Sunday: A Day of Rest in an Unstopping World

veil, mass, tradition

Rest on “the Lord’s Day” has always been important for God’s people. It was first enjoined on the Israelites in the Third Commandment: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy . . . in it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8, 10). Christians celebrate Sunday as the Lord’s Day, because Christ’s Resurrection took place on Sunday. I grew up in a devoutly Christian family that held Sunday, including the importance of rest, in great honor. On the other hand, our world today no longer understands the value of a day of rest, and I once didn’t either.

When I was growing up in rural Kentucky, there wasn’t a whole lot going on. On Sundays, the pace of an already slow world nearly came to an absolute stop: we went to church, ate lunch, and then took naps. That was my Sunday schedule for the better part of the first eighteen years of my life.

What irked me, though, was a precept my parents held for Sundays: no shopping, no going out to eat, no spending money.  This wasn’t a hard and fast rule, but 90% of the time, it held up (unless our proverbial ox was in a proverbial ditch). And I HATED it. When everyone else was going out on Sunday afternoons, having lots of fun that I wasn’t having, I was stuck at home, looking at four walls. On the rare occasion that we did have to make a Walmart run or go out to a restaurant, I felt like I was finally liberated into proper society.

Growing in Wisdom

Now that I’m much older, I understand why my parents were so serious about Sunday rest. The seventh day (Sunday for us) was set aside by God as a day of rest from the very beginning. After laboring over creation for six days, God rested on the seventh day, making it holy (Genesis 2:2). (This, by the way, is why Christ’s Resurrection made Sunday the new Lord’s Day: because His rising marked the beginning of the new creation.)

Even God, Creator of all that we can fathom, took the time to rest. Yet my younger self saw no need for rest when there was a perfectly open day to fill with activities. I failed to see that if God rested, and even commanded it to the Israelites, I certainly was not exempt.

To paraphrase St. Paul: When I was a child, I thought and acted like a child. Literally.

As an adult, I too often see the empty parts of my schedule quickly filled to capacity. As they say, nature abhors a vacuum. If I’m totally open during one evening of the week, you can bet that by the time that day rolls around, I have some type of commitment in my schedule.

Sundays, too often, aren’t much different.

Near the end of Mass each Sunday, I’m often thinking about my grocery run to Walmart. Not only the groceries but, How can I get a good parking space close to the door? Did I remember my coupons? Should I get my hair trimmed? Should I grab a bite to eat before heading back home? All of this is going through my mind before the announcements have ended.

I’m sure you’ve been in a similar situation, your mind thinking of everything but the miracle of the Mass. You’re definitely not alone.

No Rest in Our Culture

In the midst of our rushed society, it seems so difficult to turn off. We’ve gone from laws in place banning any business on Sunday to Sunday as just another day of the week. I remember, before my brother was born, my mom used to work part-time at a Walmart in the next county over. On Sundays, the store would open at 1:00 PM. Yet, as time went on, the time became earlier and earlier. If it wasn’t 1:00 PM, it was noon. Noon soon faded to 10:30, and 10:30 faded into 24/7/365. This was in 1995.

Perhaps one of my favorite stories from my mom’s Walmart days is one I’ll call “You’re Going to Hell.” On a rare occasion, my mom would have to work at the store on Sunday afternoons for a few hours. This day, a young boy approached my mom and informed her that “my daddy is a preacher.” Well enough.

What happened next, though, has gone down into clapback history.

The little boy proceeded to tell my mom, “My daddy says you’re going to hell because you’re working on Sunday.”

My mother, not one to be schooled by a child, immediately responded with, “Well, if your mom and dad weren’t out shopping today, I wouldn’t have to work.”

Point taken.

The Sunday Revolution: A Brief How-To Guide

My mom’s story contains a truth nugget: If we keep Sunday holy, we allow other people to keep it holy as well. In the words of St. Mother Teresa, we must “live simply so others may simply live.” Even more, the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds the faithful to avoid any unnecessary work on Sundays, especially if it hinders the worship of Our Lord (CCC 2184-2186).

Often, as I stand in the checkout line at the supermarket, I wonder how many people were unable to attend worship services due to my choice to shop for groceries on Sunday. Sure, I’m only one person. But, one person plus one person over time can add up to a society that disregards the holiness of Sundays. And as I write this, I am speaking to myself as much as to you, my attentive reader.

I am not asking you to immediately forego your weekly family lunch at Cracker Barrel, nor am I seeking to induce guilt because you have to run into the local Save-a-Lot for a gallon of milk. Rather, I am asking all of us to change the way we think about Sundays.

Consider this:

  1. Shop for groceries on Saturday or another weekday.
  2. Host a meal at your home, as opposed to a restaurant.
  3. Block out a segment of time on Sunday afternoons solely for rest: don’t engage in any weekday-related work. Just rest.

Further practical suggestions for Sundays appear in the Catechism, sketching a picture of what a day “holy to the Lord” might look like: “Sunday is traditionally consecrated by Christian piety to good works and humble service of the sick, the infirm, and the elderly. Christians will also sanctify Sunday by devoting time and care to their families and relatives, often difficult to do on other days of the week. Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind, and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life” (CCC 2186). Deeds of charity, time with family, meditation and prayer in quiet: all these can sanctify Sunday, refresh our souls and others around us, and draw us nearer to God.

I firmly believe that once we change our thoughts about Sundays, ultimately, our behaviors will change. I challenge you, next Sunday, to engage the quiet holiness of the day. Make one tiny change this week, and then next week, make another tiny change. You and I may be surprised at the differences we can make in not only our lives, but the lives of others.

May God bless you as you engage in the Sunday revolution.

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3 thoughts on “Sunday: A Day of Rest in an Unstopping World”

  1. Pingback: It’s Going Down / We’re Putting It Down Like This!! (Part Six) – Whats Really Going On?

  2. Sadly you’re misguiding all who read this inaccurate article. The Lords day, the day Christians rest and attend service, has forever been and will forever be the 7th day Sabbath. This Holy day will even be kept in Heaven to come – Isaiah 66:22-23. The Bible did prophesy about a nasty entity tampering with the Holy Command in Daniel 7:25 and the evil system which did so even ADMITS TO IT.

    If you have any questions about this, i promise the Bible will prove to be consistent and show you that it will forever remain as such – the 7th day Sabbath, the Lords Holy day.

    1. To Tony…AMEN!

      Exodus 20:8-11
      8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
      9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
      10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
      11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

      Psalm 89:34
      My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.

      Matthew 5:17
      Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

      Daniel 7:25
      And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

      2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
      3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
      4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

      Ezekiel 22:26
      Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

      Daniel 7:25
      25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

      >>>Sunday is our mark of authority… the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact” (Catholic Record of London, Ontario Sept 1, 1923).

      Matthew 15:9
      But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

      Revelation 17:3-7
      3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
      4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
      5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.
      6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
      7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

      Revelation 17:9
      And here is the mind which hath wisedome. The seuen heads are seuen mountaines, on which the woman sitteth.

      Hebrews 4:8-11
      8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
      9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
      10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
      11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

      Ezekiel 20:19-20
      19 I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
      20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.

      Ezekiel 20:12
      12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.

      Revelation 14:6-12
      6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
      7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
      8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
      9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
      10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
      11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
      12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

      ***(we are to worship our Creator God whom made the heavens and earth and sea and all that is in them…the Creator Hod that made the 7th day Sabbath as the 4th commandment-to be kept just like all the rest of the commandments!!! Rev. 14:6-12 os intrinsically connected to the Creator God of the 4th commandment in the above bible verses of Exodus 20:8-11)

      Revelation 18:4
      And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

      Revelation 22:14
      Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

      Proverbs 7:2
      Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

      **(don’t eat of the apple of deception like Eve and Adam did; feed upon the entire law and word of God)

      Matthew 4:4
      But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

      Isaiah 40:8
      The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

      Isaiah 66:23
      23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.

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