If you're not supposed to work/shop on Sunday

[Catholig]

What are you supposed to do? I’ve been told that you can go to amusement parks by a priest, and that eating out wouldn’t be bad, but can you play video games? Watch TV? I know that you should pray, and attend Mass but will that occupy 18 hours?

Catholig

 

[LilyM]

What are you supposed to do? I’ve been told that you can go to amusement parks by a priest, and that eating out wouldn’t be bad, but can you play video games? Watch TV? I know that you should pray, and attend Mass but will that occupy 18 hours?

Catholig

Of course you can do other things - go to movies, music concerts, theatre or art galleries if they’re your thing, read, listen to music.

I’m sure tv and video games are fine (nothing violent or racy though!).

You can go out for a walk or a bikeride, to the beach or the park or the mountains or what have you, have a picnic or cook up a storm at home. Play non-video games (board games, card games and so on).

And you can work within reason, if it’s necessary. My work ebbs and flows, so it can happen that I’m required to work on Sunday to make enough money to pay the bills.

And study, for example, if you’re a student, is fine.

 

[strngrnrth]

If it’s not OK to work on Sunday, how can it be OK to patronize a business such as a restaurant then?

 

[LilyM]

If it’s not OK to work on Sunday, how can it be OK to patronize a business such as a restaurant then?

Obviously there’s no absolute rule against work - of course you can work if it’s necessary, for example, doctors or farmers or parents who can’t find any other type of work to support their families. Nor against shopping - if you run out of bread or milk on a Sunday, of course you can buy more!

And some businesses (including restaurants) have to be open on Sunday to pay the bills, since the weekends are when people are most likely to eat out. So nothing wrong with patronising 'em.

 

[NewUlm1976_2000]

What are you supposed to do? I’ve been told that you can go to amusement parks by a priest, and that eating out wouldn’t be bad, but can you play video games? Watch TV? I know that you should pray, and attend Mass but will that occupy 18 hours?

Catholig

That is only one person’s interpretation and not a general rule. Catholics do not go as far as Orthodox Jews and even refuse to flip a light switch during the equivalent of the Sabbath. “Rest” in “A Day of Rest” does not mean 18hrs of prayer, it is some form of way to refresh yourself, depending on the person that could mean biking 50+mi, or even general fun. Amusement parks and video games can be done, you just have to watch out for the long term and if any activity goes beyond the moderation state into obsessiveness.