What is more? What is essential?

A person endowed with reason and free will must often make choices and solve the complex questions of life. He must frequently decide on the spot and without consultation, and therefore it is essential to know the scale of values of life. He must say to himself: this is paramount, I will do afterward, and that will be next. He must know what is most useful at the moment for the salvation of his soul.

Many saints in their lives have helped themselves by asking: What will it profit me for eternity? Then only began with the most essential, though in similar situations, the basic was what they now put on the second step.

The Pharisees also addressed Jesus, “See, why do they do what is not lawful?” (Mk. 2:24). What was the point? On the Sabbath, the disciples were plucking ears of grain and eating them on their way through the field. Do you wonder why such a strange remark? And why such a given explanation of the Lord Jesus? The Jews received the Law from Moses, in which the Lord says: “You shall keep the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath (that is, rest) to the Lord thy God: then shalt thou do no work, thou, nor thy son… Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a mighty right hand… therefore the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.” (Deut. 5:12-15).

It was a revolutionary act when Moses instituted the keeping of the Sabbath. Social gain, rest. In a slave society, only work reigned without rest. But God did not establish the Sabbath just for rest, but to use it for His celebration. That he might have time to think on his soul, to occupy himself with other things than the daily struggle, to realize that he belongs to God, it was to serve for self-enlightenment. In time, however, this Law of Moses came to be misunderstood, especially by the poor interpretation of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law. Nonsensical regulations, prohibitions, permissions… For example, they were not allowed to prepare food on the Sabbath, and today we see from the Gospel that even to tear off a piece of wheat and eat the soft grains was considered to work and therefore a violation of the Law. It was not lawful to walk a thousand paces from one’s home on the Sabbath, to build a fire on that day. And so, God’s law became a scourge, which was not God’s original intention. It became a burden to the people. It made God into a tyrant who seemed to delight in tormenting people with a thousand petty prohibitions.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains what the Sabbath is all about: “The Sabbath was instituted for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mk 2:27). Jesus points to the original meaning of the dedication of the Sabbath. He wants man to devote himself to the love of God and neighbor. From the beginning, Christians understood the teaching of Christ and began to celebrate Sunday, the day of the Resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, as a feast day. The essence of Sunday is to rest from work, glorify God by attending Holy Mass, spend the day in the circle of loved ones, and show love when the week’s obligations often prevent it.

Many chores cannot be postponed or interrupted, so some work exceptionally on Sundays. These are works that are also justified in God’s sight. But when a man does not consciously and voluntarily consecrate Sunday, he transgresses the command of God. Yes, leisure time should be used for rest. However, let us be careful to attend Mass on Sunday, even on vacation, while in an unfamiliar place. There, too, we are to witness that we believe Christians. It is not a sin if one is in hospital and does not have the opportunity. For the law binds only when one can fulfill it. This is not to be compared to those who voluntarily sleep in after a party they have been to in the morning and do not go to Mass. With them, it is a sin. …He goes for a walk in the range, goes fishing, and goes for sport. In cases of necessity, we can use the Saturday evening Mass for Sunday.

Let us, therefore, give to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Whenever we have to decide in serious matters what is paramount, what I must do first, let us adhere to the well-established motto of the saints, What shall it profit me for the salvation of my soul?