Just as a house requires a solid foundation, a family’s spiritual life also benefits from stability and support.
Solid foundations are critical to get through the challenges of life. Jesus taught the importance of a “rock solid” foundation subsequent and supplementary to his teaching on true discipleship: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock” (Mt 7:24). The antithesis to this spiritual “house on rock” our Lord tells us is one that, as time passes, sinks in sand.
Thank God and my parents I grew up with a well-formed, solid foundation in rural Iowa. What I remember most is simple yet foundational: Sundays were treasured. Growing up as Methodists, we went to church on Sundays as the commandment told us, and we observed the Lord’s Day as a day of rest, including partaking in relaxing activities. Much of Sunday morning was devoted to age-designated Sunday school for youth and adults, and then a church service. (Note that I did not say Mass; I learned quickly as a Catholic convert the difference between a service and a Mass.) The service was often followed by a food and friendship gathering in our fellowship hall before we all went our separate ways. Did we live our lives outside of this day of worship undivided as fortified “Onward Christian Soldiers,” as the hymn goes, in the week ahead at home, work or in our rural culture? Probably not, since we’re all sinners, but we tried.
Yet leisure on Sunday was recognized as setting the stage for the week ahead. What is the big picture for a Catholic Watchman in providing a solid foundation to keep the Sabbath holy? I refer to our Church teachings, starting with a summary statement from our Catechism of the Catholic Church: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are bound … to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord’s Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body” (CCC 2193).
After offering the necessary worship to God, what does leisure on this holy day of rest look like? As “Iron is sharpened by iron; one person sharpens another” (Prov 27:17) — Watchmen take part in many devotions and activities with other men. At the time of this writing, I’m nearing the zenith of an Exodus 90 challenge that I’m undertaking with a number of other men. Each Sunday while on this devotional journey, our online Exodus 90 spiritual guides, a couple of Franciscan brother-priests, have emphasized that the week begins with Sunday. It’s “a day of rest and renewal that sets the tone for everything that follows.” Using a description of Josef Pieper — a Catholic philosopher and a renowned 20th century St. Thomas Aquinas interpreter — getting the Lord’s Day right is “creating space for activities that open us to truth, beauty and contemplation. Holy leisure nourishes the soul and draws us closer to God.”
On Sunday, there is no such thing as a dreadful time going fishing, completing a honey-do chore, or playing a game of soccer or sandlot football on Minnesota turf, right? In all seriousness, the emphasis on leisurely activities on the Lord’s Day can be foundational and nourishing — physically and spiritually — for the heart, body, mind and soul. The use of free time for enjoyment is a good gift from our gracious God — leisure rightly ordered — whether hiking with the family on Sunday, enriching yourself by reading an enjoyable book or taking a nap to simply relax and gather some energy. These are gifts we can receive while encouraging and prompting us to give more of ourselves to others. If we remember that the highest form of leisure on the Lord’s Day is the holy sacrifice of the Mass, true enjoyment can come from the graces of leisure. Because Jesus provides and unites us with such grace.
Deacon Bird ministers to St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville and assists with the archdiocesan Catholic Watchmen movement. See heroicmen.com for tools supported by the archdiocese to enrich parish apostolates for ministry to men. For Watchmen start-up materials or any other questions regarding ministry to men, contact him at gordonbird@rocketmail.com.
