Ask the Experts: How Does Your Family Keep the Lord’s Day Holy?

Do Your Very Best…

Keeping Sunday holy is one of my personal greatest challenges. I have the best of intentions each week, and then Saturday evening comes and I didn’t get to the grocery store, or the house is a disaster, or the kids need help editing a paper.

I have friends who won’t even cause someone ELSE to work on Sunday- no Amazon deliveries, no groceries, no eating out. On the other hand, society treats it as just another day. Neither of these options works for me. So what does?

Start with Mass. Everything flows from here.

We try to have a family day. We might have a family meeting to touch base about the week ahead, plan a fun activity, and have a meal together.

My husband and I have volunteered as RE teachers on Sundays, and the teens’ youth group meets on Sunday evenings. These gatherings and planning them into the schedule help our family remember what day it is.

Carve out some time for something holy, maybe get to Mass 15 minutes early or stay 15 minutes afterwards.

Carve out time for me– a walk, a game night with my husband, or even luxury of all luxuries: a nap!

At the end of the day, we still have families who need to eat, clothes that need to be washed, and children who need to be nurtured. Do your very best and leave the rest to God.

As Our Lord said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27)

Kristen Brown, Virginia

Rest, Recharge, and Reconnect

Our Sundays didn’t always look the same while homeschooling. At times, our Sundays were affected by the need to work. So, we learned to be intentional in our pursuit of fulfilling God’s command to keep His day holy.

Attending Mass as a family was a priority for us. Therefore, we attended together on Saturday evenings during the years that employment made Sunday morning attendance impossible.

While worship with a large brood of children poses challenges, we found that attending as a family ultimately offered us the extra hands we needed (to remove a fussy little one) and the example of right behavior (sibling to sibling).

When we bought a restaurant, we decided to close our doors on Sundays. It was a family-owned and operated venture, so we all needed time to rest and worship. It was a leap of faith, but one that God honored.

Obviously, not every business can shut its doors on Sundays, but ours did.

Whether we were able to avoid employment duties or not on Sundays, we always directed our best efforts toward spending time together and keeping the worship of God as our priority.

We scheduled dinner parties, family outings, and other fun events for many Sunday afternoons. In doing so, we (hopefully) taught our children that God’s commandment is less about an obligation and more about a blessing.

Keeping our Sundays holy meant carving out time to rest, recharge, and reconnect as a family, inside of church and out.

Tara Brelinsky, North Carolina

Keeping it Simple…

Our family has always lived a simple life in how we keep the Lord’s Day holy. First of all, and most importantly, we always go to Mass. Some of my kids have participated in Sunday Youth Group at our parish.

I use Saturday as my preparation day. I prefer we do the weekly household chores, shopping, errands, and unfinished school assignments on Saturday, so we aren’t doing them on Sunday. In past years, we always had Sunday Night Dinner with my extended family, though we now do it more sporadically.

A big factor that plays into how we keep Sunday holy is that we do not have our kids in organized sports. We made a decision not to let a sports schedule dictate our family life, especially on a Sunday.

Our family prefers to rest, spend time with family members, enjoy a special meal, and prepare spiritually for the coming week.

Susan Brock – North Carolina