As we celebrate this 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we also share in our nation’s celebration of the federal Labor Day holiday.

     When I was (much!) younger, federal holidays were a fairly consistent reality. They presented the communities of our nation a time to rest, to reflect, and to celebrate some aspect of who we are, some moment in our history that contributed to the process by which we have become who we are. They were today’s, secular version of the Church’s Holy Days of Obligation, instituted so people could rest, reflect and celebrate, including worship. Those who controlled the mechanisms of power were obligated to give everyone the same liberty of leisure they enjoyed at the pinnacle of power. Holy Days required something that was good for everyone, not just for “those at the top.” Of course, our pluralistic society is not one in which the powerful are going to respect a Church-defined obligation, and so such days are no longer what they once were, and the means by which to celebrate them is addressed differently from place to place.

     As a nation, even our federal holidays mean some things across the board, beginning with sales fliers for weeks before, but not other things. I remember when essential workers in our communities on holidays were only at the hospitals and police and fire departments. It was a time when decision makers chose to or felt bound to put the health and well being not only of their workers but their workers’ families and the whole community ahead of the goals shouted so loudly by the glossy fliers stuffed into my newspaper.

     I accept that these changes have occurred over time; that Labor Day limps in AFTER our young people return to school; that secular holidays do not rate the full support of elements or our national community; that sports on Sunday morning, like selling pretty much anything on a holiday, trump faith’s vision of who we are. But, Faith, Hope, and Love endure, and the greatest of these is Love.”