THE LORD'S DAY.
BY THE REV. CHARLES BRUEHL, D.D.
Observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.—DEUT. V. 12.
INTRODUCTION
My friends: The proper observance of the Lord's Day is of the utmost importance for the religious life of the faithful. In fact, the religious fervor of anyone may be readily gauged by the manner in which he celebrates the feasts of the Church. Neglect of the days and seasons, sacred to the Lord, bespeaks a spirit of worldliness and an alarming indifference to the things that pertain to God and eternity. No one can claim to be a good and practical Catholic who does not sanctify the Lord's Day in the way which God and the Church have prescribed. Pious observance of the Lord's Day is the surest and easiest test of religious sincerity. It is for this reason, that God in the Old Testament insists so often and so earnestly on this very point. But Christ, who came not to abolish but to fulfill the law, has changed nothing with regard to this matter. Hence, the obligation of sanctifying the Lord's Day is as solemn and grave now as it was in the days of the Prophets, who denounced in such thundering accents all violations of the sabbath. Thus we read: "What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the sabbath day? Did not our fathers do these things and our God brought all this evil upon us, and upon this city? And you bring more wrath upon Israel by violating the sabbath" (Neh. xiii. 17, 18). Today's Gospel affords us an excellent opportunity to discourse on the Lord's day and on our duties in its regard.
ABSTENTION FROM SERVILE WORK
Manifestly, the Lord intended His day to be a boon and a blessing to all that toil for their daily dole of bread. It was to be an oasis of rest and sweet repose in a world of weariness and grinding drudgery. He enjoins, therefore, the cessation of all servile labor on this privileged day: "Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works. But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates" (Ex. xx. 9, I0). God does not encourage idleness, but He knows that there is a limit to man's endurance. Rest is essential to health and the proper development of man. Profound wisdom and humaneness have prompted the law of the Sabbath rest.
The prizes of this world have such an attraction that many would bring on themselves and others physical and moral ruin in the pursuit of them, if there were not a law to check and curb their headlong rush. Greed is a merciless taskmaster; hence, the Lord, in order to protect ourselves and others, dependent on our will, from the evil consequences of an insatiable desire for wealth, has established this day of rest. Through it thousands and millions have been saved from bodily ruin and moral degradation. Like a ray of sunshine, it came into the dreary life of the slave and the laborer, taking, at least for a short space of time, the heavy burdens from their weary shoulders.
Severe penalties follow on the infractions of the Sabbath rest. Ill fortune dogs the footsteps of those who, habitually, ply their trade and carry on their business on Sundays and holydays, Industries that disregard the law of the Sunday rest degrade men and cause social unrest and discontent. No one need expect prosperity as the result of Sunday work. This is well illustrated in the following incident: A skipper on one of our inland lakes weighed anchor at an early hour on a Sunday morning, thus preventing his crew from attending Holy Mass. At the remonstrances of his friends he laughed, saying that this way he could gain much time as the wind was very favorable. But the Lord crossed his plans. Through some blunder, he ran aground and on account of this delay lost much more time than he gained by his Sunday work. Thus the Lord baffles the evil designs of those who profane His Sundays for the sake of material gain. Let greed, then, not tempt us to convert the day of rest established by the Lord into a day of servility and groveling work.
SANCTIFICATION OF THE SUNDAY ESSENTIAL
Sunday is a day of rest. As such it is an institution fraught with great blessings to mankind. But it has still a much higher purpose. It is a sacred day, set aside in a special manner for the service of God. This noble and lofty end lifts it above all other days and makes it great and glorious. "Observe," says the Bible, "the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee" (Deut. v. 12). To sanctify, in scriptural language, means to reserve and appoint something to a holy and religious use. The sanctification of the Sunday, then, implies that it be spent in a religious and pious fashion. Abstention from servile work is commanded in order that we may be free and have leisure for the things of God and the soul.
The engrossing duties of the week leave us little time to look after the important business of saving our soul. That the vital affairs of eternity may not be neglected, God has instituted the Sunday. On this day earthly cares should not occupy our minds. Everything else should be dismissed from our thought except the one thing necessary. During the precious hours of Sunday we must devote ourselves to religious practices and to pious considerations, thus keeping alive in our hearts the flame of faith and stirring up God's grace within us. A man who gives neither time nor thought to his business will not prosper; nor will any one prosper in the business of salvation who does not consecrate his Sundays to this all-important matter. Our salvation will to a very large extent depend on the way in which we have observed the holy day of the Lord.
Sunday is indispensable for the interests of religion. Even as the plant requires the refreshing dew, if it is not to wither away; even as the fire needs fuel, if it is not to be extinguished; even as the glowing coal must have the breath of air, if it is not to grow cold and dead; even thus religion cannot flourish and thrive without the Sunday. Without the elevation of the soul which takes place on Sunday, the mind would be weighed down and crushed under the burden of earthly cares and the spiritual sense would be blunted. The religious service of the Sunday fans into bright flame the smoldering sparks of religion, choked with the ashes of worldly preoccupations. On this day we gain a vision of higher things which sustains us during the week and does not allow us to sink into worldliness. The ringing bells of Sunday are like voices from the other world, calling us from the distracting turmoil of this earth and making real to us the things of God. Religion and Sunday observances are intimately united, nor does religious practice long survive the neglect of Sunday. In those families and countries in which the holiness of the Lord's Day is no longer recognized, religion begins to decline. But where the Sunday is sanctified, religion rests on a solid and safe foundation; it is as a tree planted near a river and as a flower, the roots of which draw life from a rich soil. On his first visit to the Penobscot Indians, Bishop Cheverus found that these good Indians still celebrated the Sunday by reciting prayers and singing the hymns they had learned from the Missionary Fathers. And though they had been without a priest for many years, they yet had kept the faith. No one can doubt that it was through the faithful observance of the day of the Lord that they had been enabled to persevere in faith and in the grace of God under such trying circumstances. If the sanctification of the Lord's Day is of such momentous consequence for our religious life it should be of great concern to us to learn how we can celebrate Sunday in the most appropriate and profitable way. To this question we will now turn our attention.
SUNDAY SANCTIFIED BY WORKS OF PIETY AND CHARITY
There are two kinds of good works, which, in a very particular manner, are suitable for the day of the Lord: works of piety and works of charity. Of the former not much need be said, since it goes without saying that prayer, pious reading and attending religious services are most befitting the character of the Lord's day. If Sunday is the day of the Lord, then certainly there is no better way of spending it than in the house of the Lord, the church. It is of obligation that we attend the holy Sacrifice of the Mass; but outside of that we should try to be present at the devotions held in the church and make personal visits of our own to the Lord in the tabernacle. If we make Sunday a day of prayer and of churchgoing, we are sure that we are keeping it in a way most pleasing to God and most salutary for our soul.
That works of charity and mercy harmonize well with the exalted character of Sunday, appears clearly from to-day's Gospel. In spite of the sullen and unreasonable opposition of the Pharisees, the Lord works a miracle on the Sabbath. He instructs the ignorant, which is one of the spiritual works of mercy, and He heals the sick, which is one of the corporal works of mercy. His example we may safely follow. Moreover, the Saints made Sunday a day of mercy, to be distinguished by deeds of charity and acts of kindness. Charity sanctifies and adorns the day of the Lord. Works of mercy grace and beautify the Sunday, as flowers and candles adorn our altars. If we embroider the Sunday with golden acts of benevolence, it will make a pattern that delights the eye of God. Next to praying, performing errands of mercy is the best thing we could possibly do on a Sunday.
Accordingly, if Sunday seems to some a long and dull day, it is their own fault. Let them fill the blessed hours with prayer, devout reading and charitable practices, and the hours will not hang heavily on their hands. Let them visit the bedridden and cheer their painful solitude. Let them enter the homes of the poor and destitute and relieve their poverty. Let them encourage the disheartened and the broken in spirit. Spent in this fashion, Sunday will prove to be a happy day, rich in grace and overflowing with the choicest blessings of heaven.
CONCLUSION
My friends: There may be slight danger in our country that the day of the Lord be desecrated by servile work, but there is great danger that it degenerate into a day of idleness and pleasure. Legitimate recreation and innocent pleasure are not to be excluded; but the religious nature of Sunday must not be lost sight of. Without adopting the narrow views of the Pharisees, let us keep in mind that Sunday is for God and our soul. Free from the pressure of earthly occupations, let us commune with God and lift our souls to the contemplation of eternal truths. Such devout and truly Christian observance of Sunday here on earth will prepare us for the blissful enjoyment of that eternal Sunday in Heaven, which knows no shadow and no diminution and no end.
