Day 49: We Are Created For Worship (344-354)

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and thank you. Thank you so much for covenanting yourself to us. For giving yourself to us. For making us your children. For calling us to be part of your family. Lord God, in making us for worship you have made us for joy. In making us for worship and orienting our lives towards worship of you, you have extended the invitation for us to dwell in your presence. Help us to live each day with you. Help us to live each day for you. Help us to see in this work of creation the invitation to be in relationship with you. Never let us be parted from you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”


I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!! Day 49: We Are Created For Worship

Catechism Paragraphs 344-354

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and thank you. Thank you so much for covenanting yourself to us. For giving yourself to us. For making us your children. For calling us to be part of your family. Lord God, in making us for worship you have made us for joy. In making us for worship and orienting our lives towards worship of you, you have extended the invitation for us to dwell in your presence. Help us to live each day with you. Help us to live each day for you. Help us to see in this work of creation the invitation to be in relationship with you. Never let us be parted from you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”


Scripture References & Reflections

- compiled by Andrew Adamany


Bible Translation - RSVCE


CCC 345 "The sabbath - the end of the work of the six days. These inspired words (that the sacred text days) are rich in profitable instruction:


Genesis 2:1–3

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation."


CCC 346 "In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of the unshakeable faithfulness of God's covenant. For his part man must remain faithful to this foundation, and respect the laws which the Creator has written into it."


Hebrews 4:1–4

"Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them; but the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, 

“As I swore in my wrath, 

‘They shall never enter my rest,’ ” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”


Jeremiah 31:35–37 

"Thus says the Lord, 

who gives the sun for light by day 

and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, 

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— 

the Lord of hosts is his name: 

“If this fixed order departs 

from before me, says the Lord, 

then shall the descendants of Israel cease 

from being a nation before me for ever.” 

Thus says the Lord: 

“If the heavens above can be measured, 

and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, 

then I will cast off all the descendants of Israel 

for all that they have done, 

says the Lord.”


CCC 347 "Creation was fashioned with a view to the sabbath and therefore for the worship and adoration of God. Worship is inscribed in the order of creation. As the rule of St. Benedict says, nothing should take precedence over "the work of God", that is, solemn worship. This indicates the right order of human concerns."


Genesis 1:14

"And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years"


Exodus 20:8–11 

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it."


CCC 348 "The sabbath is at the heart of Israel's law. To keep the commandments is to correspond to the wisdom and the will of God as expressed in his work of creation."


Exodus 31:16–17

"Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign for ever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’ ”


CCC 349 "The eighth day. But for us a new day has dawned: the day of Christ's Resurrection. The seventh day completes the first creation. The eighth day begins the new creation. Thus, the work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation."


Matthew 28:1–6

"Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said."


Acts 2:42 

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."


Acts 20:7

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight."


Early Church Fathers

Athanasius

“The Sabbath was the end of the first creation, the Lord’s day was the beginning of the second, in which he renewed and restored the old in the same way as he prescribed that they should formerly observe the Sabbath as a memorial of the end of the first things, so we honor the Lord’s day as being the memorial of the new creation” 

(On Sabbath and Circumcision 3 [A.D. 345]).