Friday, September 19, 2025
Feast of Saint Januarius
My sisters and brothers in the Lord,
Welcome to week thirty-eight of BMW, Be My Witnesses. As a follow-up to last week’s prayer on how we might better “rest” on Sundays, today let us engage in a bit of learning about how Sunday is a taste of heaven.
Learn: Sunday as Anticipation of Heaven
Sunday is not just a time to rejuvenate. Rather, it actually is a participation in Heaven. My favorite book of the Bible is the Book of Revelation. Near the beginning of the book, John writes: “I was caught up in the spirit on the Lord’s day” (1:10). From this initial vision flow all the earthly and heavenly visions which John conveys to us.
Pope Saint John Paul II issued an Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini, on May 31, 1998, in which he thoroughly discussed Sunday. He wanted us to “see the heavens” every Sunday (#4). This meant that we should understand Sunday as a memorial of the first day of the week, that is, the day of the beginning of creation, but also the eighth day, embracing the end of everything. “Sunday is the ceaseless foretelling of life without end which renews the hope of Christians and encourages them on their way” (#26).
It is in this sense that Sunday is a day of hope. It removes us from the limits of time and space: “Springing from the Resurrection, it cuts through human time, the months, the years, the centuries, like a directional arrow which points them towards their target: Christ's Second Coming. Sunday foreshadows the last day, the day of the Parousia, which in a way is already anticipated by Christ's glory in the event of the Resurrection…. Christians know that there is no need to wait for another time of salvation, since, however long the world may last, they are already living in the last times. Not only the Church, but the cosmos itself and history are ceaselessly ruled and governed by the glorified Christ…. Mankind can have only a faint intuition of this process, but Christians have the key and the certainty. Keeping Sunday holy is the important witness which they are called to bear, so that every stage of human history will be upheld by hope” (#75).
Thus, according to the saintly pope, Sunday, as the eighth day, places us out of time, beyond the seven days of creation. To engage in Sunday, as the Lord’s Day, is already to participate in eternal life, the age to come.
This brings us back to the Book of Revelation. We are invited each Sunday to participate even now in the wedding day of the Lamb (19:7), when “The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb” (21:23).
My Challenge
For our challenge this week, I invite you to read chapters 19 to 22 of the Book of Revelation with your small group. There may be some confusing elements in these chapters, but focus on the victory of the Lamb and the glory we share each and every Sunday.
Until next week, may God Bless you.
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
P.S. Here is a video version of this week's Be My Witnesses. Please do share with friends and family. Thank you.