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Week 1 |
Keeping Holy The Sabbath |
September 3 |
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During the fall of 2000 , my Pastor’s Column consisted of my personal “ruminations” that surfaced as I journeyed through my sabbatical.
The word sabbatical comes from the word “Sabbath” which is defined in the Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary in this way: “The seventh day of the week, appointed in the Decalogue as a day of rest to be observed by the Jews; now, Saturday. The first day of the week as observed by Christians; Sunday. The institution or observance of a day of rest; a time of rest, peace, or quiet.”
From the earliest of times, God encouraged humankind to rest, play and recreate. At least one day out of seven was mandated by law to be a day of rest!
As human beings, we must need it or God wouldn’t have encouraged it. To rest is an integral part of being human and an important way in keeping our humanity healthy.
In that process of rest, we are “re-created”, made anew, strengthened to begin again.
We need not only a day each week, but, each year, we need several weeks and every seven years or so we need a few months to “Sabbath”, i.e. to rest and recreate, to “re-create.”
Over the years, I have become faithful to taking my day off each week and I take my allotted vacation time each year. I do so because it is important to my ministry. These “Sabbath” days and weeks help to keep me whole and to grow in holiness. These days and weeks strengthen me in my ministry. And I need all the help I can get!!
One thing I did not do over the years is take a sabbatical. The priests of the Diocese of San Diego are encouraged to take up to four months off every seven years in order to refresh and renew themselves in order to better serve God’s people.
This year of my 25th anniversary of priesthood was a time to amend my ways, a time for a sabbatical!
Over the next fourteen weeks you will be hearing from me on a weekly basis. I will be sharing with you my impressions and feelings as I journey through this sabbatical in the wondrous city of Jerusalem. The observations will be both personal and objective, i.e. what I am seeing and what I am feeling. I hope that in some small way they will be of help to you.
My hope and prayer for you this week is that, if you haven’t yet, you will get serious about enjoying the Sabbath concept; that you will Sabbath on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
Our God is found not just in work, but more importantly, God is found in reflection, prayer, play and recreation. We need to revel in all aspects of our humanity.
Pope John Paul II recently wrote a letter to the Church entitled, “Dies Domini”, “On Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy”. The letter is dated May 31, 1998.
I would encourage you to go to the Vatican website, www.vatican.va and download the article for your review. It is a bit lengthy but worth “the read”. If you are not linked to the Internet, ask someone who is and ask them to make a copy for you
As you go about your activities this week, I encourage you to reflect on these questions: Do I, with my household, take at least one day a week to recreate? Is at least one day out seven given to God and family? Do I recognize the need to maintain our “wholeness” (holiness) by taking regular intervals of time off from the regular routine of work, in order to pray and play?
Let us continue to hold each other in prayer!
To pray, to live in community, to be a part of a Parish Family is, indeed, "Keeping Holy The Sabbath"! It is a way to celebrate life.
Religion is not "rules and regulations". It is "Celebration of Life". When we celebrate, the "rules and regulations" become "ways of being" that we freely choose.
These three pictures exhibit how we at Santa Sophia celebrate life - the baptism of Edward and Nicole, the twin children of Mike and Linda Maria; the Apostleship of Prayer celebrating the Mercy of God experienced in their lives; and, the "Fil-Am Society" celebrating their ethnicity, threads of the great fabric of life that God has created and loves.
When one is a member of Santa Sophia Parish, one takes time to celebrate the "moments of life", one "Keeps Holy The Sabbath"
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