The Masters Championship is one of the four major golf tournaments each year. The 2009 Masters Tournament begins tomorrow and the final round will take place on Easter Sunday. This is the 16th time that the Masters will coincide with Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Now I might be one of the biggest sports fans you'd ever meet, and I enjoy my golf, but I find it disappointing that the Masters is played at this time. Of course, Easter Sunday falls on a different day each year and the Masters has traditionally taken place the first weekend after April, but that is one tradition I'd like to see changed.
If I remember correctly, one of the ten commandments is to keep holy the sabbath day. In our busy world it seems we not only fail to keep holy the sabbath day, but we don't keep holy ANY day of the year. Easter is the most important day of the year for all Christians. It is the day Jesus rose from the dead! It is a day of celebration, joy, peace, and rest. It is a day that all Christian people should look forward to and should keep holy. It should be a time of celebration and a time to be with family. While I can enjoy watching sports with my family and still celebrate mass on Sundays, I wonder how those out on the golf course manage to celebrate Easter? I hope that golfers who want to celebrate Easter have the ability and flexibility to do so, but I honestly don't know how the tournament organizers handle such requests.
I know this will never happen, especially at Augusta where tradition and long standing rules are strictly followed, but I would like to see the final round of the Masters postponed until Monday when it falls on Easter weekend. It seems to me like this is something that could be done and should be done. We should always take at least one day out of the week to celebrate mass, to rest, and to keep the day holy as God commanded us so long ago. This should not mean that we can have no fun. On the contrary, we should take much delight on Sundays and have fun with family and friends. We should even go outside and play some sports, but we should not work unless we absolutely have to in order to support our family. Nobody should have to work on Easter and that should include golfers.
What do you think? Should the final round of the Masters be played on Easter Sunday? Do you agree with me or do you think it is perfectly fine to have the Masters on Easter? I'd like to hear your opinions, so if you have a thought about this feel free to leave a comment. Just remember to be polite and respectful. Thanks and God bless!
1 comment:
I understand your stance here, but I don't have a huge problem with sports being played on Sunday. I think they contribute to the family and leisure which you are talking about and don't fall along the lines of "work" so to speak. I do agree with you that it would be nice if the golf tournaments would accomodate those golfers that want to go to church.
Mark
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