Sorry for the radio silence on the blog! It has been a wonderful summer around here. We seem to be finding our summer rhythm, and I’ve (mostly) adjusted to life as a mama of 4 littles. I have so much to share and want to write about, especially some updates on the “Year of Me”, but I’ll save that for another time.
Last week, I listened to Episode 27 of The Right Heart Podcast with Erin Franco. The episode is called, “Back to the Heart of Sunday Rest.” In the podcast, Erin interviewed my friend, Lisa Schmidt, about where this idea of Sunday rest came from, they shared their struggles in making it happen, Lisa reassured us that there are very few rules beyond our Sunday obligation to attend Mass, and Lisa offered some wonderful, practical ways to make Sunday more restful. Please, please, please do yourself a favor, and listen to the episode now if you’ve ever wondered how to make Sunday a special day for you and your family.
A few of my favorite takeaways from the podcast:
- God gives the commandment to rest to the Israelites AFTER entering into covenant with them and freeing them from slavery in Egypt. It is weekly reminder to them of the love that God has for His people.
- Like the Israelites, we should keep Sunday as a “day of protest” from the things we feel enslaved by. “God’s action is the model for human action. If God ‘rested and was refreshed’ on the seventh day, man too ought to ‘rest’ and should let others, especially the poor, ‘be refreshed.’ The sabbath brings everyday work to a halt and provides a respite. It is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2172
- What you feel enslaved by may not be enslaving for someone else. (Example: If you like gardening, go ahead and garden on Sunday. If you don’t enjoy it, find something else to do!)
- There is a difference between doing nothing (NOT the idea of the Sabbath) and the goal of holy leisure
- Wondering how to say “no” to commitments on Sundays? Read this Wall Street Journal article that Lisa mentioned. The author suggests stating your “no” as a value. Instead of saying, “We can’t…,” say, “We don’t participate in sports on Sundays.” Saying your “no” as a value does a few things: The person on the receiving end is less likely to argue with a value. In fact, they will likely respect you for drawing a line. In turn, the person will also be more inclined to create healthy boundaries for themselves. Imagine if our “no” stated as a value led to other families creating similar policies for their own families!
After listening to the podcast, I was inspired to share the nuggets of wisdom from Erin and Lisa with Philip. We have made an effort in the past to avoid shopping and do only the necessary housework (mostly cooking and kitchen clean-up) on Sundays, so we didn’t have too many radical adjustments to make, but there was definitely room for improvement.
Lisa gave me a very fun and very easy way to set Sundays apart: a special baked treat! Instead of having dessert all week long, Lisa is making it a goal to limit sweets for her family during the week and baking something special for Sundays. We took that idea and ran with it! Our inaugural special dessert was a delicious apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.
Baker Walt mixing the ingredients for the crumble
Baker Jane slicing the apples under Dad’s supervision
Adding on the crumble
Apple crisp (crumble doubled and a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, of course!)
I love the idea of setting Sundays apart with special desserts. I think it will take us awhile to cut back on the desserts the rest of the week, but we can definitely make a very special dessert for Sundays.
We’re still thinking and praying about what we want Sundays to look like in this family. There are plenty of ways our Sundays could look different when we think about escaping from or at least limiting the things we feel enslaved by. What are you feeling enslaved by? Screens? Sports? Social media? The phone? Social commitments? Family commitments? Housework? Exercise? How can you make Sunday a “day of protest” for you and your family? Would the outside world know you are a Christian by the way you are living your Sundays?
