Friday of Week 17 – Lev 23:1,4-11,15-16,27,34-37; Matthew 13:54-58

On a Saturday evening, my uncle would check to see if his shoes were polished. Because you have to go to Mass in your best clothes, and on Sunday there is no need to do what you can do on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon, the farmer went to the meadow for grass. To do only what is absolutely necessary on Sunday. Man and beast are to celebrate.

Why a holy days of God?

We probably need them more than God. So that we don’t lose ourselves in the pursuit of what is material, do not become the property of what we have, discover a different, fuller dimension of life.

They are also needed for us to prepare for another, greater than on earth festival. As Brother Roger of Taize used to say: without beginning or end. When only He will be important and nothing else will have the right to disturb it.

What for? The holy day, like the patron of today, Jean Maria Vianney, shows us the way. To heaven.