the day specially set apart for the service of God was Saturday, which day was called the Sabbath or day of rest. It had been so selected in honour of the resting of God after the Creation.
4. The keeping of the Sabbath was transferred to Sunday by the Church in honour of two great mysteries accomplished on that day, the Resurrection and the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles.
5. To sanctify Sunday, we must abstain from all servile work and assist at the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
6. By servile work is understood all manual labour and, generally, all work in which the body takes a larger part than the mind. It is termed servile, because such work in early times was done by slaves (Latin servi) and is now usually done by servants for wages. Building, ploughing, stone-cutting, metal working, sewing, weaving, embroidering with the needle, knitting, crocheting, all these are servile works.
7. God prohibits bodily labour on Sunday, 1stly. in order to make man acknowledge his sovereign authority, and 2ndly., because bodily labour renders him less disposed to fulfil his religious duties, which ought especially to occupy his time on the holy day.
8. Such prohibition is beneficial to our bodies as well as to our souls, because by obliging us to take rest periodically, it restores our energies, preserves our vitality and thus prolongs life.
9. Under servile work must be included even work which requires but little effort to accomplish, such as making pictures and rosaries. It is not the amount of fatigue produced which determines the nature of the work, nor is that nature changed if the work is not done for gain.
10. Judicial work, involving as it does, the strict observance of legal procedure, such as hearing counsel and witnesses, delivering judgment, and so on, is forbidden on Sundays, the only exception to the rule occurring when in criminal proceeding any interruption would defeat the ends of justice.
11. Market fairs also are forbidden on Sunday unless they are so appointed as to recur on fixed dates, one of which may happen to coincide with a Sunday.
12. Such work as is done by men not working for their livelihood and is improving to the mind is allowed, as is also every kind of occupation common to all persons, those working for wages as well as others, such as sweeping the house one lives in, hunting, fishing and travelling.
13. It is not forbidden to study or teach, or to play musical instruments or sing (even if done for gain) or to draw or, when no great expenditure of labour is required for preparing the colours, to paint. The same may be said of photography and many other similar amateur occupations.
14. Nevertheless the sculptor's work is forbidden except so much of it as may be required in the way of final touches to finish a work of art.
15. Work otherwise prohibited may however be done (1) if dispensation has been obtained from the bishop or parish priest; (2) if it is in accordance with local custom, as may happen in respect to shaving, printing, &c.; and (3) if it is connected with sacred things, as, for example, the cleaning and adorning of a church, the making of altar breads, &c.
16. Those who get others to do servile work on Sundays are just as guilty as if they did it themselves.
17. Parents and masters and mistresses, who prevent their children and servants from keeping holy the sabbath day, commit a mortal sin and invite upon themselves and their families the judgment of an offended God.
18. It is never permissible to sin; hence it is an error to imagine that a sin is the worse for having been committed on Sunday.

Explanation of the Plate.

19. The object of the picture is to bring out the striking contrast between those who sanctify the sabbath and those who profane it. In the upper portion of it we see a church, presbytery and cemetery and also some farms and an old mansion. All the shops and factories are closed; carts and agricultural implements lie idle in the fields or beside the houses; school children in charge of their teachers, the faithful of every sex, age and degree, all are on their way to the House of God to hear Mass, carefully avoiding the eating and drink shops where are seated the impious and the libertine, and devoutly saluting the Cross which rises up by the wayside. In the lower part of the picture we observe a factory where they are desecrating the Sabbath by doing forbidden work.

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Catechism in Pictures 1912 (1938) PDF, all Pages: Click Here
With color pictures and texts transcribed on this page:
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