Buying on the Lord's Day

[ush]

There was a time here in Ireland that the shops were closed on the Lord’s Day. Now they’re open every Sunday. Is it wrong? More importantly to me since it affects me, is it wrong and therefore sinful to buy things in the Lord’s Day? I have an inkling it’s sinful to shop on the Lord’s Day, what do you all think?

I think I won’t buy anything on Sunday anymore.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

I think shopping on Sunday is a personal choice. It’s not a sin and may well be the only time someone has the opportunity. For myself, I like to keep Sunday as a day of rest. I don’t go shopping or do chores around the house.

On the other hand, I’m comfortable with going out to eat, going to a movie, or similar activities (at least I was comfortable pre-pandemic). So there’s probably some inconsistency on my part.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’ve never thought it’s a problem, as long as I didn’t skip Mass or cut it short just so I could go shopping.

If someone else doesn’t want to shop on Sundays, it’s their choice.

 

[bob4]

Perhaps this link will be helpful;

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/keeping-holy-the-lords-day

Anything which isn’t necessary, that can be done on a day other than Sunday or a Holy Day I avoid even to trying to not doing anything which would cause someone else to have to work on these days.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s important to note, when reading opinions of people like Michelle Arnold who don’t want you to even do laundry or yard work on Sunday, that Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Especially nowadays when doing the laundry means throwing some clothes into a machine and hitting a button rather than spending hours fetching and boiling water and slapping clothes on a flat rock, I believe in just using common sense about chores.

 

[Sarcelle]

There have been so many posts asking if it was sinful to do the following on Sunday

Exercise
Garden
Eat out
Shop
Cook
Study
Play video games
Browse the Internet
Stream online movies
Shop online
Do the laundry
Visit a cafe

I have been on this forum long enough to see someone ask if the doing the aforementioned activities on a Sunday is sin. Someone will without fail strongly assert that yes, it is indeed sin.

In fact going by what some posters think, the only thing we are allowed to do on Sunday is face the wall and pray nonstop until Monday.

I’m exaggerating of course, but not by much.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I think part of the issue is that many people who post these questions are either converts from some other faith, which may have been one of those Protestant sects that stress “No Sunday Work” based on their interpretation of Scripture, or else they did not grow up in a very religious home, even if it was Catholic, and they are genuinely seeking what the “rule” is.

Also if you lived your whole life in a country where there were Sunday laws that closed all the businesses, and now those aren’t in force any more, along with other sweeping changes that are sometimes really contrary to Church teaching, it can be hard for folks to know what they need to do.

Fr. Altman has made a huge deal out of “don’t work on Sunday and if you do you’re committing the sin of avarice”, which is one priest’s opinion. Other priests would give other opinions. Often there is a cultural overtone to what’s considered unnecessary vs. necessary work. I can see where people get confused.

As a practical matter, I spent a few years living in a state that had “blue laws” that closed almost all businesses on Sundays well into the late 1980s, at which point the laws were repealed although some businesses still chose to observe them (especially businesses run by sola scriptura Protestants). It was often a lot of hassle dealing with the Sunday closures, as one would be working at an office job during most business hours all week long and then have to cram all necessary shopping and errands into a Saturday which didn’t make that day a very good “day off”, or the alternative was that you spent Saturday doing whatever you had planned for a “day off” and then went into the new week on Monday with a bunch of unfinished shopping and errands that you couldn’t do on Sunday. It was more work trying to plan around the Sunday closure than it would have been just doing the errand after Mass. We were all quite thankful to get rid of those laws. I was a regular Massgoer then and we had a priest who was older, had a PhD and was very holy and orthodox in his views, and he never said anything about Sunday blue laws.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I personally find it a little annoying when apologists or priests switch over in the middle of a tract from giving the Church teaching to giving their own opinions on what they think constitutes “work”.
I’m pretty sure the vast majorify of Catholic moms and dads I grew up with, just like my own parents, would consider laundry and yard work something you need to get done on the day you have time to do it or when the family needs it (the kids may literally be running out of underwear and school clothes) and other matters, like the weather, are cooperating. If that day happens to be Sunday, they would see it as “necessary work” and expect Jesus, Mary and Joseph to understand.

 

[CoffeeCatholic]

people like Michelle Arnold who don’t want you to even do laundry or yard work on Sunday

… she sounds more like the Mormon cult than a Catholic!

I know some people have said they don’t want to shop or buy things or go places on Sunday that would cause someone else to have to work on a Sunday but those people are working anyway - the stores are open anyway - and most of them aren’t Catholic so they have no qualms about it anyway. (Plus, even Catholics often have to work on Sundays and have to do so whether or not you shop there).

I agree with you Tis_Bearself - even things like laundry are hardly ‘work’ in our modern times. Dishes, laundry, etc. take mere minutes to load/unload. I also have no issues with running to a store on Sunday or getting groceries on Sunday if I need to. I love grocery shopping so it would be a nice afternoon ‘out’ for me - not work at all. Ha ha.

 

[Margaret_Ann]

Especially nowadays when doing the laundry means throwing some clothes into a machine and hitting a button

My late mother (eternal memory!) NEVER washed clothes on Sundays or Holy Days even though we had a washing machine (which now has been thrown out by the new owners of my former home [I saw it out near the curb this past Thursday]).

 

[EmilyAlexandra]

I think part of the issue is that many people who post these questions are either converts from some other faith, which may have been one of those Protestant sects …

The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland observes the Sabbath so seriously that they close their website on Sundays. Not that they use the word “Sunday”, a pagan word which they consider “derogatory”. It’s “the Sabbath” or “the Lord’s Day” (I note that the OP also uses the term “Lord’s Day”). Sabbatarianism remains strong in the Outer Hebrides. It was not until 2009, and in the face of protests from the Lord’s Day Observance Society, that a ferry service began to connect the Isle of Lewis and the Scottish mainland on Sundays. Perhaps the OP is from an area of Ireland which has a strong Presbyterian community.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Yeah, my husband’s grandma was a “Reformed Presbyterian” (RP) and they were much the same way.

I remember the “Chariots of Fire” movie about Eric Liddell who was Scots Presbyterian and refused to run an Olympic race on Sunday.

Catholics aren’t like the strict Presbyterians though. I would also add that my husband’s parents were Presbyterians but not the RP kind, and my husband’s parents had no problem with shopping on Sunday, or with drinking, dancing, playing cards, and even skipping Sunday services if they didn’t feel like going.

 

[RolandThompsonGunner]

Especially nowadays when doing the laundry means throwing some clothes into a machine and hitting a button rather than spending hours fetching and boiling water and slapping clothes on a flat rock, I believe in just using common sense about chores.

Exactly. Reading with a healthy dose of common sense is critical. When a lot of these customs around the Sabbath were instituted, something like laundry was time consuming and exhausting. It would totally undermine the special character of the day. Now it involves measuring out some detergent and letting a machine do all the work. It in no way impedes someone from honoring the Sabbath as a day of prayer and recuperation.

Checking your common sense at the door doesn’t make you extra devout.

 

[bluerose]

I used to be a huge fan of Beverly Lewis’ Amish novels and I recall reading once where they would cook ahead for Sunday and have cold meals (like cook a ham and make potato salad ahead of time so that they wouldn’t have to work on the Lord’s Day)… BUT, there were still farm chores that HAD to be done, like milking cows or gathering eggs, just “what HAD to be done”.

The funny thing is that the Amish don’t have church services every Sunday (bear in mind I’m doing all my research from fiction, but this seems to be a universal thing). Every other Sunday is church Sunday, the other is for visiting, especially relatives and friends that live quite a distance away, because church services can last up to 3 or 4 hours and don’t allow much time for visiting.

As for me and my family, everything on Sunday is planned around Mass attendance. We never try to “fit in” Mass whenever there’s time. The emphasis is to keep the Lord’s Day holy and for Catholics, that means making Mass a priority. We routinely throw a load of wash into the machine before heading to Mass and then transfer it to the dryer upon our return.

 

[bob4]

those people are working anyway - the stores are open anyway - and most of them aren’t Catholic so they have no qualms about it anyway. (Plus, even Catholics often have to work on Sundays and have to do so whether or not you shop there).

These might be the weightiest lines written in all of these posts. They call to mind the lament of St. John XXIII in his encyclical Mater et Magistra .

251. Thus, religion and moral and physical well-being are one in demanding this periodic rest, and for many centuries now the Church has set aside Sunday as a special day of rest for the faithful, on which they participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the memorial and application of Christ’s redemptive work for souls.

252. Heavy in heart, We cannot but deplore the growing tendency in certain quarters to disregard this sacred law, if not to reject it outright. This attitude must inevitably impair the bodily and spiritual health of the workers, whose welfare We have so much at heart. These might be the weightiest lines written in all of these posts. They call to mind the lament of St. John XXIII in his encyclical Mater et Magistra .

 

[jredden92]

I’m not sure what to think of this. In a way it’s preventing those you are buying from from “Keeping the Sabbath Holy” so it’s sort of like encouraging others to sin which itself is a mortal sin. Maybe we are being over scrupulous. I asked my RCIA director the same question and she told me to only buy things that are absolutely necessary say you were out of food or needed medication.