Today's reflection

What I’d like to talk about today is what Jesus addresses in the Gospel reading. It concerns the Sabbath, a day in the week that we are to rest just as God did after creating the world. I remember that as a kid we would never do any unnecessary work at home because of this day of rest. It was a day to relax, go to Mass as a family, visit relatives, read the paper, and sometimes be just lazy. I think everyone probably has similar memories. Sunday is a day that belongs to God and we should honor that.

But then we came here to Andre House. And we work (with the exception of Bouf) here on Sunday, the Sabbath. I have not detected that anyone has serious reservations about working on Sunday, but it always helps to rationalize in our own minds just why we at Andre House must work on Sundays. I would like to suggest that since we have the ability to work on Sundays, it is our duty, our sacred obligation to work on Sundays.

First we can look at the scripture today, in particular the Gospel. Jesus is watched in a synagogue by the scribes and Pharisees. As we see quite often, they are looking for Jesus’ faults. They are jealous of him and will do anything to discredit him. As we also see quite often, Jesus does something controversial that they think condemns him. Jesus heals the hand of a man saying, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath – or evil? To preserve life – or destroy it?” Jesus doesn’t give a verbal answer to these questions, but he gives a powerful answer when he heals the man’s hand. In this way, he is telling us that it would be evil to not do good on the Sabbath, especially when given the opportunity to. If we can do good on Sundays, than we must do good on Sundays. And I think Jesus speaks directly to our mission when he asks if it is worse to work to preserve life or destroy it by inaction. This is a clear cut scriptural answer to why we work on Sundays.

We can also turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church for more answers. Here is an interesting way to think about it. I quote, “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.” We are to remove all stops that prevent us from performing the works of mercy on the Sabbath, which are at the very center of what we do.

As I said, Sunday is a day that belongs to God, and I’m certain that what God wants of us is to continue to serve his people here. But there is one more aspect to this. We work on Sundays, and we should have no reservations about such. Nevertheless, it is just as important that we still honor God on that day. Yes, we honor God by doing his work here, but we must also remember to honor God by going to Mass and praying on Sundays. In the Gospel, Jesus does work a miracle on the Sabbath, but remember that he was at a synagogue to teach God’s word. Even though he was working, he was still honoring God. Let us pray that we can follow his holy example.