“REMEMBER THAT THOU KEEP HOLY 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 do any work, his soul shall perish out of the midst of his people.” Ex. 31:14. “And if the people bring ware, that we would not buy it of them on  the Sabbath, or the holy day.” Nehemiah 10:31, drbo.org. Wow! Is it that serious, that he that would profane the Day of the Lord shall be put to death?  That’s giving him the death penalty. They had jails and prisons back then. Why didn’t they just put him in prison, which they did? Because, as Fr. Leslie Rumble said in Radio Replies, “The seriousness of the punishment shows the seriousness of the crime.” Let us see if God meant what he said. The argument that we no longer need the death penalty is Null and Void because, as they say, we have enough prisons to put them in. For one, that is not true. Secondly, God meant thereby to show the people how serious it is to break his law, to make them have the fear of the Lord like they should and not sin. “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin.” Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 1:27. “ And all the people saw the voices and the flames, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mount smoking: and being terrified and struck with fear, they stood afar off, Saying to Moses: Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people: Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that the dread of him might be in you, and you should not sin.” Exodus 20. Some modernists have translated fear to mean awe of God. Well, that’s part of it, but the word fear literally means fear, because God will severely chastise sin, either in this life or the next. And Moses did say, “that the dread of him might be in you, and you should not sin,” because when you dread something, you fear it.

     And how do we keep the Sabbath in the New Testament, which is now Sunday,” because the Lord arose from the dead on Sunday,” said St. Justin Martyr? We keep it by going to holy Mass, by resting as the Lord rested on the seventh day, and by avoiding unnecessary work. People like doctors, nurses, and other necessary work are excused. These are considered necessary. However, one should know, as a Catholic, and even a fallen away Catholic, that it is our duty to attend Mass on Sunday to honor and worship the Lord properly, and to neglect to do so is a mortal sin, excepting a legitimate excuse, such as sickness or attending to the sick, or some other urgent reason. Those Catholics who have left the true Church for a false one are still committing a mortal sin each time they miss Mass on Sunday, because they were taught right and rejected that teaching when they left. Imagine an ex-Catholic who has missed Mass for 50 years. That’s 2600 mortal sins. Just because they have rejected their conscience and have gotten comfortable with being away does not annul the sin, the same as a man who was taught that it’s a mortal sin to murder somebody eventually does so, and continues to do it until it bothers him no more, like Ted Bundy, still commits a mortal sin every time he murders someone, even though it doesn’t bother him. The Apostles in the Apostle’s Creed said, “I believe in one, holy, Catholic Church.” The Catholic Church is the true Church, and Jesus said, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him.”St. John 4:23. That hour is now. Not in a false protestant church. They were all started by men. The Apostles didn’t start their own church. They carried out the work of the Church Jesus Christ founded , upon the rock of Peter: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” St. Matthew 16:18. And if we wish to be among those who were such as should be saved, we must belong to the Catholic Church. “And the Lord increased daily together (to the Church),  such as should be saved.” Acts 2:47.

     In the Book of Numbers, chapter 15, we see that they apprehended a man just picking up sticks on the Sabbath. Just picking up sticks on the Sabbath. Moses asked God what they should do with him, and God said, “Stone him to death.” “For he hath contemned the word the Lord, and made void his precept: therefore shall he be destroyed, and shall bear his iniquity.  32 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, and had found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day,  33 That they brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole multitude.  34 And they put him into prison, not knowing what they should do with him.  35 And the Lord said to Moses: Let that man die, let all the multitude stone him without the camp. 36 And when they had brought him out, they stoned him, and he died as the Lord had commanded.” You see, it wasn’t so much the work that he did, but it was him despising the Law of the Lord. He contemned the word of the Lord, and made void his precept. “For he hath contemned the word the Lord, and made void his precept: therefore shall he be destroyed, and shall bear his iniquity.”

     Later, in Numbers chapter 16, we see Core, Abiron, and Dathan, grumbling against God, building a golden calf, violating the first commandment, and causing the people to sin. What did God do when Moses came back off the mountain? He destroyed those men and all their substance, and not only that, he opened up the earth, and swallowed them alive into hell! They didn’t even die! THEY WERE SWALLOWED ALIVE INTO HELL!  The schism of Core and his adherents: their punishment. “And the Lord said to Moses:  24 Command the whole people to separate themselves from the tents of Core and Dathan and Abiron.  25 And Moses arose, and went to Dathan and Abiron: and the ancients of Israel following him,

 26 He said to the multitude: Depart from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins.  27 And when they were departed from their tents round about, Dathan and Abiron coming out stood in the entry of their pavilions with their wives and children, and all the people.  28 And Moses said: By this you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all things that you see, and that I have not forged them of my own head:  29 If these men die the common death of men, and if they be visited with a plague, wherewith others also are wont to be visited, the Lord did not send me.  30 But if the Lord do a new thing, and the earth opening her mouth swallow them down, and all things that belong to them, and they go down alive into hell, you shall know that they have blasphemed the Lord.

 31 And immediately as he had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet:  32 And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance.  33 And they went down alive into hell the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people.  34 But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing: saying: Lest perhaps the earth swallow us up also.  35 And a fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.”

     Another time St. Paul said God destroyed 23,000 in one day for the sin of fornication! 1 Cor. 10:8. Another time God destroys 24,000, chapter 25, The people fall into fornication and idolatry; for which twenty-four thousand are slain, and The zeal of Phinees. “And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab,  2 Who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods.  3 And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry,  4 Said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun: that my fury may be turned away from Israel.  5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbours, that have been initiated to Beelphegor.

[3] “Initiated to Beelphegor”: That is, they took to the worship of Beelphegor, an obscene idol of the Moabites, and were consecrated, as it were, to him.

 6 And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a harlot of Madian, in the sight of Moses, and of all the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle.  7 And when Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst; of the multitude, and taking a dagger,  8 Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts. And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel:  9 And there were slain four and twenty thousand men.  10 And the Lord said to Moses: 11 ‘Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them, that I myself might not destroy the children of Israel in my zeal.’ You see, God gave many of them the death penalty through Moses, and He commended the zeal of Phinees putting the two fornicators to death, contrary to what our bishops would tell us today.

     PROFANATION OF SUNDAY IS AN INJUSTICE: A farmer ridiculed his neighbor because he did not, like himself, work on Sunday, but on the contrary attended the church service. “Suppose,” said the farmer, “I have seven shillings in my pocket, and meeting a poor man on the way I give him six, what would you say?” “Well,” said the farmer, “you would be very generous, and would deserve every thanks.” “But if instead of thanking me, he threw me down and robbed me of my last shilling, what then?” “Why, such a man would deserve to be hanged.” “Friend,” replied the neighbor, “that’s your very case. God has given you six days to labor in, and has reserved only the seventh for himself, and commands us to sanctify it. And you, instead of being thankful for his gifts and respecting his will, you rob him even of the seventh day. Are not the two cases alike?” The farmer agreed, he admitted his fault, and corrected it. (Stories from the Catechist, #488).

     At the beginning of this article it quoted the Scripture that if people bring ware on the Sabbath or the holy day, we should not buy it of them. This would include stores and other such places. Because according to the Word of the Lord, they are not even supposed to be operating. They are using the Lord’s Day for monetary gain. “And if the people of the land bring in things to sell, or any things for use, to sell them on the sabbath day, that we would not buy them of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day.” Secondly, they are causing their workers to work that day rather than giving them time to worship and to rest. As St. John Vianney said, “They’re stealing the Lord’s Day from him for their own ends.” Thirdly, when we patronize them, we are supporting them and  participating in their sin. However, we are so accustomed to doing these things, myself included, that we don’t consider it a sin, or we don’t want to. As with other things, there are exceptions to the rule, if there is a case of real necessity. David and his men went into the House of the Lord and ate the forbidden bread when they were hungry without incurring sin. Likewise the apostles plucked the ears of corn on the Sabbath: “And it came to pass again, as the Lord walked through the corn fields on the sabbath, that his disciples began to go forward, and to pluck the ears of corn.” Mark 2:23. Undoubtedly they had gone a long time without anywhere to eat, and Our Lord justified them as well as King David. They didn’t have snack machines and quick stops on every corner, and money in their pocket like we do. They hadn’t anywhere to eat and were very hungry so they were justified. In the olden days, food was not abundant as it is now, and when you watch an old western for instance, almost all the people are slim. The abundance of food and eating six times a day is what is contributing to so many people being overweight.  So there are exceptions to the rule, but we must be very careful not to do these things on a regular basis or make a habit out of them.

     It would seem to be a venial sin at the very least, and a much more serious sin if we make a habit out of it, contemning the Word of the Lord as the man picking up sticks on the Sabbath who was stoned to death. Now you may say that a venial sin is not all that bad. However, St. Anthony Mary Claret said, “The earth is not very big in comparison to the universe, but in itself it is a very big thing. Venial sin is not very big in comparison to a mortal sin, but in the fact that it is an offense to Almighty God, it is a very big thing…” St. Anthony Claret goes on to say that people are burning in purgatory for venial sins, such as an indecent smile, grumbling and other such sins. And he says if you saw someone apprehended and thrown into a big fire, and you asked what he had done, and they said, ‘Oh, he just told a little lie,’ would you still think a venial sin is a small matter?” I am paraphrasing but this is the essence of what he said. From THE GOLDEN KEY TO HEAVEN.

     Going to Mass regularly as we are supposed to preserves us from many misfortunes  and other things that may happen to us otherwise. St. Leonard of Port Maurice in his book ,THE HIDDEN TREASURE, qutes St. Antoninus, who related the story of two young libertines who were out walking in a forest one day on a Sunday. They heard a voice from heaven which said, “Slay!” and one was instantly killed. Then the one remaining heard the voice again, “Slay!” and feared instant death. Then he heard another voice which said, “I cannot. I cannot, today he heard, Verbum caro factum est, the Word was made flesh; his Mass will not let me strike” Which meant, he had gone to Mass that day and fulfilled his duty so he was spared. St. Gregory assures us of the same, “It is most true that he who attends Holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both foreseen and unforeseen.” St. Augustine says, “He shall be freed from sudden death, which is the most terrible stroke by Divine Justice against sinners.” THE HIDDEN TREASURE, PG. 41-42.

     Another story, which verifies the truth of what is said above, was related about three traders who took their goods to market on a Saturday, and two of them wanted to head on home, even though it meant missing Mass the next day. The third one would not hear of it, and he told them they should wait and go to Mass, and if necessary, they could get an inn on the way home. The other two refused and headed home. A terrible storm broke out and swelled the river. As they were crossing the bridge, it gave out and they were drowned. Some bystanders were able to pull them out. When the third trader was on the way home the next morning, he came upon them and with great grief, recognized them as his companions, and he came to realize his attendance at Mass had spared him the same fate. When he returned home, he related to his family what had happened, and ever after thanked God for sparing his life! Pages 81-83.

     In our own time, there was a devout couple who went to Mass daily. One of their daughters was on the way to Walmart, and on some sharp narrow curves she was involved in an accident  with a heavy semi which had turned over. It was said she was pinned somehow but not seriously injured, by the grace of God. A gentleman who knew the parents went and visited them, and he told them probably the reason their daughter was spared was because they attended Mass each day. St. Padre Pio said, “The earth could exist easier without the sun than without the value of the holy Mass.” Because what is happening at each Holy Mass? The pure offering and oblation (sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross) is continually offered to his Father in heaven from sunup to sundown, on our behalf, to bring down mercy on the world and atone for our sins. The more often we attend Mass, the more our sins are atoned for. Jesus is not dying all over again but his sacrifice is renewed and made present to us.   ‘’For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachias 1:11. People who go to Mass faithfully, and even daily, can hope to have a very short purgatory, because most of their sins are atoned for by being present at Mass. Because they love the Lord enough to make that sacrifice every day, the Lord rewards their love with great blessings in return.

     However, in our day and age people are going to Mass slovenly and immodestly dressed. Men who go to Mass in tee shirts and shorts are in violation of the decree on Modesty by Pope Pius XI, 1930. Remember this is the House of God where the Son of God is present on the altar in the tabernacle. Would you have the audacity to walk into heaven dressed that way if you were able? Where is your faith? “Keep ye my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.” [Leviticus 19:30]. Would you go to visit a president or an earthly king dressed as you are? Where is your faith? Are they greater than the Son of God who died on the Cross for you? As St. Alphonsus would say, “Why is Jesus the unlucky one?” And women, who come to church dressed like men, Deut. 22:5; and many immodest, are in serious violation of the decree. DECREE ON MODESTY by Pope Pius XI, tinyurl.com/tdakwyaj. Have you no fear of God? Where did you get the idea that God doesn’t care how we dress? St. Paul said, “The immodest shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven.” Gal. 5:19-21, drbo.org. Fr. Shouppe relates a story in his book on Hell about a woman who prayed to God to show her what sin in women displeased Him the most. He granted her prayer by showing her a former friend who had been condemned to hell mainly for the sin of immodesty. “The Lord vouchsafed in a miraculous manner to hear her. He opened under her eyes the eternal abyss. There she saw a woman prey to cruel torments and in her recognized one of her friends, a short time before deceased. This sight caused her as much astonishment as grief: the person whom she saw damned did not seem to her to have lived badly. Then that unhappy soul said to her, “It is true that I practiced religion, but I was a slave to vanity. Ruled by the passion to please, I was not afraid to adopt indecent fashions to attract attention and I kindled the fire of  impurity in more than one heart. Ah! If Christian women knew how much immodesty in dress displeases God!” At the same time, this unhappy soul was pierced by two fiery lances, and plunged into a caldron of liquid lead.” Thus ends the sad story of the woman who went to hell for the sin of immodesty. One can only imagine the screams of pain and cries of despair she emitted in this vision, screams and cries of pain which will last forever in the everlasting fire. St. Matthew 25:41. WOMAN DAMNED TO HELL FOR THE SIN OF IMMODESTY: https://motherofGodlibrary.org/2019/12/20/. Little Jacinta of Fatima said, “Certain fashions shall be introduced that will offend our Lord very much.” “That is,” said Father Bernard Kunkel, “mortally sinful.” Little Jacinta went on to say, “More souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason…If souls only knew what awaits them in eternity, they would do everything in their power to change their lives.” Remember, she was one of the 3 children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 who were shown a vision of hell in July of that year by the Blessed Mother, demons, and human souls burning in the fire of hell, amid screams of pain and despair!

     Working on Sunday: Another man in our own time who was working on Sunday suffered a massive heart attack and almost died. Ridiculed Religion: There was also a case of a man who ridiculed religion, went to service drunk, mocked the service, and died an early death in his twenties. His jeep overturned on him and killed him!

     St. John Vianney had this to say for those who work on Sunday: “You labor, but what you earn proves the ruin of your soul and 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. I am doomed to hell.’ When I behold people driving carts on Sunday, it seems to me I see them carting their souls to hell..Sunday is the property of the good God; it is his own day, the Lord’s Day. He has given you six days and only reserved the seventh for himself. What right have you to meddle with something that does not belong to you? You know very well that stolen goods never yield any profit. Neither will the Day you steal from the Lord procure for you any advantage. I know two infallible ways to become poor, and they are Sunday work, and taking other people’s property.”