A Sabbath day stop.
Planning your sabbatical observance: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath. Make it a SPREE!
S-top —Cease all work and thinking about working. This is the hardest part of observing the Lord’s Day.
P-ray — Open your heart in adoration and thanksgiving. Participate in the Eucharist with the Christian community.
R-est — relax in a chair/ sleep-in/ take a nap/ a leisurely walk ( sabbath-day’s journey) in a beautiful park. Above all, if possible, don’t work! Don’t even plan your work week on the Lord’s Day.
E-njoy — Enjoy the Lord’s day with a family dinner/ wonderful music –make it yourself or listen to it.
E-mbrace — Talk to your spouse. Be with your kids. Visit and share with your friends. Get in touch with strangers.
To be holy means to be aware of the presence of God. He is within.
The first letters of the six characteristics of our sabbath spells the English word SPREE — a happy jaunt, a period of happy abandonment, a pursuit of happiness. This is what our Sundays should express as we commemorate the Lord’s Resurrection.
Catholics obey the commandment to keep holy the sabbath, even if, for us, that day is Sunday, not Saturday. We owe that change to the early Christians who met on the Lord’s Day each week. Since Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Sunday became our sabbath. We rest and keep the Lord’ Day holy like observant Jews keep the sabbath.