When God called Israel out of slavery in Egypt, he announced to Pharaoh that he wanted his people to be free to celebrate a festival in the wilderness. As his people groaned in their unending labor, God intervened in order to bring them into his rest. This is his plan for all his people, to draw us into the fulfillment of his divine life, which will fulfill all of our desires and bring rest into our hearts.

God also holds this prospect of joyful rest and peace out to us in our Exodus journey. When you started last week, you likely felt busy, anxious, frenetic, and distracted. You are not alone: it’s one of the great plagues of our time. Perhaps even Exodus 90, with all of its requirements, just felt like more things to add to an already jam-packed schedule.

But, if you are like most Exodus men, and to your own surprise, the first week has been simplifying. Life is starting to slow down. Perhaps you are finding that you have more time than you realized.

Hopefully, we feel this in a particular way today on Sunday, which is the Lord’s Day, the day of the week that God wants to be dedicated to him through prayer and leisure. Every Sunday of the year is a little Easter on which we remember and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. We relax a discipline each Sunday to remind us of how much God loves us, and in anticipation for the joy of the Easter season, towards which we are journeying during our Exodus.

Each Sunday and solemn feast day, we are called into the rest of the Lord by practicing holy leisure. Leisure is so much more than inactivity or recreation. According to Josef Pieper, it enables us to take the time for the highest activities, those that fulfill our nature most deeply by opening us up to contemplation. Examples of leisure include reading and conversation that leads us into the truth, celebration of feasts, the enjoyment of the arts, and refreshment in nature. And the highest form of leisure is the worship of God in Christian community, specifically at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

You see, our culture has it backward. We do not rest on Sundays in order to be more productive in our work the following week. It’s exactly the opposite: we work during the week so that we may rest on Sundays. Sundays, not Mondays, are the beginning of the week in a Christian vision.

Consider how you can embrace genuine leisure with your family and friends today and every Sunday. Go on a hike, have a bonfire, host a meal, play games, read, write, draw, paint, or play music that lifts your soul to God. Get to know your neighbors or the families of the men of your fraternity. Serve your parish or the poor in your local community. For married men, get to holy work on that thing in your household that your spouse has been asking you to do for forever. Also, consider letting her decide which discipline she would like you to relax.

There are other important feast days coming up that we will observe together to enrich our journey to freedom. Your weekly meeting guides will call out and remind you of these feast days so that you can celebrate them with intentionality.

The Cross leads to life. We fast so that we can feast. Because we have prepared well during this Exodus, we will be able to enter into the joy of the Resurrection during the Easter Season better than ever before. Our Easter Challenge, called Easter 50, is designed to support your celebration for the full 50 days of the Easter Season.