This is a question I am currently wrangling with. I am continually awed by God's power to speak to us through his word. I've known the Ten Commandments since I was a child. Though I wasn't raised Catholic, I was introduced to the laws of God at VBS so long ago. What strikes me is this, all of a sudden this portion of the word is tugging at my heart.
The kiddos and I have been studying The Two Great Commandments that Jesus gave. First: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. Second: Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. (Found in The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism circa 1964.) Jesus didn't just throw out the old law that was given to Moses. He said we must keep those commands, IN ADDITION we are to love thy neighbor (Oh, that is a hard one. But not the one God has for me to ponder this day.)
This lesson brought about a deeper discussion of what keeping the Ten Commandments means. Which in turn began my questioning, "Am I remembering the sabbath? Am I teaching my children to keep this day holy for our Lord?" Hmmm. . . My answer came to me. We are not in a Sunday groove.
Since moving back to WA, our Sunday groove is a mess. Mr. Nomad and I have always been Sunday morning mass people. Sure, there are those times when we need to go to the Saturday evening mass, but we really don't feel like it is Sunday without starting the day with mass. Our current schedule is requiring us to attend the LifeTeen mass which is 5pm Sundays, so I'm struggling to organize our Sunday in such a way to bring glory to our Lord.
Please, help me out folks. What are some things your families do to keep the sabbath holy?
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I wish I had good advice for you!
ReplyDeleteThis is something I think about all the time. Besides going to mass, we don't really do anything in the "keeping the sabbath holy" department. I know folks who don't do any work themselves, or do anything to encourage others to work (like eating out, going shopping, etc...) on Sunday. A nice idea, but it sure would be tough to actually carry out, huh? Not that tough is bad - especially when it comes to the things we do for God. Hmmm...food for thought, isn't it? I'd like to hear what other people have to say about this one too.
ReplyDeleteI thought about this yesterday. I'm not particularly religious, I'm more spiritual. One thing I've learned working in hospitals, is that people are sick even on Sundays. They still need to eat, and be taken care of. So, the day chosen to honor God is really up to the individual. And that means.....we can incorporate a bit of the sabbath into EVERYDAY. Agreed, in most family schedules, Sunday is the day to go to church. However, how many say grace before EVERY meal? How many make a gratitude list every day? Can you read spiritually every day or just on Sunday? And no doubt, Tami, you being so thoughtful, do many of these things every day. Every day is a day that God has made.
ReplyDeleteWhat made Sundays so special when I was a child was a big Sunday dinner after church at Grandma H's, followed by going to Grandma Bs for the afternoon. Enjoying time with family. That's pretty holy when you give it some thought.
Good question. I had not really thought about it till now. We were Sat evening people until recently. Now we go to Sun at 1045 and I like it better because it does lend itself better to a day to walk with God. After mass normally there are donuts and I like to ask the children sometimes about what they thought about the mass. I like to keep reminding the children about God in all the routine things in our lives in order to keep the Sabbath holy. For example, Sun is normally our shopping day so I will take the bigger ones while the youngest takes a nap. While shopping I will point out how to pick out meat, look for value and the children like to scan and bag the food. So I will talk about how God has blessed us with this bounty and the importance of service - like bagging. We take our time and so it's not as much like work as spending time together. Finally, we like to try to say the Rosary as part of the evening before family fun night. Not always but we try and the children ask us to do it if we start to miss it too much. I think to keep the Sabbath holy means to take a rest from the hectic schedule that we sometimes have and to invite God to join us. Even the most mundane chores can be holy if we are open to see God.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for your input. I have been chatting with my kiddos, and praying so in a few days I will be revisiting this topic. Kind of giving an update. If you haven't gotten a chance to input, please take a moment or two to share. I think this is a topic many are interested in.
ReplyDeleteChurch and a nap for us :)I used to not make supper and we just had popcorn and some other snack for Sunday evening. I do think its very important to honor our Lord on this day, for us it seems to change with the time and season of life we are in.
ReplyDeleteYes Jody, that is the lesson I needed to learn here. To change with each new season of parenting.
ReplyDelete