One of the Ten Commandments tells us to remember the Sabbath day: ‘Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it’. (Exodus 20:8-11)
The Sabbath was the seventh day of the week. And we – God’s children – take our day of rest on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Christ’s resurrection is the historical fact at the centre of Christian faith. The resurrection of Christ on Sunday is the fulfilment of the Sabbath: it foretells our own eternal rest with Christ in heaven.
Part of that rest is the spiritual refreshment of the Mass. Our Sunday obligation gives us two things we desperately need and that we tend not to leave time for if we’re left to ourselves: 1) it gives us rest, and 2) it gives us close contact with the divine. It reminds us about God’s love and the purpose of our lives and provides us with the opportunity to give God fitting worship. Especially in modern secular society, the temptation is to work without ceasing – or to cause others to work constantly for us. But we are more than machines for performing work. We are God’s children, with not only a right but an obligation to make ourselves better and to help others around us become better.
The obligation to go to Mass on Sunday takes us out of the cycle of endless labour. It forces us to make room in our lives for joy, whether we like it or not! We spend an hour a week remembering that there is something beyond our incessant pursuit of material things.
Through His commandment God teaches us to avoid doing anything on Sunday that would interfere with the rest we need for our bodies, minds and souls – the rest that enables us to order and direct our lives to God. Sometimes it’s not possible to avoid working on Sunday, but we have to be sure we’re working because of a genuine need rather than a mere habit or inclination. This is the principle Jesus laid down for us: necessity overcomes the Sabbath obligation, as necessity made it reasonable for David and his men to eat the bread of the presence.
But even if we do work on Sunday out of serious necessity, we need to make sure we do what we can to live in a way that acknowledges the Lord’s Day. We need to find some time when we can go to Mass, which in most places is not difficult. We can also fulfil our obligation by going to Mass the evening before the day (evening Vigil Mass), which is offered in most our parishes. Give to God a chance to meet you at least once a week. Do not abandon Him.
Tomasz MAMELKA - Timperley 