FROM THE PULPIT: MAKE SPECIAL THE DAY OF THE LORD

DIES DOMINI ("The Day of the Lord") is the title of a recent letter issued July 7 by Pope John Paul II to Catholics. I have not seen the complete letter but I have seen a few news articles reporting its publication. One report states that the letter is some 95 pages in length, so the Pope must feel rather passionately on this issue.

Basically, Pope John Paul feels today's culture and society are causing Catholic Christians to lose sight of the basic reason God has created us. I suspect that if one would quiz the Pope on his theory, he would say it is not limited to Catholic Christians, but that it is a malaise affecting all living in today's world.

Noting that Sunday prayer and rest is a human need and a religious obligation, John Paul writes: "When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely a part of a weekend, it can happen that people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see the heavens."

The Sacred Scriptures tell us that God created us that we might celebrate His goodness and worship Him in this world and be with Him for all eternity. The importance of setting aside a day of the week for the Lord God was highlighted already in the Commandments that Moses received on Mt. Sinai. For the ancient Hebrews, following God's example in the story of creation, the last day of the week, Saturday or Sabbath, was the specified day in which the community would gather to give special worship and praise to God.

Recognizing that Christ worked several of His major miracles (including that of His resurrection) on the first day of the week, Sunday became the special day for Christians to gather as a community to praise their Creator.

Acknowledging the fact that our society is moving from the Industrial Age into a society in which many of its members are in service oriented jobs, the Catholic Church several decades ago extended the period for fulfilling our Sunday obligation to Saturday afternoon and evening.

The Pope stresses that for Catholics, the principal means for making holy the Lord's Day is by gathering with our neighbors in the celebration of Mass, which is our chief worship action.

For all Christians, regular weekly worship is critically important if we are going to keep our priorities correct. Our culture in this country continually attempts to distort priorities that are Gospel-based by trying to convince us that every want or desire is a priority. The on-going challenge for each Christian is to never lose sight of God's purpose in creating him/her.

In his letter, the Pope challenges us to make the Day of the Lord special each week. The principal way of doing this is by participating actively in our church's Sunday worship service. If job requirements or health problems make it impossible for us to physically join in the worship service of our church, we need to make certain that we find other ways in which we make the Lord's Day special.

I would like to conclude with this little prayer:

Lord, keep us from getting so involved in life that we forget why you gave us life.

Keep us from getting so involved in living that we forget the purpose of living.

Keep us from getting so involved in pursuing the things money can buy that we forget about the things money can't buy.