United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

Chapter 27. Third Commandment: Love the Lord’s Day • 367

that all the faithful should be convinced that they cannot live their faith or share fully in the life of the Christian community unless they take part regularly in the Sunday Eucharistic assem bly. (DD, nos. 49, 81) For a Catholic, the Sunday Eucharist must be the most important religious exercise of the week. In it, we offer our lives in sacrifice with Jesus to the Father, thereby participating directly in the great mysteries of our faith. The Catholic parish, shepherded by the priest under the authority of the diocesan bishop, is the ordinary setting for Sunday worship and is central to the preparation for and celebration of all the Sacraments. While Sunday is the time for worship, it is also an occasion for rest and relaxation. We should make time to be with one another in meals, conversation and activities that deepen family life. “Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hin der them from observing the Lord’s Day. Traditional activities (sports, restaurants, etc.), and social necessities (public services, etc.), require some people to work on Sundays, but everyone should still take care to set aside sufficient time for leisure” (CCC, no. 2187; cf. no. 2186). The Eucharistic celebration does not stop at the church door. Those who participate at Mass carry their joy, faith, and concern for others from the Mass into the rest of the day, and indeed into the week that follows. RESTORE SUNDAY After the Christian religion obtained its freedom under the Roman emperor Constantine in the fourth century, civil laws were passed to limit unnecessary work on Sunday. The greatest beneficiaries were the poor who otherwise worked long hours every day of the week. Centuries later, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, sweatshops were estab lished in large cities where men, women, and children worked fifteen hours a day, often on Sundays. Today in some places in our country, those seven-day sweatshops have returned. This is both an injustice to the poor and also an abuse of Sunday rest, and we need to find ways to correct this. “God’s action