Rest: not an option but a command
At this time of year when temperatures soar and the heat drains away our energy, a holiday is the first thing that comes to mind, and with it the desired rest. And yet what is it that we are seeking and yearning for when we think of holidays?
“A change is as good as a rest” we’re often told, but does a ‘holiday’, a change from the normal routine, necessarily mean rest? And again, what do we mean by ‘rest’, particularly from a Christian perspective?
For the Christian, rest is not an option but a command. We must necessarily make time for everything as we live the rhythm of the seasons of our lives. Our hectic and chaotic lives leave us practically breathless as we shift from one job to the other, one duty to the next, an inbox full of unanswered e-mails and a calendar full of ‘things to do’.
We crave for a change – for a time when we can leave everything behind and live in a bubble; a short time when we can forget the preoccupations of our daily life. But is this what holidays are for? Will this give us the rest we so desperately need?
The very etymology of the word ‘holiday’ reveals that, in reality, it is not a mere get-away that we are looking for. ‘Holiday’, coming from Holyday, implies holy time – an intense human need for time of rest; time for connection with God and fellow humans.
What we are truly looking for is a space where we can connect deeply, where we can feel comfortable and be ourselves without the undue pressures of daily life. We need to find that specific place where we do not have to feel the restlessness of our aching heart; where we can be still. There is a direct link between the spiritual and the physical state of our being. What really gives rest to a person’s heart is to feel loved and to love in return.
One can have the most luxurious dream holiday but still remain empty. Experience teaches us that what really gives us rest is the nourishment of intimate bonds of relationships.
Our true search is for a soul-mate, for intimacy with family and friends; simply put, we can deeply rest when our relationships are in order and life-giving. In the words of Henry Nouwen, “we are not restful persons who occasionally get restless, but rather restless persons who occasionally find rest”.
What holidays can give us is time: time to think, to reflect, to pray, to read. Holidays provide time for growth, as we evaluate the year and plan targets for the next. For a Christian, time is not to be wasted, as we become increasingly aware of how limited and fragile life is. We are called to live the moment as we realise that only when we have space to think can we truly enter within ourselves and actually experience what lies within.
Rest is the capacity to find the key to one’s heart and to open it, as only when one finds rest in one’s heart can it be offered as a source of rest to others. We all know from experience how difficult it is to capture the present moment and live it fully.
The guilt of the past and fear of the future always dwell within us, haunting our peace.
In Jewish tradition, the Sabbath is a day of rest, a day to stop and focus on why we carry out the activities that consume our lives. The Sabbath is the time to re-visit the map of our lives and see if we are still moving in the right direction.
We rest because God rested. We only rest when we have time to pray, to think, to laugh and to love. Rest is not something we can turn on and off like a water tap. It needs a body and a mindset which are slowed down enough to be attentive to our deepest needs. Only when these needs are met, can we find the rest we long for, the rest that must pervade all the areas of our lives.
Fr Cilia is a member of the Missionary Society of St Paul.
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Joe A. Serge
Jul 23rd 2012, 02:16
The Word of God is to be discerned spiritually. In the Old Testament rest related to physical works however that foreshadow the spiritual rest we gain in Christ. When the crucified Christ said "it is finished" that meant Jesus had provided all that's necessary for our salvation. We do not add anything to Christ's perfect atoning sacrifice. Jesus paid our sin debt in full and we rest in knowing that. In turn, we gladly do good works however, not to earn merit points to gain salvation but in gratitude for Calvary's cross.
Pule' Carmel
Jul 22nd 2012, 14:35
I am sure that not all of our earnt salary goes on necessities as Food, Clothes and Shelter and I AM SURE that most people spend more than 50% on unnecessary items.
Now instead of working so stupidly for unnecessary items for whatever " grouped human reason", would it not be better to work for necessary items only and not to be so stupid and live as was described above, "Our hectic and chaotic lives leave us practically breathless as we shift from one job to the other, one duty to the next, an inbox full of unanswered e-mails and a calendar full of ‘things to do’. "
I personally believe the answer is not in having a "rest" but to stop Educators and Political Propaganda and the Media to persuade the people, that not having the materialistic goods other than enough food, enough clothes and enough shelter is a sort of disgrace!
I personaly think it is stupid to work so hard to go and buy a "Villeggatura" and then use it to rest for the hard work you put in to buy it with the wife having to look after two houses instead of one, and so many other silly things as having two cars, three televisions, a cupboard full of useless clothes, many pairs of shoes that are no longer used. Probable a house full of chandaliers and three bathrooms and God knows what with the wife going out to work to keep up with the Jonses and cutting down on children because," these days it is so difficult to bring up children!!"
I tell you I can fully understand why Religious People do not get married, they live together under one roof and eat together and wear the same uniform and so many other good sensible ways of life so that they can cope and do not need to "rest" as much as those silly people who aim to collect materialistic unecessary object to fill all the available space in an unecessarily too big a house plus a villegatura, were sefturi are helpful but their salary has to be paid for by working harder at places away from our nicely decorated homes and villegiaturi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr Emanuel Farrugia
Jul 22nd 2012, 12:18
The Bible - Rest and Relaxation
God desires rest for us because it does not come naturally to us. To rest, we have to trust that God will take care of things for us. We have to trust that, if we take a day off, the world will not stop turning on its axis. From the beginning (Genesis 3), when we decided that we would start making all the decisions, mankind has become more tense and less able to relax. It was disobedience in the Garden that started the problem, but obedience now will bring the rest that God so desires for us (Hebrews 3:7 - 4:11). If one of the definitions of “relax” is “to become less firm,” then relaxing our grip on our own lives, careers, families, etc., and giving them over to God in faith is the best way to relax.
For the Christian, the ultimate rest is found in Christ. He invites all who are “weary and burdened” to come to Him and cast our cares on Him (Matthew 11:28; 1 Peter 5:7). It is only in Him that we find our complete rest—from the cares of the world, from the sorrows that plague us, and from the need to work to make ourselves acceptable to Him. We no longer observe the Jewish Sabbath because Jesus is our Sabbath rest. In Him we find complete rest from the labors of our self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can now cease from our spiritual labors and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always.
Emanuel Farrugia [TARXIEN] former student Faculty of Theology UOM
Victor Rodenas
Jul 22nd 2012, 11:02
Many times a holiday is not rest,...we come back home tired, exausthed,....but it is a good experience, it opens our minds.
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