Keeping the Sabbath Holy

[JohnPaul64]

Do any of you keep the Sabbath holy? Aside from going to mass do you make it a day of rest and prayer? I hear it is a sin not to. I’ve been trying too but its a little hard not to at least mow the grass especially when it rains all week. I do mainly light chores and read scripture and pray a lot, plus I watch my EWTN shows I recorded during the week. Does anyone know what your allowed to do that isn’t going to far? Are you allowed to go fishing or do recreational activities?

 

[LilyM]

The requirement is to avoid *unnecessary *work first of all, so ask yourself if those chores you’re doing are really necessary or can wait until during the week. I can believe that in some cases (as you say, weather is a fickle thing) might mean that you have to mow that lawn on a Sunday or what have you, so don’t be too hard on yourself.

As for EWTN - of course that’s absolutely fine, as is the prayer and scripture. IMHO most forms of recreation are fine too, certainly fishing would be. Genesis states that God asks us to REST on the Sabbath as well as worship, after all.

I find shopping a bit of a grey area. I certainly wouldn’t shop for luxuries like clothes or jewellery or what have you, however I would go food shopping (perhaps not a big shop, though, more like enough food to tide me through the day) or to a restaurant to eat.

 

[Shin]

Keeping Sunday Holy

Try the audio sermon linked above on Keeping Sunday Holy.

We are to avoid unnecessary servile work on Sundays. That includes mowing the lawn, and any unnecessary chores around the house.

Also shopping to be avoided unless necessary. You not only should not do it for your own sake, but for the sake of others, so that Sunday will become more of a day of rest for all people as it is meant to be – we give a bad example if we do otherwise, which is the sin of scandal, as well as the sin of not keeping Sunday properly, which can be of grave matter.

You can do recreational activities, including physically active ones, as long as they are truly this and not labor, i.e. tending the garden is actually labor, not recreation basically however enjoyable it may be – just because you love your work doesn’t mean it still isn’t basically work, and also a bad example to do. Landscapers get this day off too.

The day is meant for mass and peaceful reflection on the Lord, it should revolve around Him, and the spiritual rather than any physical labors.

Spiritual reading, walks, sitting out and admiring nature, playing a boardgame, etc.

Keep it peaceful. Keep it full of God.

 

[thevickinator16]

Hello there!

Everything said in earlier posts I believe is true. I wanted to add that we are supposed to help others on Sundays if possible. Like feeding the homeless, helping an elderly person maintain THEIR yard etc. If you work all week and absolutely can not get everything done on Saturday, then I believe some concessions are made.

I think then you are allowed to do the minimal or servile work to get you through. I beleve this means that you don’t spring clean your house or wash and wax your car on Sundays, for an example.

I know growing up that even Sunday dinner was mostly prepared on Saturday in our house. We spent the day as a family. No one worked. It is too bad that today this is not the case. Now people have to go to work, they do cleaning and whatever else on Sunday to keep cought up.

This leaves little time for God. This just isn’t in the Catholic Church from what I have heard. This is everywhere.

God Bless!

 

[TracyJ]

Keeping Sunday Holy

Try the audio sermon linked above on Keeping Sunday Holy.

We are to avoid unnecessary servile work on Sundays. That includes mowing the lawn, and any unnecessary chores around the house.

Also shopping to be avoided unless necessary. You not only should not do it for your own sake, but for the sake of others, so that Sunday will become more of a day of rest for all people as it is meant to be – we give a bad example if we do otherwise, which is the sin of scandal, as well as the sin of not keeping Sunday properly, which can be of grave matter.

You can do recreational activities, including physically active ones, as long as they are truly this and not labor, i.e. tending the garden is actually labor, not recreation basically however enjoyable it may be – just because you love your work doesn’t mean it still isn’t basically work, and also a bad example to do. Landscapers get this day off too.

The day is meant for mass and peaceful reflection on the Lord, it should revolve around Him, and the spiritual rather than any physical labors.

Spiritual reading, walks, sitting out and admiring nature, playing a boardgame, etc.

Keep it peaceful. Keep it full of God.

I totally disagree with you about mowing the lawn. It can be a joy for some of us and
gardens in general make me feel closer to God.
This doesn’t mean that a landscaper should be forced to work on Sunday, but when it’s a
pleasurable activity that is also good for our bodies I don’t see a thing about it that’s
offensive.
I’ve heard that on Sunday our eyes should be turned towards the Lord, a person can
do that while mowing the grass.
If you HATE the task it’s probably not a good thing to do, but for folks who love
the Earth it can be very spiritual.

 

[JohnPaul64]

Even though I did some light chores yesterday another reason is I lost a good bit of my Saturday because I went to morning mass then helped an elderly neighbor fix a door. By the time I got done it was after 1 pm and I couldn’t get everything done. I agree that lawn mowing isn’t a chore to some. I really do enjoy doing that. I’m just a person who can’t sit around. I did say my daily rosary twice and read a lot of scripture too. I’ll have to learn to relax a little more. Maybe I’ll start walking .