However, the reality is sometimes different because people need more time after the vacation—the real time for rest! Many are usually occupied with plans and activities that cause people to become exhausted in the hustle and bustle of doing something, eventually hoping for some time for quietness and peace. In other words, we often stay in the surface of vacation by being away and enjoying the ability to afford to do something not found in the routine of life. But in the deeper level of vacation, we are eager to be refreshed so that we can come back to the normal life with renewed spirit. For this spiritual rest, Jesus says today, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Jesus promises us rest. But this does not mean some time off, less work and more sleep. Rather, this invitation goes out to all who are weary, who can no longer find pleasure in life, whose backs are bent with the burdens of each day. This is an invitation to all of suffering humanity, especially those whose suffering has caused them to lose heart. And this spiritual rest happens when our true nature is realized because our hearts are restless until they rest in God as St. Augustine said. Thus Jesus introduces us to the God who will restore to us the goodness of creation and this inner realization of rest happens when we live in harmony with ourselves, our neighbor, our nature and God.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” The way to this spiritual rest is to yoke ourselves to Jesus. This means we must undertake Jesus’ disciplines and learn from him. To me, this is the loving invitation that has shaped my vocation to the priesthood. The scripture passage I chose for the priestly ordination is not just for the ceremony but for the life of service to the end of my life. My heart was restless when I was trying to find “my way” in college. When I began my business career in China, the restless heart intensified, and weariness afflicted the mind with a labor and a burden. I couldn’t sleep much and couldn’t eat well. The lasting fatigue lingered within me. Ideas and distractions captured the mind and they whipped it night and day and finally blew me away to the miserable situation. All I wanted was rest.
Many Catholics say that they come to the church to look for peace of soul. This is the fundamental desire in us to rest in God, finding ourselves in the right place so that we feel secured and loved by the one who is not changeable. My Lord and my God has done this for me. So I carry this scripture passage with the smiling Jesus. (Showing my holy card for the priestly ordination) I have finally found rest in God. No, the more accurate way to say is that God has found me, making me trust that everything will be all right because this spiritual rest in God is allowing ourselves to be carried by life without strain or effort on our part. D.H. Lawrence pictures the spiritual rest as “a cat asleep on a chair/ at peace, in peace…Sleeping on the hearth of the living world/ yawning at home before the fire of life/ feeling the presence of the living God/ like a great reassurance/ a deep calm in the heart…”
The spiritual rest is trusting in the life that has been given as a gift, realizing that “All that matters is to be at one with the living God and to be a creature in the house of the God of life.” I hope you understand your vacation is already begun in this sense and, wherever you go for the vacation, celebrate your life in God, accepting Jesus’ invitation for the rest and learning the lesson of the cat.
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