Scheduling Examination on Sundays
Sir,
It has become customary
for the Jammu and Kashmir School Board of Education and
the University of Kashmir to schedule examinations on
Sundays avoiding the same as far as possible on Fridays.
Whatever may be the idea underlying such a venture on the
part of the concerned authorities the fact remains that
Jammu and Kashmir State has in it Christian population as
well to whom Sunday is a day of prayer as Friday is to
the Muslim populace of the State.
The Lord's Day--as Sunday
was called from Apostolic times -- has always been
accorded special attention in the history of the Church
because of its close connection with the very core of the
Christian mystery. In fact, in the weekly reckoning of
time Sunday recalls the day of Christ's Resurrection. It
is Easter which returns week by week celebrating Christ's
victory over Sin and death fulfilment in Him of the First
creation and the dawn of" the new creation". It
is the day which recalls in grateful adoration of world's
first day and looks forward in active hope to the
"last day", when Jesus Christ will come in
glory and all things will be made new.
Rightly then, the Palmist
cry is applied to Sunday: "This is the day which the
Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it" (PS
118:24) this invitation to joy, which the Easter liturgy
makes its own, reflects the astonishment which came over
the women who, having seen the crucifixion of Christ,
found the tomb empty when they went there "Very
early on the first day after the Sabbath' (Mark 16:2). It
is invitation to relive in some way the experience of the
two disciples of Emmaus, who felt their hearts" burn
within them" as the Risen One Himself in "the
breaking of the bread" (Luke 24:32, 35). And it
echoes the joy-at first uncertain and then
overwhelming-which the Apostles experienced on the
evening of that day, when they were visited by the Risen
Jesus and received the gift of his peace and His spirit
(John 20: 19-23).
For the Christian, Sunday
is above all an Easter celebration, wholly illumined by
the glory of the Risen Christ. It is a festival of the
"New creation". Yet, when understood in depth,
this aspect is inseparable from what the first pages of
the scripture tell us of the plan of God in the creation
of the world. It is true that the word was made flesh in
"the fullnes of time" (Galilians 4:4); but it
is also true that, in virtue of the mystery of his
identity as the eternal son of the Father, he is the
origin and end of Universe.
The commandment of the
Decalogue by which God decrees the Sabbath observance is
formulated in the Book of Exodus in a distinctive way:
"Remember the Sabbath day in order to keep it
holy." (Exodus 20: 8). And the inspired next does on
to give the reasons for this, recalling as it does the
work of God: "For in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested
on the Seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and made it holy. (Genesis 5:11). It is a
call to awaken remembrance of the grand and fundamental
work of God which is creation, a remembrance which must
inspire the entire religious life of man and then fill
the day on which man is called to rest and pray. Rest
therefore, acquires a sacred value: the faithful are
called to rest not only as God rested, but to rest in the
Lord bringing the entire creation to Him, inpraise and
thanksgiving, intimate as a child and friendly as a
spouse. The JK Board of School Education and the
University of Kashmir authorities should, therefore
clearly bear on their minds that Christians of the Jammu
and Kashmir have their strong religious sentiments. They
should not be taken for a ride by anyone, however,
powerful he might be.
Yours
etc....
Predhuman K. Joseph Dhar
Indian Catholic Press Association, Jammu.
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