Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Feast of Pope Saint Leo the Great
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
This week in our Year of the Family, I have three words for you: Keep Sunday Special.
Bishop Boyea's Year of the Family | Week Ten | Keeping Sunday Special
Once, I told my father that I was going on retreat and he replied, “You are always going on retreat, don’t you ever advance?” Well, how do you respond to that? And yet, pulling away from the distractions of the world for even a brief time gives one the strength to move ahead. That is one of the purposes of fully embracing Sunday as the Lord’s Day.
Now, clearly worshiping the Father at Sunday Mass is not a retreat but rather an energizing of who we are as Catholics, as a Church. But, let us speak of the rest of the day. We Christians believe that Sunday, the day of Christ’s Resurrection, has replaced the Sabbath of the Old Testament. Thus, there should be a good amount of “rest.” This may actually mean “sleep” for very busy people; but it should mean that we engage in more interaction with our family, of course, in a restful or regenerative way.
I am often on the road on Sundays, but I really do try to buy my gas on Saturday or Monday so as not to support the consumerism that remains rampant on Sundays. Many of our Catholic schools have tried to eliminate sports contests on Sunday but this has been a tough battle. We cannot expect our government or our broader society to support us in this effort. It must remain a challenge for each person and family to seek a bit of “retreat” on Sundays.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound . . . to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord's Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body." (CCC 2185)
But what does that look like in practice? One family who contacted me to say they have been trying to keep Sunday special is the LaFave of Saint Thomas the Apostle parish in Ann Arbor. That’s dad Aerik, mom Sarah, and their eight children. Watch the film at the foot of this page to hear what they have to say.
Thank you to the LaFave family for volunteering to share their Sunday experiences with the rest of us. Inspired by them, let’s set ourselves a challenge for the week: Sit down as a family and read aloud the section in the Catechism of the Catholic Church on Sunday as the Lord’s Day. It’s not very long, only five paragraphs. Then pray, ponder, and discuss how your family can better dedicate Sunday to divine worship, adequate rest, and the cultivation of familial, cultural, and social life.
May God bless you in your discernment. Until next week, may God bless you all.
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing