“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 day to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.” (Ex 20:8-10)
Gathering together each week to keep holy the Lord’s Day is a great privilege. It’s also what is expected of each one of us as members of the Body of Christ, the Church. Sunday Mass should not be a burden. Celebrating the Sunday Eucharist with our parish community and, indeed, with the whole Church, allows us to worship God, to learn about our faith, to open our hearts to the Word of God, to receive the Bread of Life at the table of the Lord and to be strengthened for the work we must do during the coming week as missionary disciples of Jesus Christ.
What could be more important than being with the Lord and our parish family on the first day of each week? What a marvelous gift we have been given — the opportunity to hear God’s Word proclaimed and to receive Christ’s gift of Himself in the Eucharist!
When we fail to take advantage of this opportunity without a valid reason, we let the precious gift of faith slip through our fingers, and we are unworthy of our calling as faithful missionary disciples of Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, our contemporary culture makes Sunday a day with no special significance. Now, most retail businesses are open on Sunday, and as a result, many people have to work on the Lord’s Day.
This has had a profound impact on family life. It’s hard enough these days to gather the family together for meals and family time. Now, even Sunday dinner is disappearing as an anchor for family life.
The Church teaches that God’s action is the model for human action. If God rested and was refreshed on the seventh day, we should do likewise. We should make sure that the poor, as well as those who work to provide for our basic needs and luxuries, also have the opportunity to rest and be refreshed.
The Sabbath (the Lord’s Day) is a gift from God that provides us with wonderful opportunities to be refreshed and renewed as we face life’s difficulties. That’s why our Lord, who performed miracles of healing on the Sabbath, said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27-28).
Jesus reminded the Jewish leaders and all of us that the Sabbath is a gift to be cherished and enjoyed as we worship God together and as we let him strengthen us in his service.
During this time of eucharistic revival, when we are reminded of the great gift we have been given in the Holy Eucharist, let’s remember to keep the Lord’s Day holy — for the good of our souls, our families, our society and our Church.
Dan Conway is a member of Holy Trinity Church and is a writer, consultant and stewardship educator.
