Celebrate the Sabbath!

Psalm 28:7

The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts; so I am helped,
and my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.

The Sabbath is a day set aside to remind us that the world was not created out of grim necessity or the need for profit, but out of love.  Major corporations and business concerns are not much in the habit of setting aside company time so that workers can simply devote themselves to frolicking, song, food and play.  But God gives away the nature of heaven every seventh day when he commands us to, in essence, have fun, savor life, pay attention to the fact of his deep love for us, and try to spread a little of it around ourselves.  That because contrary to worldly wisdom, life is not achieved by a stern Darwinian struggle, it is received as the gift that it is.  God didn’t have to create us.  He just… thought it was a good idea.  It is this reality of God’s liberal and artistic extravagance in creating for the sheer joy of the thing that has always given Christianity the large element of playfulness so absent from the ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling world of Mammon and the Almighty Buck. For as C.S. Lewis once observed, “Joy is the serious business of Heaven.”  Make your next Sabbath more than a mere “day off”.  Make it a celebration and give thanks to the Lord with your song!

Avatar photo

By

Mark P. Shea is a popular Catholic writer and speaker. The author of numerous books, his most recent work is The Work of Mercy (Servant) and The Heart of Catholic Prayer (Our Sunday Visitor). Mark contributes numerous articles to many magazines, including his popular column “Connecting the Dots” for the National Catholic Register. Mark is known nationally for his one minute “Words of Encouragement” on Catholic radio. He also maintains the Catholic and Enjoying It blog and regularly blogs for National Catholic Register. He lives in Washington state with his wife, Janet, and their four sons.

Subscribe to CE
(It's free)

Go to Catholic Exchange homepage

MENU