Did you know that Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest? Literally, not only did God take a day for himself but it carried on through the Jewish faith and into our Catholic faith. Those that I know that are Jewish take the Sabbath as a day of rest (which is Saturday for them). They don’t even use electricity! I have a friend up North who is Jewish and I know not to expect any sort of correspondence from him beginning I think at 11 or 12 on Friday night through Saturday to evening.
One time when Neal and I first got married we lived in a very small house (less than 1000 sq. ft – yes we raised 2 small children in this tiny home!) and I had our laundry area in the garage. It was a Sunday and some friends decided to stop by. This is a couple that had been married for just about 16 years and had 5 children. She saw me doing the laundry and chastised me! I felt like I was being scolded for doing something bad. I’ll never forget, she said, “It is Sunday, a day of rest. It is time to spend with family and friends. So stop what you are doing and finish it tomorrow.”
I wish I could say I stuck to her rule. I did for awhile, while the kids were young and we didn’t have baseball games on Saturday’s and other things taking up weekend time. Unfortunately, Sunday seems to be the only day I can ‘get things done’ without a ton of interruptions by others (probably because they are spending time with family and friends and not wanting to bother me!). I do try to fit a TV show or movie in between doing a load of laundry, or like today, shampooing the carpet. 😉
Now that I’m doine doing my ‘chores’ I feel conflicted. I feel accomplished because I felt like I got a lot done today. On the other hand, I’ve been ‘working’ since 9am, so for nearly 6 hours of the day I have not stopped to ‘rest’. Well, at least I have another 6 hours to chill with the family and go to Mass. 🙂
I don’t know, maybe I will make that another New Year’s resolution. Making Sunday a true day of rest. I’ll mark it down.
December 12, 2010
Third Sunday of Advent
Readings: Is 35:1-6a, 10; Jas 5:7-10; Mt 11:2-11
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Is 35:4
Christian joy thus springs from this certainty: God is close,
he is with me, he is with us, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness
and in health, as a friend and faithful spouse.
Angelus
December 16, 2007
Blessings
Shannon