Can you remember back when Sundays were different? A day when you went to Mass, picked up a dozen doughnuts on the way home, or maybe went out to breakfast before heading home with the Sunday paper. That was just in the morning! Afternoons and evenings almost always included visiting family and friends, family lunch and supper, going for a ride, and being outside, including learning how to ride your bike or drive a car in the empty parking lots of banks and malls.
Jesus reminds us of the need to have a Sabbath day. A day for Christians to step back from the earthly things that take up our Mondays through Saturdays and, most importantly, enter into God’s Sabbath rest. (As I wrote those words, I found myself looking forward to it on a Thursday!)
While God wants us to rest and recharge, as we hear in the Gospel of Matthew, we also learn that “it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” In fact, the Catechism recommends that on Sunday, Christians pursue “good works and humble service of the sick, the infirmed, and the elderly.” That statement gives us the green light to serve others on the Sabbath:
Yesterday, I had the chance to speak with a neighbor, a retired Baptist pastor, who talked about the importance of parents teaching their children about Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and the life God is calling us to live here on earth. I told him how my parents taught us so much through their actions: faithful Sunday and holy day Mass attendance, prayer, and helping the sick and elderly, family, friends, and friends’ family members, including making visits, especially on Sundays.
Our families grow stronger by making Sunday a day that, as the Catechism says, we devote time and care to our families, taking the time to pay attention to our loved ones so that we can help them with whatever they need. Also, it can be a time when we slow down and put down our devices and calm our nerves to be able to patch up some misunderstandings or hurt feelings. In addition, it is the perfect day to pray the Rosary as a family to give thanks and ask God for our needs, including guidance for the upcoming week.
While it’s true that we might not be able to have all businesses observe the Sabbath at this time, our families can. I’d say we need to now more than ever, so that we can stay close to our loving God, the One who has blessed us with another day and with those whom He has given us to love and learn from as we seek to help one another make it to Heaven.
May God bless you and your families as we approach this Sunday—may we make it a Godly one—one to remember!
Reverend David S. Marcham is the Vice Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Director of the Father Peyton Guild, whose members pray for Father Peyton’s beatification and spread his message of the importance of Family Prayer. Prior to becoming a seminarian, Father David was a physical therapist and clinical instructor, serving hospital inpatients and outpatients throughout the greater Boston area for eleven years. In 1998 he heard the call to priesthood and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005. Father David grew up in Quincy, MA, and has fond memories of playing soccer, tennis and running track. You’re never without a friend when Father David is around, as he welcomes everyone into his circle with a smile on his face!
