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Mark 2:23-28

As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath,
his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.
At this the Pharisees said to him,
“Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
He said to them,
“Have you never read what David did
when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?
How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest
and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat,
and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them,
“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

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“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.”  What does the sabbath mean to you?  How do you observe the sabbath?

I remember when I was young, Sunday was just another day of the week.  We didn’t go to church.  We didn’t even think about God.  It was another day to work, play or watch sports on TV.

As I grow older I realize what a gift the sabbath is to us.  Even God rested on the 7^th day after creating the world.  Do we take a day of rest for the Lord and to be with family and friends?  Or do we use it as another day to work, to shop, to keep busy?

Try the following to make holy the sabbath day for the Lord:

1)     Go to church with your family every Sunday (more often if possible)

2)    Don’t do any work on Sunday.

3)    Take time just to relax and enjoy the company of your family and friends.

4)    Don’t shop.  Think about the people who have to work at malls and gas stations because we are out shopping.  If we all avoided shopping on Sunday, no one would have to work (the way it used to be).

God gave us the sabbath as a gift – a day of rest and renewal.  What are you doing with this gift?  Staying busy?  Or truly are you being renewed in body and spirit?

I will be in Mexico from January 17-26 to talk to some possible seminarians to serve in the Diocese of Joliet.  Please pray for safe travels and a blessed mission trip. 

Have a blessed day!
Fr. Burke

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