“The Jews crucified Me on Friday, but Christians crucify Me
on Sunday” - words of Our Lord to Sister Marie
de Saint-Pierre, December 2, 1847
Christmas Season and
Sunday Shopping
By John Vennari
|
|
“The Jews crucified Me on Friday, but Christians crucify Me
on Sunday” - words of Our Lord to Sister Marie
de Saint-Pierre, December 2, 1847 |
The time in which most Christmas
shopping takes place is not really the Christmas Season, but the Advent Season.
Christmas Season begins on the first Vespers of Christmas and continues to
Epiphany; otherwise known as the Twelve Days of Christmas. This deformation of
terminology brought about by modern commercialism reflects more of the pagan
spirit rather than the true Catholic spirit as communicated by the Liturgical
Year.
As we now enter a period of
increased buying and selling, it is opportune to remind ourselves to be wary of
another pagan practice rampant in the modern world: Sunday shopping.
This common profanation of Sunday,
which only increases during the Christmas shopping season, should not be taken
lightly. In the 19th Century, Heaven sent two dire warnings against
this offense, making clear that Our Lord regards this as a serious sin
deserving of severe chastisement.
The first warning came through
Sister Marie de Sainte-Pierre, whom Our Lord revealed the Devotion to His Holy
Face. The second came through Our Lady of La Salette. Both of these revelations
from Heaven enjoy the full approval of the Catholic Church.
“The Holy Day of the
Lord Profaned”
On Nov. 24, 1843, Our Lord said the following to Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, a French Carmelite nun:
“The earth is covered with crimes. The violation
of the first three Commandments of God has irritated My Father. The Holy
Name of God blasphemed, and the Holy Day of the Lord profaned, fills up the
measure of iniquities. These sins have risen unto the Throne of God and
provoked His wrath which will soon burst forth if His justice be not appeased.
At no time have these crimes reached such a pitch.”
Elsewhere,
Our Lord complained to Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre of the massive amount of
blasphemy taking place on earth. He said, “My Name is everywhere blasphemed.
Even children blaspheme.”
Sister
Marie de Saint-Pierre went on to explain, “Blasphemy is a poisoned arrow ever wounding His Divine Heart. He told me that He
wishes to give me a Golden Arrow
wherewith to wound His Heart delightfully and heal these wounds inflicted by
the sinners’ malice.”
This is the origin of the popular prayer,
The Golden Arrow, that Heaven wished
Catholics to recite often:
“May the Most Holy, Most Sacred, Most Adorable, Most Mysterious and Unutterable Name of God be praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth, and in the hells, by all God’s creatures, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.”
Sister de Saint-Pierre said, “Our
Lord having given me this Golden Arrow
said, ‘avail yourself of this, for I shall demand an account from you.’.’ At
that moment I beheld issuing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus pierced by this
arrow a torrent of grace of sinners.”
Communion of Reparation
for Profanation of Sunday
Along with this prayer in reparation for blasphemy, Our Lord told Sister de Saint-Pierre about the need to appease the Divine Justice aroused by reason of the desecration of Sunday. The heart of the message can be summarized in the following words of Sister de Saint-Pierre:
“... Our Lord commanded me to
receive Holy Communion every Sunday for these three particular intentions:
1)
In a spirit of atoning for all forbidden works done on Sunday, which as holy
days are to be sanctified.
2)
To appease Divine Justice which was on the very verge of striking on account of
the profanation of holy days.
3)
To implore the conversion of those sinners who desecrate Sundays,
- and to succeed in
obtaining the cessation of forbidden Sunday Labor.
Our Lord asked for the establishment
of a special Archconfraternity in reparation for blasphemy and profanation of
work on Sunday. Our Lord Himself called this “the most beautiful work under the
sun.” This Archconfraternity of the Holy Face was later approved by Pope Leo
XIII in 1885.
Second and Third Commandments
For a quick review of the do’s and
don’ts regarding the Second and Third Commandments, here is a quick summary of what
we find in pre-Vatican II catechisms.
The Second Commandment is “Thou Shalt Not Take the Name of the Lord
Thy God in Vain”.
It
commands: reverence in speaking about God and holy things and the keeping
of oaths and vows.
It
forbids: blasphemy, the irreverent use of God’s name, speaking
disrespectfully about holy things, false oaths and the breaking of vows.
The Third Commandment is: “Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day”.
It
commands: going to church on Sundays and Holy Days.
It
forbids: missing church through one’s own fault, unnecessary servile work;
public buying and selling; court trials.
La Salette
Around the same time Sister Marie de
Saint-Pierre received the Divine communications from Our Lord, Heaven sent another
warning regarding sins against the Second and Third Commandments through Our Lady
of La Salette.
On September 19, 1846, Our Lady
appeared to the shepherd children Maximin and Melanie in La Salette; it was a confirmation
of the messages Our Lord gave to Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre. Our Lady of La
Salette warned of “the utter contempt (of man) for God’s Commandments,
especially, She said, in the profanation of the Lord’s Day and the crime of
blasphemy.” (That is, for sins against the Second and Third Commandments.)
Our Lady said, “If my people do not
return to God by penance, I shall be forced to let fall the Hand of my Son, it
now presses so heavily that I can scarce hold it any longer.”
Keep Sunday Holy
We see that Heaven does not take
these sins lightly. Yet blasphemy is commonplace, particularly through the machinations
of
Recently, I heard a sermon from a
traditional priest against Sunday shopping in which he gave some helpful guidelines.
He said we should try to avoid all shopping on Sunday. Certainly, we
should not make Sunday our day for
grocery shopping. If we find that
perhaps we are inadvertently caught on Sunday without something we absolutely
need (including, as another priest said, unplanned visits from guests), then
maybe we can go to the store for that item
alone. He said we are not to use it
as an opportunity to shop for other items we may need throughout the week.
Even this activity should be
strictly curbed, he cautioned, because of the danger of scandal. People who
know we are Catholic and who see us in a store on Sunday will conclude “well,
he’s Catholic, and he shops on Sunday, so Sunday shopping is probably
legitimate.”
In conclusion, let us remember the
stern warnings from Our Lord to Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre and from Our Lady
of La Salette, and let us avoid all Sunday
shopping. Perhaps we could often recite the Golden
Arrow, and begin the practice of the Communion of Reparation for Profanation
of Sundays, given by Our Lord to Sister de Saint-Pierre, in reparation for the
widespread desecration of Sunday that is the shame of our age.
- All quotes from Sister Marie de Sainte-Pierre come from The Life of Sister Marie de Saint-Pierre, an 1885 book written by Father Janvier, a great promoter of the Work of Reparation (English translation). It carries the 1881 Imprimatur of the Archbishop of Tours, France, Msgr. Colet. The book is out of print and extremely rare.
Click here for more on the Holy Face and the Revelations to Sister Marie de Sant Pierre
Reprinted
from the December 2007 edition of
Catholic
Family News
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