What about homework?

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I know you’re supposed to refrain from servile work on Sundays, so would that include not doing homework or studying?🤷
 
Koopa said:
I know you’re supposed to refrain from servile work on Sundays, so would that include not doing homework or studying?🤷
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Nope. 🙂 Not gonna get out of it that easy. 🙂 Hehe.

In fact, I’d argue that it isn’t servile labor
  1. it is not physical;
  2. it is not done for pay.
If one locates the classwork in a liberal arts tradition, then one can argue that classwork is something done for its own end, namely, to improve the person doing it, and thus that it is in fact the very opposite of servile labor (not merely different, but the very opposite).

I’ll let someone work out that argument for me. Take a look in Newman’s idea of a university if you want ideas for that. 🙂

-Rob
 
I believe that a devout Catholic is expected to do extra homework on Sundays. 👍
 
My pastor has told us several times, from the pulpit and in person, that homework should not be done on Sundays. His reasoning being that Sunday is a day of rest which should be spent with family and Church and not a day to get caught up on things you didn’t get to during the rest of the week (even if they’re not servile acts, like cutting the lawn, getting groceries, etc.).

I looked this up in the catechism (2185), and it says “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.” At least for me when I was a kid, and for my children now, homework was a real chore, and definitely not in keeping with “the joy proper to the Lord’s day” or the “relaxation of mind” spoken of in hte catechism.

I also don’t think that doing homework on Sunday is in keeping with the spirit of the law. For kids, homework is their servile labor, equivalent to the jobs the rest of work. It’s a lot of work, and they need a day off, too, just like the rest of us (if not more so). So in my house, we don’t do homework on Sundays.
 
Hmm. Thanks for answering. I think I probably agree with SPQR. Homework is the youth’s work (homeWORK), so I think maybe it’s best to not do it on Sundays. There’s usually plenty of time to do it before Sunday, so there shouldn’t be any problems. 😛 Thanks all!😃
 
I have tried for years to arrange my children’s lives so that they didn’t have to do homework on Sundays. However, I find sport practices, scouting events, etc to be more of an interruption of family time and worship than homework. So we deliberately moved away from activities that regularly scheduled Sunday activities and instead scheduled things when possible on Saturday instead. Also, as they get older they have more school work to do anyway and it makes sense to do some Saturday and some Sunday. I now find that having them sitting at the dining room table doing school work on a Sunday afternoon much better in terms of family time, then running around from event to event. Also, this gives us much more control over our Sunday schedule so we can attend the Mass time we prefer and have a nice family dinner and a quiet evening.

Edited to add: I do not allow my children to do no homework at all on Saturdays and so leave a huge pile of work for Sundays.
 
I think it would be pretty hard to argue that “homework” is “servile work” as that term is meant to be understood. Orthodox Jews, no slouches when it comes to avoiding “work” on their Sabbath, engage in Torah study I believe on that day. If it weren’t for Sunday nights, an awful lot of my high school book reports wouldn’t have gotten done . . . .
 
School ends on Friday and you get the weekend off. It is your choice when you want to do your homework. In my scenario, for example, I have an endless amount of law school work to do. However, I can either spend a couple hours today doing it or just realax, watch the football games, argue on this fourm, and then spend all day tomorrow from 9am to 10 at night with a couple breaks to catch up. Usually I don’t even have to spend that much time to catch up but I didn’t do anything all weekend since I had some extracurricular activites which tired me out. Therefore, tomorrow will be a very long day.

The point is that if you want to have Sunday off then it is on you but if you need to do your homework on Sunday since you didn’t do it the night before, then that is your own fault and you can’t say the teacher made you do work on Sunday. If you want to wait until Sunday night to do the work as I used to do as well as most people, then feel free.
 
Matthew 12:11
11And He said to them, "(A)What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?

My understanding has always been that you should avoid unnecessary work on Sunday. You have to do your homework based on two principles. One, you could have avoided doing homework on Sunday by finishing it earlier if you were able. If not, the homework would definitely be viewed as necessary due to its direct impact on your scholarship or rear end. 😃 Hope this was helpful.

God Bless
 
In terms of excuses, this ranks up there with “the dog ate it” and “I forgot”.
 
SPQR said:
My pastor has told us several times, from the pulpit and in person, that homework should not be done on Sundays. His reasoning being that Sunday is a day of rest which should be spent with family and Church and not a day to get caught up on things you didn’t get to during the rest of the week (even if they’re not servile acts, like cutting the lawn, getting groceries, etc.).

I looked this up in the catechism (2185), and it says “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.” At least for me when I was a kid, and for my children now, homework was a real chore, and definitely not in keeping with “the joy proper to the Lord’s day” or the “relaxation of mind” spoken of in hte catechism.

I also don’t think that doing homework on Sunday is in keeping with the spirit of the law. For kids, homework is their servile labor, equivalent to the jobs the rest of work. It’s a lot of work, and they need a day off, too, just like the rest of us (if not more so). So in my house, we don’t do homework on Sundays.
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You haven’t deciphered the cryptic teaching of Canon Law, actually it’s not cryptic at all, it’s pretty clear:

“engaging in work or activities that **hinder **the worship owed to God”

If you have homework, and you aren’t someone the enjoys doing homework 5 hours a day, then it’s fine.
 
Home work is also work, so it would be best if you did not do it on Sundays. (unless its your favourite subject and you really long to read about it 🙂 In the old covenant keeping the Shabbat was a huge sign of the covenant and respect for God…
I recently came home from Israel… the Israelites are our big brothers when it comes to the law of the Lord. Now, we are not under the law any more… but we can learn from them. On the Shabbat they do not use the computer, speak on their mobile phones or even write with a pencil … I think we need to have a balance. We have to listen to what the Spirit tells us in our hearts. Sunday is a day of focusing on the Lord and meditating on the beauty He created, a friends and family day… There are no set rules but realise what is good in His eyes is really alsways what it good for us.
… God bless
 
GraceDK said:
Home work is also work, so it would be best if you did not do it on Sundays. (unless its your favourite subject and you really long to read about it 🙂
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Otherway around. if it was really your favourite thing, which I doubt. Then you should NOT be doing it.

With the workloads these days, especially for university students where many assignments are due on the weekend (yes internet submissions) it’s not so easy to avoid. Except we do it, not because we love doing assignments, but because we don’t want to fail university.

There is no reason that you CAN’T worship or meditate religiously on a Sunday whilst having done your homework. What is necessary should be done.

Bible reading, mass obligation, meditation etc. can all be done.
 
“Otherway around. if it was really your favourite thing, which I doubt. Then you should NOT be doing it.”
  • I think you and I have two different ideas about what Christianity really is… that’s all I can say to that comment.
    On the 7th day God rested and enjoyed His creation. Sunday is not a day of suffering or abstaining…its a day of celebrating.
I am a university student my self and know how difficult it can be. Note however also that I said that we are under no law anymore. that means that if we chose to study sometimes on Sundays because we feel pressured then we dont have to feel guilty… likewise if we eat meat on a friday because we are served and there is nothing else to eat. we are not under the old law, and as Jesus says: the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath ( Mark 2:27).

When it comes to tithes and going to Church on Sundays, praying and fasting as well as not working on Sundays… all these are pleasing to the Lord when done in freedom out of love. If we ask Him for the help to honour Him in one of these ways due to a call from the Holy Spirit, then He will help us. I can tell you that the time I was most busy in my university studies was also the time where I felt called to pray several hours a day on my knees and attending daily Mass etc… and I was never stressed during that time of my life.

One Scripture I love I will quote for it applies to all manner of giving to the Lord… giving back what really already belongs to Him:

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this”, says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it” (Mal 3:10) Yes… I believe that applies to keeping the Sabbath as well…
 
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