pressly permitted by the sacred canons. There are many other things which our Lord declares lawful to be done on Sundays and holydays, and which may be seen by the pastor in St. Matthew and St. John.
But to omit nothing that may interfere with the sanctification of the Sabbath, cattle are mentioned in the commandment, because their use must prevent its due observance. If cattle be employed on the Sabbath, human labour also becomes necessary: they do not labour alone, but assist the labours of man. The prohibition of the employment of cattle is therefore a consequence of the prohibition of human labour; they are correllative; one supposes the other. If then God commands the exemption of cattle from labour on the Sabbath, still more imperative is the obligation to avoid all acts of inhumanity towards servants, or others whose labour and industry we employ in our service.
The pastor should also not omit to inform the faithful how they are to sanctify Sundays and holydays; and amongst other means he will not forget to mention the obligation of visiting the temple of God, and there, with heartfelt piety and devotion, assisting at the celebration of the holy sacrifice of the Mass; [1] and also the duty of approaching frequently the sacraments of the Church, instituted for our sanctification and salvation, to heal our spiritual maladies. [2] Nothing can be more seasonable or salutary than frequent recourse to the tribunal of penance; and to this the pastor will be enabled to exhort the faithful by recurring to what we have already said in its proper place on the sacrament of penance. But not only will he excite his people to have recourse to the sacrament of penance he will also zealously exhort them again and again, to approach frequently the holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Sermons are also in those days to be heard by the faithful with attention and reverence nothing is more intolerable, nothing more unworthy of a Christian than to despise the words of Christ, or hear them with indifference. [3] Devout prayer and the praises of God should also frequently exercise the piety of the faithful on Sundays and holydays; and an object of their special attention should be to attend particularly to catechetical instruction, in order to learn those things which form to a Christian life; and to practise with assiduity these duties of Christian piety, viz. giving alms to the poor, visiting the sick, administering consolation to the afflicted. " Religion clear and undefiled before God and the Father is this," says St. James, " to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation." [4]
From what has been said it is easy to perceive, how this commandment may be violated: but the pastor will also deem
- ↑ Cone. Agath. c. 47. Aurel. c. 8. Tribur. c. 35. Vide de cons. dist. 1. cap. Mis- as. et cum ad celebrandas, et omnes fideles.
- ↑ Aug. de Eccl. dogm. c. 53. et citatur de cons. dist. 2. c. quotidien.
- ↑ Justin. Apol. 2. et ex Act Apost. c. 20. 7. Aug. lib. 50. horn. 26. et cit. 1. q. lib. cap. interroga.
- ↑ James i. 27. Sic faciebant veteres Christiani, test. Just. Apol. 2. Tertull. in Apol. et in lib. ad martyres et in lib. 2. ad uxorem prope finem.
