Is my Sunday job considered servile work?

[FNDRB58]

I have searched and am still confused regarding resting on Sundays. On one hand the catechism says “no servile work”. On the other I read that you can offer servile work up to God and that would be acceptable. On one hand one can work on Sunday’s if there is a social need. On the other hand I read that you can do non-servile work on Sunday’s as long as you keep the Lord’s day holy by going to church.

A Jesuit priest explained that the commandment was intended to prevent masters from working their slaves to death by making them work seven days per week. He seemed to imply that perhaps that the “day of rest” part was not as applicable today but that we mainly just need to keep it holy and avoid servile work.

My situation: I am a low paid security officer at a computer company. I have thousands of dollars in bills that I need to pay. My schedule dictates that I work on Sunday. I don’t believe working my regular job is considered “servile work,” is it?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Peggy_Frye]

The term “servile work” is an older term traditionally used in the Church to mean “work of the body rather than of the mind” as…“it was once the work of slaves rather than free men” (*A Practical Catholic Dictionary *pg. 200). Today the term “servile work” is no longer used in the new *Code of Canon Law *(1983). Instead we read that the faithful are “to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God”.

*Can. 1247 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.

Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord ’s Day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.*

Since your schedule dictates that you work on Sunday, the *New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law *(pg. 1445) states the following: “Those whose livelihood requires them to work on holy days and/or Sundays are morally excused from the observance of the rest, but not necessarily from participation in the Mass. Those who have a just reason for missing Mass on Sundays or holy days **on a regular basis **should seek a dispensation, or a commutation in accord with canon 1245. Those who find it impossible, or impossible without serious inconvenience, to attend Mass in individual instances are morally excused from the observance of the obligation and need not seek a dispensation.”

Further reading on what it means to rest on the Lord’s Day: “How Should We Keep the Sabbath?” By Fr. William Saunders ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/SABBATH.HTM