Sunday Rest and Gone Blue Laws by Fr. Joseph Evinger
This past Tuesday while driving through Dickinson I saw the “Cherries” sign on highway 22 right north of the interstate. I pulled in to see if the cherries were any good. They were. As I ate one, the lady selling cherries enquired if she could ask me a “political question”. I responded, “Sure.” “What are your thoughts on North Dakota removing the blue laws?” she said.
Earlier that day I had read the article from the
Bismarck Tribune: “Closing hour comes for North Dakota ‘blue laws.’” My brief response to the lady consisted of saying that at first it won’t change much for North Dakota folks, but over time it is going to hurt the less fortunate the most. “How so?” she asked. I told her that “most employers will make their workers work on Sunday while they take the day or weekend off.” That’s when the gentleman selling peaches at the table next to hers chimed in and preceded to tell me that his wife, though not a Christian, likes to keep Sunday as a family day. “Even when it comes to cooking. She’ll cook more food the day before so that we don’t have to work as much Sunday. That way it can be family time.”
The Catechism states: “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.” (Catechism, 2193)
When Christians respond to God’s call to holiness, to his call to enter into friendship, we become filled with joy. As our selfish desires wash away we are inclined to keep our Lord in the center of our lives and to serve Him in our neighbor. This can only be done through resting from our labors and business concerns. We need rest. We need time for recollection. We need time for leisure. Then our minds will more easily be lifted up to God and the things of Him.
We must also keep in mind the obligation to allow others to rest, especially our children and employees. This includes abstinence from shopping on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
After a few more sentences were exchanged at the cherry and peach tables, I left with a bag of each. As I drove back to Killdeer I contemplated the conversation more: how is it that a non-Christian understands the need for rest on Sunday better than most Christians? Now I don’t understand their whole situation, but his wife desires the need within all of us for rest and leisure. The Lord commands us especially to do this on Sundays.