I was just blessed with the opportunity to spend a weekend away with one of my dear friends. This friend is a busy one. She is a true apostle for Christ, working full-time, serving both her family and her church community with every available second. My mindful comrade strives to have a balance, yet maintains a tight schedule. Amid our discussions, she shared that her level of activity is so tremendous in her day-to-day that in her vacation she seeks solitude and respite. A removal from opportunity for activity allows her to easily choose to move slowly and rest. If the trip offers adventure and exploration, she explained, the time away advocates a busy schedule and then she returns not renewed but exhausted. This wise woman recognizes her need for a pause and so sets herself up to rejuvenate at least one week each year as she vacations on a semi-isolated beach. She regards rest as a gift.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to me all who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest says the Lord.”
God knew we would toil all week long due to the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. So, when He brought the world into being, the Lord in all His wisdom, might, and majesty, provided us rest. Genesis 2:3 tells us, “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.” Our wise Father designed the world with not just a smidgen or a shake of rest, He granted us one WHOLE day! He provided us a designated time each week to bring ourselves back to Him.
“The Sabbath is a day to rejuvenate our individual relationship with Christ Jesus”, discusses Fr. Mike Schmitz in his podcast “Jesus is Lord”, The Bible in A Year, Day 155, June 4, 2021. An entire day to focus on the Lord. Our Father in heaven requires a day to renew ourselves and refresh our souls. In His wisdom, for our wellness and health, and more importantly for our relationship with God, the Lord commands us to make the entire day restful and toil-less so we can focus our hearts on Him, the One who created us, loves us, and gives us this gift. It is a gift of love, one chosen and designed with our needs and best interest in mind.
The catch? We must choose to accept the gift. We are such stubborn children, placing all our other false gods above this beautiful gift that our Lord both gives us and asks of us. We are all children of God and our Father can see what we require and diligently works to lead us to restful waters. Yet we resist, laboring, constantly trying to desperately accomplish just one more thing. When we labor like this and work without rest we are telling the Lord that we do not trust him. We disobey Him. We express our need to take charge because we do not believe he has life under control. Somehow, we think our mighty, all-seeing Lord will overlook a detail. The Lord misses nothing! He has this, sister, and He says rest.
“Therefore, sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. And whoever enters into God’s rest, rests from his own works as God did from his. Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience.” Hebrews 4: 9-11. Did you hear that? The Lord rested! The Lord speaks of and exhibits rest, as well as reminds his beloved people numerous times of its importance through His Word. He drives His point home, reminding His children of His command. Exodus 20: 9-10 explains again, “Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast or by your alien who lives with you.” He desires all of us to pause for one day and recoup. Everyone must rest.
Call to Act: Sister, just as my friend was able to recognize her need for rest, I ask you to open your eyes to this weekly requirement and longing. I encourage you to prepare for the Sabbath through the week, working as you must on six days so on the seventh you can be restored. Look at your Sunday schedule and clear the clutter. Ruthlessly cancel extras or shift activities to another day. Rightly order your life and activities. Focus on God and family. Go to mass. Take extra time for prayer and talk with the Lord. Sit and rest, listen to music, take a walk. Make this holy day about whatever it is that draws your eyes to your Creator and renews your relationship with the one who loves you most and best. Hone in on Him, the Lord. Trust Him, He has this! On the Sabbath, He says rest.
St. John Paul II, pray for us that we may recognize the holiness of giving our Sabbath to Our Lord. Open our eyes to the ways in which we can eliminate clutter that takes our eyes off Our Lord and our time with Him each week. Ask the Lord to enlighten our hearts and minds to the beauty of the gift of the Sabbath. Beg Him to allow us to make His day holy and restful. We ask this through Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Additional Reading on Rest:
John Paul II, “Deis Dominum”, The Holy See, 31, May 1998,
Wyatt Kent, Keri, Breathe: Creating Space for God in a Hectic Life, Fleming H. Revell, 1963.
https://www.amazon.com/Breathe-Creating-Space-Hectic-Life/dp/0800730607/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=breathe+keri+wyatt+kent&qid=1626268868&sr=8-1
Liedl, Jonathan, “Americans Struggle with the Sabbath, but one St. Paul family is on a mission to help other rediscover its power”, 28 Apr. 2021, www.thecatholicspirit.com.; https://thecatholicspirit.com/news/local-news/americans-struggle-with-the-sabbath-but-one-st-paul-family-is-on-a-mission-to-help-others-rediscover-its-power/
Saint John Paul II
Saint Pope John Paul II, known in his younger days as Karol Josef Wojtyla, was born in Poland in a small town. He was born into a faithful Catholic family, who taught him to love and persevere. Friends shared that from a young age Karol was not hesitant to interact or make friends with people of other faiths, even when Jewish people began to be persecuted. After high school, he attended a university and a school for drama. His love for the arts took root. He began studying in a seminary as the war in Poland broke out. He was forced to leave and return after things had settled. As a result of his experiences with the Holocaust and childhood friends, he taught the Church to embrace the Jewish people and others as brothers and sisters. Elected Pope in 1978, he has written countless documents, beatified over 1,000 Blesseds, canonized nearly 500 saints, and began General Audiences on Wednesdays, visited numerous government officials, and touched more lives than can be counted. St. Pope John Paul II was a man who embraced the Sabbath and resting in the Lord, writing the Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini in 1998, on the subject of keeping the Lord’s Day holy. Read more about him here: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=6996