Last week at the Priest’s Council meeting a resolution was presented from one of the area conferences of clergy. It expressed dismay at the number of situations.......................
PASTOR’S NOTES
Last week at the Priest’s Council meeting a resolution was presented from one of the area conferences of clergy. It expressed dismay at the number of situations where athletic activities sponsored by Catholic agencies, such as CYO, elementary and high schools, parishes take place during times of Masses on Sunday. The discussion soon expanded to an exchange of opinions on the importance of the Lord’s Day. This topic had been written about by our Archbishop in an insightful pastoral letter. Since many of our faith community might not have had the opportunity to read and reflect on it I thought it apropos to devote some lines to its proposals.
He begins by asserting: “Since my arrival in New York I have been asked about many subjects of public controversy. I have tried to answer as best I could, considering all questions as opportunities to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet the daily demands of urgent items can mean that truly important matters are not emphasized. Can anyone doubt that Sunday, our observance of the Lord’s Day, is essential for the Catholic Church, for the vibrancy of our Catholic faith, for the clarity of our Catholic identify?” While there is no disagreement with our shepherd’s sentiments too many of our co-religionists act in a way incompatible with them. When asked why they absent themselves from the Sunday Eucharist they respond with diverse excuses: on vacation, at work, away with family, and other assorted rationales. Even our young people are forced by circumstances to collaborate these attitudes: “My parents were too tired; my grandmother came over; and we had a ballgame. These attitudes are certainly much different from former generations and indeed the cause of our spiritual leader’s concern. But his and our observations go beyond the liturgical.
As a skilled theologian and historian, the Archbishop looks to the experience of our elder brothers in faith: the Jewish community. “Observance of the Sabbath is now, and has been since time immemorial, a constitutive part of being a Jew. Even if many Jews today, like Catholics, no longer observe the Sabbath, it remains a distinctive mark of identity. The Sabbath is a gift from the Jews to the religious patrimony of the human race. What lies at the heart of this gift? It is our one protest against the tyranny of time. Or perhaps it would be better to say that it is our refuge from the ravages of time. Or perhaps better still: It is our sanctuary from the daily, petty concerns which can easily fill up every available moment.” A very valuable example comes from a New York City retailer. In all of their media spots they advise possible customers that they are open except on Friday afternoons and Saturdays. This company is owned and operated by members of the Orthodox Jewish community.
Speaking for our religious tradition Pope John Paul II wrote Dies Domini. Our Archbishop recalls his words: “The custom of the ‘weekend’ has become more widespread, a weekly period of respite, spent perhaps far from home and often involving participation in cultural, political or sporting events which are usually held on free days. This social and cultural phenomenon is by no means without its positive aspects if, while respecting true values, it can contribute to people’s development and to the advancement of the life of society as a whole. All of this responds not only to the need for rest, but also for the need of celebration which is inherent in our humanity. Unfortunately, when Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of a ‘weekend’, it can happen that people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see the heavens. Hence, though ready to celebrate, they are really incapable of doing so. The disciples of Christ, however, are asked to avoid any confusion between the celebration of Sunday, which should truly be a way of keeping the Lord’s Day holy, and the ‘weekend’ understood as a time of simple rest and relaxation.” Concurring with this encyclical, our Archbishop writes: “As the pace of life quickens, we are in danger of losing weekend rest, let alone true Sabbath rest. So often our weekends have become periods of intense activity – some people might even find it a relief to get back to the regular routine on Monday morning after a frenetic weekend. In such an environment, we need Sunday all the more, to enter into the Sabbath rest of God, to worship Him, and to realize that our salvation comes not from the many good
things we do, but from what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.” When is the last time you have really rested? When was the computer turned off, the phone not answered, and work put aside? Young people’s activities as well often take priority over family life.
The central event of our day of rest must be the Eucharist. Not simply because it is an ecclesial precept to attend but because “the heart of Sunday must be the Mass! How could it be anything else? The Mass is nothing else but the supreme work of the Lord Jesus, and nothing else will do to mark the Lord’s Day, the day of salvation, the day of the Church!” Archbishop Dolan further witnesses: “There are many things that I have to do as Archbishop of New York, but there is nothing more central, no blessing greater, no work more important than offering the Mass on Sunday, whether it be in the morning at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, or later in the day in our parish churches. No matter how much we accomplish during the week by our efforts, nothing can compare to what God does at Mass – drawing together His people into the new covenant, fashioning them together into the communion of the Church, sanctifying them by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and nourishing them by the Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus offered on the Cross for the redemption of the world! How can this not be the heart of our week? How can we not live for Sunday and the Sunday Mass?”
Later on in his pastoral letter our Shepherd challenges his brothers to recall in the Year for Priests that we must recognize in the mode of our celebration the ultimate significance of our priestly lives. With the Cure of Ars we must lead all to the altar of God.
I know that if you are reading these words you are the proverbial “choir”. But even the choir needs encouragement. May I ask you not only to reassess your activities vis a vis the Lord’s Day but also to invite another to join you and your family at Mass. If you love them, why not give your very best.
Let us pray for each other and our Archbishop.
Vivat Jesus
Fr. Brian