SMALL-GROUP STUDY GUIDE

FOR 

Dies Domini

Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy

On the feast of Pentecost 1998 the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II published the Apostolic Letter Dies Domini ~ Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy. In the introduction to this wonderful treatment of The Lord’s Day, the pope expressed three hopes:

• That this document would help to recover the deep doctrinal foundations of the Church’s precept so that the abiding value of Sunday in the Christian life will be clear to all the faithful.

• That the age old tradition and teaching of the Church be renewed: that Christian believers should come together to hear God’s word and share in the Eucharist.

• That Sunday again be at the heart of Christian life, so that we may live the demands of faith to the full and respond concretely to the deepest human longing.

If Sunday is the “very heart of Christian life,” then the celebration of the Eucharist is the very heart of Sunday. The Eucharist is the celebration of the living presence of the Risen Lord in the midst of his own people. The Eucharist is the “fountainhead” of the Church; it feeds and forms the Church.

This study guide, based on the document Dies Domini is offered to parishes and other ecclesial communities as a way to assist with a formative/reflective opportunity in preparation for the English translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal.  

Suggestions for using this Study Guide

Forming groups

This study guide can be used in various parish settings.

Each group should identify a leader for each time the group gathers.

• The leader is responsible for directing the discussion according to the study guide questions.

• The leader should encourage and allow each participant to contribute to the discussion surrounding the study questions.

• The leader is responsible for leading prayer for each session.

The responsibilities of the individual group members are:

• To read the predetermined section of Dies Domini and the discussion/study questions related to the section. 

• To spend time before the session in prayer and reflection on the discussion/study questions.

• To contribute to the discussion during the session.

Suggestions for prayer. The following format is given as a model for prayer at each session:

• Hymn or song (choose a well known, appropriate hymn)

• Sign of the Cross

• Opening Prayer (a short prayer thanking God for the opportunity to gather and asking for God’s blessing) 

• Reading of Scripture (It is suggested that the readings from the previous or upcoming Sunday Eucharist be used – OR – a reading that is referenced or quoted in the section of Dies Domini being discussed.)

• Silence

• Intercessions

• Lord’s Prayer

• Closing Prayer (a short prayer asking God to bless the discussion session with his peace)

• Sign of the Cross

Introduction (Nos. 1-7)

In the Introduction to his letter the pope expresses his hopes (noted above) and his concerns. In the five chapters that follow he develops these ‘themes’ and at the same time presents a rich theological mosaic of the Day of the Lord (he uses at least 25 different images to describe Sunday), and of the nature of the Church as it celebrates the Lord’s Day and lives out it’s Eucharistic mission in the world.  

• The pope quotes St. Jerome, calling Sunday “The Fundamental Feast day.” (n.2)

How do you experience this Fundamental Feast? Here, at the beginning of this study of the

document, consider all that you do to observe the Fundamental Feast day, Sunday.

• The pope notes the change in regard to Sunday in many societies. Though Christians may have the desire to mark Sunday, he notes that many structures in society do not support such a desire. (n.4)

1. How have you seen a change in regard to Sunday over the years?

2. How do you see structures in society either supporting or not supporting the Christian observance of Sunday? 

3. Is it easy or difficult for you to ‘rest’ on Sunday?

Chapter One (Nos. 8-18)

Dies Domini: The Celebration of the Creator’s Work

“In order to grasp fully the meaning of Sunday, therefore, we must re-read the great story of creation and deepen our understanding of the theology of the Sabbath.”

Major themes in this chapter: The Creator’s work as creator; our work as co-creators; our rest from work and in the Lord; remembering leads to thanksgiving and praise of God.

• The Pope cites the first pages of Scripture by writing about the story of creation. Read the whole of this story (Genesis 1:1-2:4).

What strikes you the most about this story?

Ø      The pope notes that the act of creation, God’s work, makes all work potentially holy. Do you regard your work as holy? Why or why not?

• In talking about this story, the Pope writes of God’s rest on the seventh day, using some very beautiful, poetic images:

- God “lingering before” what he has created

- God casting upon creation “a gaze of joyous delight”

- God the bridegroom - God anticipating the “nuptial shape of the relationship which God wants to establish with humanity.”

Ø      What do these images of God’s rest evoke in you? How do you respond to each image? Does one strike you more than any other?

• John Paul II notes that Sunday is the “day par excellence” for our relationship with God—a day of  explicit prayer, “in which the relationship becomes an intense dialogue” with God.

• Sunday is the day for remembering all the good that God has done (No. 16).

What are the powerful and liberating acts of God in your own life which you recall on Sunday?

Ø      How might you be more conscious of the holiness of your work? And of the sacredness of your rest-from-work? 

Chapter Two (Nos. 19-30)

Dies Christi: The Day of the Risen Lord and the Gift of the Holy Spirit

“It is clear that, although the Lord’s Day is rooted in the very work of creation and even more in the mystery of the biblical rest of God, it is nonetheless to the resurrection of Christ that we must look in order to understand fully the Lord’s Day. This is what the Christian Sunday does, leading the faithful each week to ponder and live the event of Easter, true source of the world’s salvation.”

Major themes: Sunday – the weekly Easter; Christians are a new creation through baptism; Sunday is day of light and day of fire – recalling Pentecost; Sunday is the day of renewal of faith.

• There are several Scripture stories cited in nos. 18-20 related to “the first day of the week”. Pick one of them and read the full story.

What new insight about Sunday did you discover from the passage you read?

• The Pope notes (No. 25) that Sunday is the day to recall our Baptism “which has made [us] new in Christ.”

Ø      Spend time reflecting upon your baptism. Do you remember it? If not, what stories do you know about your baptism? Do you have pictures? The white garment with which you were clothed? Your baptismal candle?

Ø      What insights can you make in the connection between the sacrament of Baptism and the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist?

• The Pope notes (No. 26) that Sunday is a foretaste of eternity.

What do you think is meant by this image of Sunday evoking “the age to come”?

• The Pope notes that Sunday is a weekly Pentecost when Christians receive the life-giving breath of the Spirit. (no. 28)

• Read the story of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-39)

Ø      What connections can you make between what we Catholics do on Sunday and what the apostles  

       experienced at Pentecost?

• In talking about Sunday as “the day of faith,” John Paul II notes the Creed which we profess at every Sunday Eucharist.

Ø      Reflect on the words of the Creed. Which words or phrases speak to you the most? What did it renew you to do? To be?

Chapter Three (Nos. 31-54)

Dies Ecclesiae: The Eucharistic Assembly: Heart of Sunday

“For his presence [the Risen Lord] to be properly proclaimed and lived, it is not enough that the disciples of Christ pray individually and commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ inwardly, in the secrecy of their hearts. Those who have received the grace of baptism are not saved as individuals alone, but as members of the mystical body, having become part of the people of God. It is important therefore that they come together to express fully the very identity of the church, the ekklesia, the assembly called together by the Risen Lord who offered his life ‘to reunite the scattered children of God’.”

Major themes: The Eucharistic assembly; the Eucharist feeds and forms the church; the Church is a pilgrim people; the table of the Word and the table of the Body of Christ; the Eucharist is a call to mission; the duty to keep Sunday holy.

• At the beginning of this chapter, the Pope reminds us that no Christian is saved as an individual alone but, rather, as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ - as a member of the Church.

Ø      Reflect on the various communities of which you are a ‘member’, - parish, family, neighborhood, school, work etc. How does your faith influence your role in each of these communities?

Ø      In what ways might you be able to acknowledge and celebrate these various communities on Sunday?

• The Pope emphasizes that the Sunday Eucharist is at the heart of the Church’s life. (no.32-3)

Reflect on this sacrament and discuss the various ways this statement is true.

• Read the story of Emmaus (Luke 24). In that ways is your own journey of faith similar to that of the two disciples?

Ø      In what persons or in what situations of your own life are your eyes opened and you recognize Christ?

• In No. 34, the Pope writes of how each parish community is connected to every other in the mystery of the Church.

In what ways do you experience life in your parish as connected to the Universal Church?

• The Pope also notes that “among the many activities of a parish, none is as vital or as community-forming as the Sunday celebration of the Lord’s day and his Eucharist.”

In what ways is this evident in your own parish?

• He notes that the family is a particular image of the parish gathered on Sunday.

 How is your family an image of your parish community, or an image of the broader Church?

• The Pope recalls how every Sunday Mass points us toward the heavenly Jerusalem. (no. 37)

How do you see this in your own experience of Sunday Mass?

 In what elements of the Eucharist do you see a glimpse of the heavenly liturgy?

• The Pope calls Sunday “the day of hope” (No. 38).

What are the major hopes in your own life right now?  

How might these hopes of yours be influenced by your “Christian hope” and the “hope of faith”?

• In writing about the Sunday Eucharistic assembly, the Pope makes a point of writing about the table of the word (Nos. 39-41). He references the understanding of the church that “when the Scriptures are read aloud at church, it is God himself who speaks, and when the Gospel is proclaimed, Christ speaks to his people.”

How do you respond to this understanding of the Church?

Ø      Do you keep in mind, during the Liturgy of the Word at Sunday Mass, that God himself is speaking to you?

Ø      What are ways that you might be able to better prepare to hear the word of God on Sundays (e.g., do you make it a point to read the scriptures before Mass on Sunday)?

• In writing about the word, the Pope notes that the Liturgy of the Word at Sunday Mass is rightly seen as “a dialogue between God and his people” (No. 41).

How do you take part in this dialogue?

• In writing about the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Sunday Mass, the Pope notes that the “whole community gathers to celebrate ‘the Lord’s Day’.”  

In what ways are you aware of the various aspects of this communal celebration?

Ø      In what ways are you aware of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross which is made present through the Mass and in which “the whole community shares”?

In what ways do you “bring to the altar the week that has passed, with all its human burdens”?

In what ways are you aware that sharing in Communion, especially at Sunday Mass, is an “experience of brotherhood?”

Ø      How do you understand the Pope’s statement that “for the faithful, who have understood the meaning of what they have done [in participating in the Mass], the Eucharist does not stop at the church door”? (No. 48)

How do you understand the Mass as a call “to evangelize and bear witness in [your] daily life?”

• After reading the Pope’s reflection on the Sunday obligation (Nos. 46-49), how do you understand the precept to attend Mass on the Lord’s Day?

• The Pope notes that “if believers are not to be overwhelmed [by the indifference and unresponsive-ness of society to the Gospel], they must be able to count on the support of the Christian Community!”

How do you rely on the support of your parish community?

How do you contribute to the support that your community is to others?

• In No. 52, the Pope writes that keeping Sunday involves shaping “the other moments of the day—those outside the liturgical context: family life, social relationships, moments of relaxation—in such a way that the peace and joy of the risen Lord will emerge in the ordinary events of life.”

Ø      How does the peace and joy of Christ enter into your experience of these other moments of Sunday which are “outside the liturgical context”?

Ø      How might you be more aware of Christ’s presence throughout Sunday in your experiences of family, social relationships, moments of relaxation?

Ø      In what ways might we, in our parishes and in our families, assist those who are sick or homebound “to experience Sunday as the Lord’s Day and the Church’s day”? (No. 53)

Chapter IV (Nos. 53-73)

Dies Hominis: Sunday: Day of Joy, Rest and Solidarity

“Sunday, as a weekly echo of the first encounter with the Risen Lord, is unfailingly marked by the joy with which the disciples greeted the Master: ‘The disciples rejoiced to see the Lord’.” The festive character of the Sunday Eucharist expresses the joy that Christ communicates to his church through the gift of the Spirit. Joy is precisely one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.”

Major themes: Christian joy and sacred rest are part of Sunday; Eucharist commits all disciples to  solidarity with the poor; Sunday is a great school of charity, justice and peace, - a day for works of mercy and love.

• Pope John Paul writes that Christian joy, is to mark all that we do, especially all that we may do on Sunday. (no. 55-58)

Ø      How do you understand this Christian joy in your own life? How do you describe it? Where do you experience it in your own life? Where, in your life, do you need to be more aware of this joy?

• In No. 65, the Pope once again addresses the theme of “holy rest” on Sunday. He notes that it is something sacred “because it is a way for men and women to withdraw from the sometimes excessively demanding cycle of earthly tasks in order to renew an awareness that everything is the work of God.”

Ø      This is the posture of ‘contemplative gaze’ (Ch. I, n. 11) we adopt as we regard the beauty of what we have accomplished before we continue work. How then do you see the beauty of your life? Your work? How do you refresh your spiritual energy?

• It is also in this light that the Pope calls our attention to those people who, because of various reasons, experience work as oppressive, unjust, or exploitative.

Ø      Is this a global issue? A personal issue? Do you see this in your workplace? How do we address this reality?

• In Nos. 69-73, John Paul notes that Sunday should give Christians “an opportunity to devote themselves to works of mercy, charity and apostolate.” He notes concrete examples in which Christians might engage in these works of charity, justice and peace: inviting to a meal people who are alone; visiting the sick; providing food for needy families; spending a few hours in voluntary work.

Ø      What other ways might parishes or small groups make the Lord’s Day “a more intense time of sharing . . . and charity”?

Ø      How does your parish or your family observe this aspect of Sunday as a day to be in solidarity with those who are poor, with those who suffer, with the rest of your brothers and sisters?

Chapter V (Nos. 74-80)

Dies Dierum: Sunday: The Primordial Feast, Revealing the Meaning of Time

“In Christianity time has a fundamental importance. Within the dimension of time the world was created; within it the history of salvation unfolds, finding its culmination in the ‘fullness of time’ of the incarnation, and its goal in the glorious return of the Son of God at the end of time. In Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, time becomes a dimension of God, who is himself eternal.”

Major themes: Christ is the alpha and omega – the Lord of time; the weekly Easter and the annual liturgical cycle; pastoral attention to the celebration of Sunday.

• In writing of the Liturgical Year, the Pope notes that the parish celebration of the Sunday Eucharist “emerges therefore as the natural model for understanding and celebrating the feast days of the Liturgical Year, which are of such value . . . that the Church has chosen to emphasize their importance by making it obligatory for the faithful to attend Mass and to observe a time of rest . . . .”

Ø      Do the joy, celebration, and restful reflection that mark your observance of Sunday also mark your observance of the liturgical feasts and celebrations throughout the year? Why or why not? How are they different? Mention one example.

Ø      What would you need to do so that you might be able to observe the major feasts of the Liturgical Year with the care and attention with which you observe Sundays?

• In this section, the Pope points to Sunday as a foretaste of the Parousia—the promised return of Christ in glory when the fulfillment of the reign of God will be complete, and God will be all in all.

Ø      What elements of Sunday, in the parish and in the other events of your life, help you to get a glimpse of the eternal Jerusalem, the heavenly Banquet, the eternal celebration at the table of the Lamb? 

Conclusion (Nos. 81-87)

“Sunday in a way becomes a synthesis of the Christian life and a condition for living it. It is crucially important that all the faithful should be convinced that they cannot live their faith or share fully in the life of the Christian community unless they take part regularly in the Sunday Eucharistic assembly.”

• The Pope writes that the “observance of Sunday should be seen as a need rising from the depths of Christian life.” (No. 81)

Ø      What are the needs that you recognize in your Christian life which are met by taking part in the Sunday Eucharist and by observing the other aspects of Sunday?

Ø      How have you grown, through this study of Dies Domini, in your appreciation of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, the “very heart of our Christian life”?

What are the major insights you have gained through this study?

Ø      What are the major challenges that face you as you resolve to observe more fully the various parts of the Sunday Sabbath?

Ø      What has been affirmed in your faith life, communal life, and prayer life through this study of Dies Domini? 

A final suggestion: Go together to a Sunday celebration of Eucharist at your parish, then gather afterwards (maybe over breakfast) and share any further thoughts, insights, reflections that are different from those you might have had prior to your group discussions using the above guide to explore the richness of the Dies Domini.