“Rest for the frequently restless. Rest for the easily slighted. Rest for the unjustly treated. Rest for the inwardly disturbed. Rest for the innocently harmed. Rest for the physically pained. Rest for the harshly betrayed. Draw as close when we are in need. Do not let us forget what we can receive in thy true rest.”
— Julian of Norwich
Last week I traveled 400 miles to Long Branch, NJ with three brother-priests to San Alphonso Retreat House. It is a center for Christian renewal that has been run by the Redemptorist fathers and brothers for over eighty years. It is situated on eight beautiful acres along the New Jersey coastland, and it is where “the sea meets the sky.” I have attended Seton Hall University International Institute for Clergy Formation for the 24 years that I have been a priest. It has been a wellspring of fresh life and spiritual rejuvenation each summer.
There were thirty-six priests from around the United States there last week. Listening to fine presenters, sharing fraternal support, gathering in prayer and being at the Atlantic Ocean with fishermen, surfers and beach worshippers was a perfect setting for a week of “R & R.” Each morning I got up before the sunrise and watched the horizon of the beach as I ran the boardwalk. That bright orange sun filled me with the warmth of a new day. There was a police academy survival training of 30 men and women down at the beach. As I jogged along the boardwalk, I heard the riveting sound of the drill sergeant hammering out commands for the prospective recruits to the police academy. I thought to myself, “You’ve got to be focused, dedicated and disciplined and ready to serve after going through such a regimented training.”
We are all pilgrim people as we journey through the varied landscapes of our lives on our way to the heavenly Jerusalem. Jesus reminds His disciples that rest is an essential ingredient for the rhythm of effective Christian living. For we cannot work well unless we have sufficient enough rest, and we will not rest well until we have toiled and worked until we are spent. There is a danger in our times of too much information, too quick technology, too fast-paced life-styles, and being too overwhelmed, that sometimes we fail to hit the pause button of life just to rest, relax and rejuvenate. In the Christian life we must meet with God in the secret place of prayer and oasis of silence if we are to serve others well in the marketplace. We all need strength to keep going. We all need inspiration to lift us out of ourselves and beyond ourselves. And we all need new road maps to continue to walk in the path of selflessness and continue to follow Christ in faith and hope toward the promised Kingdom of God.
Jesus, like a good teacher, cared for His disciples. He was a aware of their condition and He knew they needed rest and relaxation as much as instruction and correction. Jesus’ loving and tender care extends beyond His disciples to each and everyone of us. He wants us to never tire of turning to Him, for He is always ready to bless, to heal and to forgive. Each Sunday Jesus invites us to “come away” to be with Him and “rest awhile” in His grace and love to restore us with new strength for discipleship. Jesus had compassion for His apostles who worked so hard to spread the good news of the reign of the Kingdom of God. He tells them to “take a break," have “downtime” and “seek a quiet place” to rest. So they go to the lake, borrow a boat and find a deserted shore.
I used to say when I was a hospital chaplain at Mercy that “When it is my day off, I’m off. And when it my time to work and be on call, I am ready to answer the call to serve.” The truth is, you can’t “be truly on” if you never “turn yourself off." I can recall during long car trips with my family as a child nagging and badgering my parents. In my restlessness, the drive seemed endless. I was constantly asking, “When will we get there?” and “Is it time to eat again?” I learned at a young age that resting and eating are key components to any happy journey!
Paradoxically, the best time we spend “on the job” is the time we are away. It enables us to come back to our responsibilities with a new lens to see what we do each day. It gives us a new perspective to appreciate our God-given talents to share with others. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” It is my hope and prayer that we take Jesus’ advice to come away and rest awhile as a prescription for happiness, holiness and healthfulness.
Grant me, most dear and loving Jesus,
To rest in You above created things;
Above health and beauty;
Above all glory and honor;
Above all power and dignity;
Above all knowledge and skill;
Above all praise and fame;
Above all sweetness and consolation;
Above all hope and promise;
Above all merit and desire;
Above all gifts and favors that You can bestow and shower upon us;
Above all joy and jubilation that the mind can conceive and know;
Above angels and archangels and all the hosts of heaven;
Above all things visible and invisible;
And above everything that is not Yourself, O my God.
— Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
