The recently published book, “Pope Francis: His Life and His Own Words,” documents the interviews Pope Francis had with two Argentinian journalists while he was still Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. One of the journalists asked him, “Do we need to rediscover the meaning of leisure?” Pope Francis replied: “Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. But this is being destroyed, in large part, by the elimination of the Sabbath rest day. More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.” The pope concluded that in these cases, “work ends up dehumanizing people.”
It seems that in our fast-paced world we need more than ever to recover Sunday as a Sabbath day — a day of worship, leisure, rest, and family time. Two of my favorites among the memorable statements Pope Francis has made so far are that encouragement to relax more and his observation that sourpusses hurt the church’s witness and mission (Homily, May 10). I know that when I do not have enough leisure time I become a sourpuss. So as the summer begins I pledge to take more leisure time, have lots more fun, and spend more time with family and friends.
Sr. Terry is the Executive Director of RENEW International and a Dominican Sister from Blauvelt, NY.