"The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.
He who wants to enter the holiness of the day must first lay down the profanity of clattering commerce, of being yoked to toil. He must go away from the screech of dissonant days, from the nervousness and fury of acquisitiveness and the betrayal in embezzling his own life. He must say farewell to manual work and learn to understand that the world has already been created and will survive without the help of man. Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in the soul. The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else. Six days a week we seek to dominate the world, on the seventh day we try to dominate the self."
- The Sabbath, by Abraham Joshua Heschel
This is so difficult to do! Until just a few years ago our shops were all closed on Sundays and so if we found we were lacking something we just had to go without. Now, of course we can do anything we like whenever we like! I try to keep Sunday a special day but it isn't always possible. We have friends who do no work on Sundays - well, he doesn't but she has to prepare meals etc. They also drive to church because if they didn't they wouldn't be able to get there. :D
ReplyDeleteYes, it is hard. But I think it's very important to at least understand the concept, and to see the Sabbath for what it really is. Just knowing it is a first step, it seems to me. :)
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