“Do not let your  
Sundays be taken  
from you.”   
Albert Schweitzer

Today is the second Sunday of 2026. As I mentioned last week, one of my goals for the new year is to reclaim Sundays as a sacred day. There are a variety of definitions for the word “sacred” in the dictionary:

1. Devoted or dedicated to some religious purpose;
2. Entitled to veneration;
3. Pertaining to religion;
4. Reverently dedicated to some person, purpose, or object;
5. Regarded with reverence.
6. Secured against violation or infringement;
7. Properly immune from interference:
8. Worthy or regarded with respect.

So what do I mean when I say that I want Sundays to be sacred for me? Well, there are many ways I can do this which encompass several of these definitions.

Growing up in a Catholic family, Sundays meant going to Mass. After high school, as is so common with graduates who move out of their parents’ home to attend college, I got in the habit of not attending Sunday Mass for a while. When I did go to church, it was usually because the Sunday night Mass at Santa Clara University was as much a social event as a spiritual one. 

Throughout my life, even though I attended Mass more often than not, there were a few periods when Mass attendance was rare for me. Then I found myself working for the Catholic Church, and attendance at Sunday Mass was part of my job. Was it a sacred experience? Honestly, most of the time, it was work.

By 2013, I had become so disillusioned with the Church, especially at the local level, that I stopped going to Mass altogether. So how does one make Sunday sacred if not attending church services?

Making Sundays different than the other six days of the week is a good starting point. Beginning this year, I’m not writing on Sundays. (I’m writing this blog article on Saturday night). I’m going to engage in self-care more often on Sundays. This will include taking walks, reading, visiting with friends, spending time with family, or doing anything else that does not involve my laptop or my cell phone. In fact, there’s no reason for me to have my cell phone with me at all on Sundays.

I can also make an extra effort to look for opportunities to be kind to people. This is something I try to do every day, but I could be even more attentive to these opportunities on Sundays.

Most important of all, I can spend more time than I usually do reflecting on the people, things, events, opportunities, and memories for which I have to be grateful. For me, this is best done setting aside periods of solitude. Whether I go to a park, Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, the beach, Lake Vasona in Los Gatos, or to a coffee shop in a neighborhood where it is unlikely that I’ll run into anyone I know, immersing myself in solitude enables me to better focus on the many blessings in my life.

In 2026, my commitment to myself is to conscientiously do everything within my power to embrace the words of Albert Schweitzer and minimize the possibility of anyone taking my Sunday away from me.