Is it okay to sew on Sundays?

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crenfro

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been thinking a bit about the commandment to “keep holy the Sabbath day,” and I’ve been trying not to do anything that’s objectionable, but sometimes I feel like cutting out a piece to something I want to make on Sunday, but I worry that it’s a bad example to others.

I read some wheres that Catholics who even do stuff like mow the lawn and work in the garden on Sundays are giving a bad example to their non-Catholic neighbors, and I certainly don’t want to start down the path of rationalizing my behavior, but, then, sometimes, I wonder if I’m just being silly and scrupulous.

I really like the idea of reserving Sundays for family things and extra prayer and holy reading and quiet communing with nature while avoiding things like shopping and servile work and empty amusements.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for listening to me and may peace be with you.
 
I’m not sure about what is acceptable on Sunday and what is not. However you don’t have to be inactive to keep the Sabbath. Meaning you could sew (I think, might want to ask someone else myself.) You could always do it while you talk with your family. You could even teach them! I also think garden work is acceptable. I mean I find it relaxing and I do it with my mom sometimes.

God Bless
 
crenfro said:
I read some wheres that Catholics who even do stuff like mow the lawn and work in the garden on Sundays are giving a bad example to their non-Catholic neighbors, and I certainly don’t want to start down the path of rationalizing my behavior, but, then, sometimes, I wonder if I’m just being silly and scrupulous.
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Scrupulous. I for one enjoy riding my mower, so I guess it counts as relaxation but the reality of weather is such that often Sunday is the only suitable time to work in the garden or mow.

My own definition of Sunday is to avoid paid work on Sundays. But I do mow, work around the house, wash the cars and go on 60 mile bike rides on Sundays.
 
OraLabora said:
Scrupulous. I for one enjoy riding my mower, so I guess it counts as relaxation but the reality of weather is such that often Sunday is the only suitable time to work in the garden or mow.

My own definition of Sunday is to avoid paid work on Sundays. But I do mow, work around the house, wash the cars and go on 60 mile bike rides on Sundays.
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I agree with your definition. Of course, there are exceptions: Doctors, police, firemen, soldiers. Those are jobs that must be performed so as to ensure the public safety.

And remember, Jesus was rebuked for performing miracles on the Sabbath, but I’m going to guess that Jesus was in the right (He usually is 🙂 )

So, do things that are enjoyable, and do chores. The most important thing to do on the Sabbath is attend Mass at least once.
 
I think leisurely things are OK. Even the Maccabees fought on the Sabbath though.
 
Of course it is Sunday…the Lords Day for Christians…not the Sabbath…which is Saturday…

from the Catechism 2042 The first precept (“You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor”) requires the faithful to sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the principal liturgical feasts honoring the mysteries of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints; in the first place, by participating in the Eucharistic celebration, in which the Christian community is gathered, and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days.82

–what is servile labor? catholicreference.net/index.cfm?id=36428

2184 Just as God "rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done,"121 human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord’s Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives.122

2185 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body.123 Family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest. The faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health.

also read this whole thing from the Catechism;

vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c1a3.htm#II
 
and read this from;

Pope Benedict XVI:

Iuxta dominicam viventes – living in accordance with the Lord’s Day
  1. From the beginning Christians were clearly conscious of this radical newness which the Eucharist brings to human life. The faithful immediately perceived the profound influence of the eucharistic celebration on their manner of life. Saint Ignatius of Antioch expressed this truth when he called Christians “those who have attained a new hope,” and described them as “those living in accordance with the Lord’s Day” (iuxta dominicam viventes). (204) This phrase of the great Antiochene martyr highlights the connection between the reality of the Eucharist and everyday Christian life. The Christians’ customary practice of gathering on the first day after the Sabbath to celebrate the resurrection of Christ – according to the account of Saint Justin Martyr(205) – is also what defines the form of a life renewed by an encounter with Christ. Saint Ignatius’ phrase – “living in accordance with the Lord’s Day” – also emphasizes that this holy day becomes paradigmatic for every other day of the week. Indeed, it is defined by something more than the simple suspension of one’s ordinary activities, a sort of parenthesis in one’s usual daily rhythm. Christians have always experienced this day as the first day of the week, since it commemorates the radical newness brought by Christ. Sunday is thus the day when Christians rediscover the eucharistic form which their lives are meant to have. “Living in accordance with the Lord’s Day” means living in the awareness of the liberation brought by Christ and making our lives a constant self-offering to God, so that his victory may be fully revealed to all humanity through a profoundly renewed existence.
Living the Sunday obligation
  1. Conscious of this new vital principle which the Eucharist imparts to the Christian, the Synod Fathers reaffirmed the importance of the Sunday obligation for all the faithful, viewing it as a wellspring of authentic freedom enabling them to live each day in accordance with what they celebrated on “the Lord’s Day.” The life of faith is endangered when we lose the desire to share in the celebration of the Eucharist and its commemoration of the paschal victory. Participating in the Sunday liturgical assembly with all our brothers and sisters, with whom we form one body in Jesus Christ, is demanded by our Christian conscience and at the same time it forms that conscience. To lose a sense of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, a day to be sanctified, is symptomatic of the loss of an authentic sense of Christian freedom, the freedom of the children of God. (206) Here some observations made by my venerable predecessor John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter Dies Domini (207) continue to have great value. Speaking of the various dimensions of the Christian celebration of Sunday, he said that it is Dies Domini with regard to the work of creation, Dies Christi as the day of the new creation and the Risen Lord’s gift of the Holy Spirit, Dies Ecclesiae as the day on which the Christian community gathers for the celebration, and Dies hominis as the day of joy, rest and fraternal charity.
Sunday thus appears as the primordial holy day, when all believers, wherever they are found, can become heralds and guardians of the true meaning of time. It gives rise to the Christian meaning of life and a new way of experiencing time, relationships, work, life and death. On the Lord’s Day, then, it is fitting that Church groups should organize, around Sunday Mass, the activities of the Christian community: social gatherings, programmes for the faith formation of children, young people and adults, pilgrimages, charitable works, and different moments of prayer. For the sake of these important values – while recognizing that Saturday evening, beginning with First Vespers, is already a part of Sunday and a time when the Sunday obligation can be fulfilled – we need to remember that it is Sunday itself that is meant to be kept holy, lest it end up as a day “empty of God.” (208)

The meaning of rest and of work
  1. Finally, it is particularly urgent nowadays to remember that the day of the Lord is also a day of rest from work. It is greatly to be hoped that this fact will also be recognized by civil society, so that individuals can be permitted to refrain from work without being penalized. Christians, not without reference to the meaning of the Sabbath in the Jewish tradition, have seen in the Lord’s Day a day of rest from their daily exertions. This is highly significant, for it relativizes work and directs it to the person: work is for man and not man for work. It is easy to see how this actually protects men and women, emancipating them from a possible form of enslavement. As I have had occasion to say, “work is of fundamental importance to the fulfilment of the human being and to the development of society. Thus, it must always be organized and carried out with full respect for human dignity and must always serve the common good. At the same time, it is indispensable that people not allow themselves to be enslaved by work or to idolize it, claiming to find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life.” (209) It is on the day consecrated to God that men and women come to understand the meaning of their lives and also of their work. (210)
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html
 
crenfro said:
been thinking a bit about the commandment to “keep holy the Sabbath day,” and I’ve been trying not to do anything that’s objectionable, but sometimes I feel like cutting out a piece to something I want to make on Sunday, but I worry that it’s a bad example to others.

I read some wheres that Catholics who even do stuff like mow the lawn and work in the garden on Sundays are giving a bad example to their non-Catholic neighbors, and I certainly don’t want to start down the path of rationalizing my behavior, but, then, sometimes, I wonder if I’m just being silly and scrupulous.

I really like the idea of reserving Sundays for family things and extra prayer and holy reading and quiet communing with nature while avoiding things like shopping and servile work and empty amusements.

What are your thoughts?

I sew on Sundays. For most people these days, sewing is a hobby, a means of relaxation, and not the type of labor that it used to be when people had to make their own clothes or household linens, etc. in order to have them. Now, if I was, say, an Amish woman and had to make the clothes for my family to wear I would consider that manual labor that should be done on another day. Or if I were a seamstress and that is how I made my living, I would probably not sew on Sunday. But most people sew for recreation these days. Also, many people enjoy working in their flower beds and gardens as a hobby and do that to relax, it’s not necessary a bad example for others. And if you are like me, there is a lot of opportunity to think and meditate while sewing or gardening.
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