Working on Sundays

[Darran]

Originally Posted by thistle

So you are saying that Catholics who are police, firemen, doctors etc should not be working on Sundays???????

Did I mention the words "legitimate reason"? Or is the sole purpose of the internet to read words that aren't there just because it conflicts with some kind of leniency inside you?

Originally Posted by Mrs Sally

This is NOT what the Church teaches. Please do not add an unnecessary burden. This is the OP's job

Give it a rest (literally), you don't know the full situation of the OP either to condemn me.

Fire away.

Pay special attention to:
"On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound . . . to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord's Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body"

and:

"Those Christians who have leisure should be mindful of their brethren who have the same needs and the same rights, yet cannot rest from work because of poverty and misery."

I don't know why I bother comming on these forums, you are the most faint Catholics I've ever heard of. I'm not going to debate with lukewarmity, this is a Catholic forum.

To you though, Hailholyqueen, you find it conflicts with your conscience enough to ask for enlightenment regarding it, and that is a very good thing. A lot of people suppress their conscience because it suits them and a nerve is hit when they hear the truth. Instead you want to be sure that you are respecting the Sunday rest, and good for you. Again, we must put the Lord above everything, also our careers. If you have a genuine reason for working on Sunday that you can't avoid under any circumstances, then you are fine. Otherwise, respect is owed to God who was Good enough to make us in the first place, and the Sunday rest becomes even more valuable to us in our souls than it does from any amount of money that can be earned.

Leniency on the otherhand is like a slippy slope, it only leads downhill, sometimes even inconspicuously at first, but the further down a person gets the harder it is to get back up.

Pax vobiscum.

[Baelor]

Originally Posted by Darran

Pay special attention to:
"On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound . . . to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord's Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body"

Someone working part-time, or even full-time, if necessary, on Sundays may still be able to reserve the rest of the day or relaxation, due worship, and joy. I fail to see where the Church calls for no work whatsoever.

[MissRose73]

I am another person who is required to work on Sundays as part of my job. Due to the schedule where I have to work both Saturday and Sunday, I can go only to Saturday evening Mass instead of Sunday morning. I just try to do little if any other types of work & shopping on Sundays to honor the day unless its a true necessity.

Hopefully in the future, I will be able to have both Saturdays and Sundays off so I can choose to go to my choice of Masses as I would love to be able to go to EF Masses more often but they are rarely on Saturday evenings close by to me.

[Mrs Sally]

"Those Christians who have leisure should be mindful of their brethren who have the same needs and the same rights, yet cannot rest from work because of poverty and misery."

This is an excellent quote that points to the fact that those with lower-paid, lower-prestige jobs are also working legimately on Sunday. So it isn't just those who are medical professionals or running the electricity plants. Someone working at a resturant or in other retail, may indeed be staving off "povertty and misery" - ie being unemployed - by continuing to work at a job that includes Sunday hours.

[bscastro]

Originally Posted by Mrs Sally

This is NOT what the Church teaches. Please do not add an unnecessary burden. This is the OP's job - not loose change.

It is certainly possible to ask another person to swap shitfs or request to have as many Sunday's off as possible, but the OP does not need to quit her job or jeperdize it by demanding more days off than possible. A job that starts at 4pm gives her quite a bit of the day free.

Remember, we are not puritans. No one is required to sit quietly at home reading only the Bible and doing absolutely no work on a Sunday.

I agree with this. I think the difference is having to work Sunday's as an obligation of one's job in which case, in which case I still think one can keep the day Holy perhaps by offering their work in good faith to God, which we should do on a daily basis.

I do think it is wrong for people to purposefully TRY to work on Sunday out of greed - e.g. Let me try to get some overtime on Sunday so I can make more money!

In any case, I hope the OP doesn't worry too much about it.

God bless,
Bryan