| Keeping Sunday Special
Joanne Bogle, Catholic author and broadcaster, picks up on Pope John Paul II's call to the Church, in the face of increasing secularisation, to make an effort to keep Sunday special as part of our Christian witness
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When Pope John Paul II came to Britain, one of the messages he emphasised was the importance of keeping Sunday holy. He later followed this up with a clear and detailed teaching in an Encyclical dedicated just to this subject. If we want to renew the Church, then this whole question of Sunday is of great importance. It is rooted deeply in Scripture, it answers our human needs for rest and refreshment and draws us into the joy of the Resurrection. It unites us with Christians past and takes us forward into the : "tomorrow" which always looks to the Lord's return and to our own personal meeting with him. It has an ecumenical dimension, and it enables us to meet Christians from different traditions who share a common recognition that the Lord's Day is sacred. Sunday is a gift - a day's holiday each week. For the Jews, the Sabbath day was Saturday. For Christians, in the new Covenant with God, the day of rest and refreshment is Sunday, the day of the Lord's Resurrection. The body of Jesus lay in the tomb during the Jewish Sabbath, after his suffering on Good Friday. This rest in the tomb is significant. It marks the end of the Jewish Sabbath as it had hitherto been observed. Very early in the morning of the next day, the first day of the new week, the women came with herbs and spices to anoint the body. Note that this was a busy working day, hence the early rising. As Mary Magdalene approached the tomb, Jerusalem would have been stirring. Back to work after the Sabbath rest, the community would be facing the week ahead with its responsibilities and labour. When Christ addressed her, she thought he was the gardener. In her moment of recognition, and in that joyful sprint as she rushed to tell the Apostles the great news of the Resurrection, the Christian Sunday was born. It should be a day of joy, a day of recognition of the Lord. Our visit to church is our Easter encounter with Christ. Long tradition honours the idea of going to Mass very early in the morning. It isn't crucial - any hour of the day will do for this central act of our worship and unity with God - but it tells us something. Of course, early morning Mass was mostly popular because of the Eucharistic fast, which for many years was timed from midnight. It made sense to rise early and be able to receive Communion without a long hungry morning's wait. But perhaps a bonus was that "garden encounter" with Christ. We must be sure that we do not miss out entirely on this as we review our own attitudes and actions with regard to Mass on Sunday. Is Sunday Mass just something to be done quickly, to be got over as soon as possible? Renewal of the Church means renewal of our own hearts and minds before anything else. Is Sunday Mass just something to be done quickly, to be "got over" as soon as possible? Do we fast for an hour before Communion? Do we rush to church without any preparation? Most of us dress carefully for special occasions - weddings, significant birthdays, christenings. But Mass? Too often the message conveyed by the way we dress is "it doesn't matter". This is especially noticeable in well-to-do parishes! As one priest in a inner-city parish ruefully remarked "The poorer the area, the more care they take to dress as if Mass really matters." Food for thought. Attending Sunday Mass is a serious duty - oops, don't protest! Just mentioning duty doesn't make it dreary and of no real meaning. On the contrary. When the women went with spices to the tomb, they were fulfilling their sacred duty - and because they were faithful in this, the Lord gave them the increase - being witnesses to his Resurrection! Our Sunday, too, must make us available for his Resurrection message. This is something to remember if work commitments oblige us to work on a Sunday: making time for Mass, if remotely possible, does matter. Sunday starts the night before - as did the Jewish Sabbath, as do our other feast-days (think of Christmas Eve and Midnight Mass. Think of the Easter Vigil Mass). In modern Britain, a Saturday evening Mass can make sense for many families. It doesn't rob Sunday of its meaning. But perhaps we do need to make the effort, in our hearts and in our homes, to ensure this. Sunday is a good day for hospitality Sunday is a good day for hospitality. Sunday Lunch needn't be a grisly chore for the cook - there is no law that says this has to be a great roast meal. What about a buffet, a brunch, some easy pasta or rice dish? And shouldn't this be the one day in the week when all members of the family give some real, practical help? Yes, this includes the adolescents. Train them in expectations - people have talents, and these include cookery. They are also skills they will need when they leave home: preparing food from real materials, budgeting, making a good brew of coffee, using up leftovers cleverly, tidying up a scruffy room so that it becomes somewhere pleasant to eat, improvising extra seating when required, being hospitable, drawing stray guests into conversation, coping with kitchen panics. The family Sunday meal doesn't have to be at midday - supper may work better, with people relaxed and talking about things done during the day. Must television be the only way we spend our evenings? Sunday at least can be a day for swapping anecdotes and news, for board games, for informal struggles with a crossword or a quiz. One family started a tradition of reading aloud as supper ended - the children loved it, clamouring for more as the chapter ended. Special Sunday Traditions Some families create special Sunday traditions - sweets or ice-creams enjoyed on the way home from Mass, an elderly neighbour visited to deliver a Catholic magazine, grandparents for lunch or tea. Some use the Scripture readings from Mass as part of family prayers on Saturday night, to prepare for Mass. Some make the Sunday meal a time when Grace is said (or sung! There are short choruses which work well!) and there are prayers for friends, neighbours, those who are ill or in trouble. When children find Mass boring, they need help. A ten-year-old will have outgrown a children's liturgy with "If I were a fuzzy-wuzzy bear", and colouring pictures to bring up at the Offertory. Teenagers and pre-teens can relish things like Latin chant, candles, a sense of mystery. Think about introducing them to the glorious liturgy of a great cathedral or famous shrine - yes, it's worth the effort. Use holidays or family visits to discover such things. Make feast-days matter: Easter, Pentecost. Discover saints and heroes. Talk about how much the Mass matters. Use books and the Internet. If you don't know the answers to questions, find out together. Sunday is worth it!
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