I am reading a book on natural law ethics called What We Can’t Not Know by Budziszewski (a name only Poles could easily pronounce). It is the best fresh approach to natural law I have read.
Here is the sample that “convicted” me!
“The third commandment declares that complete engrossment in mundane affairs is not merely tiring but debasing… (So, Ronda immediately thinks that scholarly work is not mundane but dedication to God’s truth – or so I have always thought) Thus someone who says “My work is my workshipo” is deceiving himself – or else worshipping his work. Yes, we should do all our labors as though for God; but for God, we should intermit our labors.”
I do believe that it is rather a grey area what kind of work is forbidden on the Sabbath, and there are certainly exceptions made for those who cannot earn a living unless they work on Sundays (did you know that the Saturday vigil Mass was instituted to accommodate longshoremen in Genoa, Italy who had to work all mornings unloading ships, but were free in the late afternoon and evening?)
Just the same, if you happen to be a workaholic, I think Budzieszewski’s formulation is a ringer.
Read more blog entries by Dr. Ronda by visiting RONDAVIEW. Dr. Ronda Chervin has many free e-books and audios on her website rondachervin.com. If you go to her website and read or listen and then want to correspond with her she will be available. Her schedule does not permit, however, responding to comments on the Blog, though she enjoys reading them. Dr. Ronda’s newest project is spiritualityrunningtogod.com.
Comments are closed.
Comments have been closed for this post.
Comments
1 Robert Fox says...
As a young married couple… many decades ago… I remember another friend of ours and my wife and I deciding to make Sunday a true day of rest… centered around the Holy Eucharist. We always interpreted this to mean doing no work that would take away from contemplating God and reinforcing that sacred reality into the memories of our then small children. Now our children are teenagers. Both families could go to Mass within 5 minutes of our homes… but we choose to drive more than 50 minutes each way in order to benefit from and all sing at a Missa Cantata in the Tridentine rite.
The motto "my work is my prayer" is a way of hiding from contemplation. In an age where even committed Catholics are afraid of too much silence… a refocusing on this commandment is a good one. I find that many are reluctant to go the extra mile to give their children the best liturgical praxis they can find. These same parents think nothing of driving 80 miles on a Sunday however for a soccer tournament or game or practice. In fact, I know many "good conservative Catholics" who plan Mass around sports on Sunday instead of planning Sunday around Mass. I do not judge their intentions… but I often feel they are cheating themselves and their kids. Sports has replaced Mass as the central player in the lives of young Catholic Children. Many go to Mass on Saturday night and spend all of Sunday working on the soccer field… with each kid at a different game and the family either separated or else shuttling between games on Sunday. The liturgical changes of the 60's and 70's seem to help this drifting so that it has now blossomed into a full detachment from the Sabbath. I also ind that many of the kids being shuttled in this way don't really enjoy the "soccer or baseball circuit" as much as the parents believe they do. Hmmmm?
I blame the dads for this. Like it or not… most practicing Catholic dads decide what the priorities are for Sunday. And all too often, I find that speed, expediency, and convenience outweigh beauty, orthodoxy, sacrifice, familial communio.
Will we ever get back to sacred Sunday? I don't know. That question really resides with the bishops and priests whose words influence men. Currently the pendulum is still swinging demographically in the wrong direction… and a little tweaking of the language of the liturgy will not be enough to bring it back. There needs to be a quiet revolution of Love and a turning back toward beauty (over minimalism) in the liturgy. Also… there needs to be less emphasis on preaching and more emphasis on the sacerdotal nature of the priest and a return to the "last things" in theology.
On Sunday we sing or say Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus… Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Do we know what it means? Do we believe it is true?
Servus, Bob.
Posted at 11:41 a.m. on October 13, 2011