Fr Bob Writes – March 4, 2018

Fr Denny Dempsey provides a great reflection on this Sunday’s first reading from the book of Exodus

“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.”  Many years ago, I was blessed to be in Jerusalem where, on a Sabbath evening, I spent a couple of hours walking through the Orthodox neighbourhood of Meah Shearim.  The streets into the neighbourhood were barricaded.  No cars would move in Meah Shearim until the Sabbath was over.  It was a warm evening and the windows of the houses were open; no radios, TVs, or other electronic devices could be heard…just the sounds of families eating, conversing , singing and praying in house after house.

I recall Jesus’ words (Mark 2:27):  “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”  What a blessing for those families to spend such quality time together for a full day every week.  The Sabbath rest was an amazing proclamation of workers’ rights.  No other society of its day gave everyone, down to the lowest employees and slaves, a mandatory day off each week and an opportunity to remember that whatever we achieve through our own efforts is secondary to the saving word of God.”

How will you be spending the Christian Sabbath this week?