THE IDEA OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT OF CELEBRATION OF SUNDAY
FR. BOGUSŁAW DRÓŻDŻ
All Christians, especially Poles, remember the Roman celebration of proclaiming John Paul II as the Blessed. This ecclesiastical event brought a joy, definitely shared among the inhabitants of our diocese, mentioning the memorable visit of the Holy Father in Legnica on 2 June 1997. At that moment the Pope, quoting the words of Stanislaw Wyspiański, was appealing: ‘A ‘great action and great work’ are needed’ so that the contemporary culture would open to holiness, care for human dignity and learn to exist with beauty’.
Among many pastoral and apostolic initiatives, which are being updated in the diocese of Legnica, the above-mentioned words of the Pope should be referred to the recently-created Social Movement of Celebration of Sunday. It was just this movement which, inscribing itself in the necessity of proclaiming the Gospel, was reading the apostolic letter ‘Dies Domini’ about the celebration of Sunday. The Social Movement of Celebration of Sunday gathers representatives of different communities, who are engaged in implementing the message of John Paul II from this letter in the social and cultural life. The participants of this undertaking are secular and clerical Catholics and social institutions. The panorama of the participants is completed by the diocese Catholic associations and various pastoral groups, and first of all, labour associations of solidarity and social and media institutions.
The main purpose of the Social Movement of Celebration of Sunday is awaking human awareness and strengthening this holiness in the culture of our life, whose only source is Holy God. It is not possible without discovery of the holiness of Sunday anew. Don’t the words of the very God sound in the minds and hearts of the Christians: Remember to celebrate the Holy Day!’ and the words of His Holy Church: ‘On Sundays and holy days it is an obligation to participate in the Holy Mass and refrain from unnecessary work’?
Let’s notice that our new Blessed Pope, being an intercessor of the cultural pluralism, in his apostolic message he reminds us about unquestionable basic values, without which no community has a future. These basic values are rooted mainly in the nation and are its identity: which is unusual and wise through experiences, as well as devoted to lasting in time. These basic values are somehow yeasts of a still continued family and national identity. Thanks to them every man, marriage, family and nation get rich, that is, they grow, especially spiritually and morally, through enlarging the heritage from generation to generation. Through listening to the Pope’s teaching, we discover these basic values quite easily, which are especially important to all of us, for our whole diocese. Among them there is a wonderful value of the whole Catholicism with centrism of Christ and Mariology, which is not possible to cultivate or develop without the Holy Mass. It is just this spirit of Christianity, still flared up by the fact of proper celebrating Lord’s Day, which is a help the contemporary man wisely recognizes the value of human dignity and the law of natural order which how harmoniously emphasizes the beauty of the created world. Holy experiencing of Sunday, creating the space of needed and worthy rest, teaches us mainly the respect to the human work, which finds the decoding in the words of John Paul II pronounced in Legnica: ‘We mustn’t forget – and I want to emphasize it – that work is ‘for a man’ and not a man ‘for work’’. Celebration of Sunday also arranges the whole sphere of human freedom, according to the wise rule, proclaiming that ‘if God is in the first place, then everything is in their proper place’. And from here it is near to other basic values around which the whole social life should be created. Let’s mention here especially justice and solidarity which form the social order in the most fully way. The Social Movement of Celebration of Sunday developing more and more wants to form the public opinion, promoting the values and attitudes of the Christian style of life. In its ideological intention this Movement is going to emphasize the fact that the personally experienced faith has also its public dimension, which for the religious freedom, not only cannot be limited, but in contrary – it should be promoted. For, human happiness lies in God, as well as the sense of the whole order, which people build with their devoting love and creating – in human possibilities – cultural and social works.
More about the Social Movement of Celebration of Sunday on: www.swietowanieniedzieli.pl
Sunday Catholic Decalogue
1. Think about God and eternity.
2. Attend Mass. and take care of common prayer.
3. Have time with family and friends.
4. Devote time for relax in natural surroundings.
5. Remember to read the Bible and religious literature.
6. Find time for family conversation.
7. Remember about the sick and lonely.
8. Visit the graves of the dead.
9. Think about festive meal at the family table.
10. Emphasize a holy day through a festive attire
(AA)
"Niedziela" 12/2012