"Acclaim the Lord, all the earth; play in honor of his name, sing hymns to his glory," we read in the Entrance Antiphon. The precept to sanctify feast days also responds to the **need to offer public worship to God**, and not only in a private manner. Some attempt to relegate one's relationship with God to the realm of conscience, as if it should not necessarily have external manifestations. However, man has the **duty and the right** to render external and public worship to God; it would be a grave injury if Christians were forced to hide in order to practice their faith and worship God, which is their primary right and their primary duty.
Sunday and the feast days determined by the Church are, above all, **days for God** and days especially favorable for seeking and finding Him. "*Quaerite Dominum*. We can never stop seeking Him: nevertheless, there are periods that require doing so with more intensity, because in them the Lord is especially near, and therefore it is easier to find Him and encounter Him. This closeness constitutes the Lord’s response to the invocation of the Church, which is expressed continually through the liturgy. Moreover, it is precisely the liturgy that makes the Lord’s presence present and active."
Feast days are of great importance in helping Christians better receive the action of grace. On those days, it is also required that the believer **interrupt their work** to be able to better dedicate themselves to the Lord. But there is no feast without celebration, for it is not enough to leave work to make a feast; nor is there a Christian feast without believers gathering to give thanks, praise the Lord, remember His works, and so on. Therefore, it would indicate little Christian sense to plan Sunday, the feast day, or the weekend in a way that makes that relationship with God impossible or very difficult. It happens to some lukewarm Christians that they end up thinking they have no time to attend **Holy Mass**, or they do so hastily, like someone freeing themselves from a bothersome obligation.
Rest is not only an opportunity to recover strength, but it is also a **sign and anticipation of the definitive rest** in the feast of Heaven. For this reason, the Church wishes to celebrate her feasts including rest from work, to which, on the other hand, the Christian faithful have a right as citizens equal to others; a right that the State must guarantee and protect.
Festive rest should not be interpreted or lived as simply doing nothing—a waste of time—but as **positive occupation and personal enrichment** in other tasks. There are many ways to rest, and it is not advisable to settle for the easiest one, which often is not what rests us best. If we know how to limit, for example, the use of television even on feast days, we will not repeat the false excuse that "we don't have time" so often. On the contrary, we will see that on those days we can spend more time with the family, attend to the education of children, cultivate social interactions and friendships, visit people in need, or those who are alone or sick, etc. It is perhaps the occasion we were looking for to be able to converse at length with a friend; or the moment for a father or mother to speak alone with the child who needs it most and to listen.
In general, one must "...know how to have the whole day held by an **elastic schedule**, in which the main time—besides the daily norms of piety—does not lack proper rest, family conversation, reading, time dedicated to a hobby of art, literature, or another noble distraction: filling the hours with a useful task, doing things as well as possible, living the small details of order, punctuality, and good humor."
HCD