Sunday? Sabbath? Day of Rest?

What gets said in the Sacrament of Reconciliation / Confession is not public information. However, since this is my own experience, I think I'm on solid ground.

Some years ago, while in the confessional, I brought up a point that had bothered me. I was concerned that I was guilty of sloth. I was acutely aware of the degree to which I was not working with high efficiency for my employer.

Turns out, I didn't have much to worry about. The priest, who had served in a couple of countries, said that he'd never encountered an American who had a problem with "sloth" in that secular sense.

We've got our troubles, as a culture, but lack of productivity isn't one of them. Sloth is "A culpable lack of physical or spiritual effort; acedia or laziness. One of the capital sins (1866, 2094, 2733)."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church - Glossary)

A Day of Rest? I Can't Work?!

This is probably true in other cultures, too: but in the northern Midwest, where I was born and now live, quite a few people need to be told to stop working. Like on Sunday.

What's all this 'Sunday' and 'Sabbath' Thing?

Sabbath:

"he Sabbath or seventh "day," on which God rested after the work of the "six days" of creation was completed, as recounted in the opening narrative of the Bible. Creation is thus ordered to the Sabbath, the day to be kept holy to the praise and worship of God. Just as the seventh day or Sabbath completes the first creation, so the "eighth day," Sunday, the day of the week on which Jesus rose from the dead, is celebrated as the "holy day" by Christians--the day on which the "new creation" began (345-349). Thus the Christian observance of Sunday fulfills the commandment to remember and keep holy the Sabbath day (2175)." Catechism of the Catholic Church - Glossary)

There's more. There always seems to be more.

"Just as God 'rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done,' human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord's Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives."
(2184)

There's quite a bit about the Sabbath in the Bible, too: Genesis 2:2, Exodus 20:11, Exodus 31:15: and Deuteronomy 5:15, for starters)

Since it's Sunday, I'll leave it at that, and get on with cultivating my "familial, cultural, social, and religious" life. What's my excuse for writing this post on Sunday? First, I enjoy writing, so this isn't 'work,' it's 'fun.' Second, more seriously, I figure that researching and writing this has been putting in time on cultural and religious aspects of my life.

And, I've already been to Mass.

Which is another topic.