Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

Every Sunday is a day when we turn to the Lord to offer worship and praise, give thanks for God’s gifts to us, and commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus by which He has initiated us into a new creation. It is truly fitting to call Sunday “the Lord’s Day” because it is a day dedicated to the Lord. In the Old Covenant, the Hebrew people observed the seventh day of the week (the “Sabbath”) as a day of rest to be kept holy, as commanded by the Lord in the Ten Commandments (cf. Ex 20:8-11). The Resurrection occurs on Sunday which can be considered both the first day and the eighth day of the week. It symbolizes that Jesus is the beginning and end of all things. The dawn of the new and eternal day of the Lord in His new covenant, and the fulfillment/completion of the old covenant and everything in it. Sunday has superseded Saturday as the observed day for the Lord.

 

Sunday is meant to be a day dedicated to God. It is the day we are obliged to gather as Church and attend Holy Mass to worship God as He has asked us – commemorating the sacrifice of Christ which is re-presented for us in the Eucharist. Sunday should also be a day of rest, avoiding any unnecessary work. It can also be a good time to gather as family or in community, to strengthen those bonds of love, affection, and support for one another. 

 

However, I think many people and families tend to focus much more on those last two aspects of Sunday devotions and traditions and lose sight of the first. Yes, they might go to Mass on Sunday morning (or Saturday evening) to get their obligation “out of the way,” but then act like the rest of the day is for themselves to do whatever they please. In reality, we do not faithfully offer to God on the Lord’s Day what we should, if we offer Him just one hour of that day. The whole day is meant to be His. The relaxation we observe is good for us and should be a break from the rest of the week, but that break from work is for a purpose – so that we set aside time to honor God. And the family or community events in which we participate are good and should be enriching, but even they are meant to be extensions of our faith lived out in love with others. If I use Sunday (or 23 hours of Sunday) as just a time to focus on myself or my family or my events, then I have not really observed the Lord’s Day, I have observed my day.

 

To be clear, I am not saying you should not rest or do things with family on Sundays or other Holy Days of the year. I am saying that we should all practice shifting our perspective to see things in a new light of grace so that God may truly be at the center of all we do, especially on Sundays but also throughout our lives. When there are church events on Sunday like a Eucharistic procession, we should not see it as taking away my time, but as how God has asked us to give our time to Him.

 

Peace in Christ,

Father Timothy