Resting in Jesus

The human body needs on average somewhere between seven to ten hours of rest each night, depending on one’s age and health. We know scientifically how important that rest is: it allows the body to be restored and rejuvenated, and it allows the mind to remember, process, and even learn from the experiences that happened that day. Rest is not just something we should do; it is something we must do to function well.

In the Gospel today, Jesus calls the disciples to come away with him for a while to rest. Remember how last week we heard that he had sent them out to evangelize: to go out to the towns and villages, to cast out demons, and to preach repentance. Apparently, they were successful! When they come back to tell Jesus what they had done, the people follow them and continue to appeal to them, to the point that the disciples don’t even have a chance to eat. If they were too busy to eat, they certainly were too busy to rest.

Jesus Commands the Apostles to Rest (c. 1894) by James Tissot

Taking time to rest is important; Jesus himself says so. But what kind of rest really benefits us? We need physical rest, obviously, but what about mental and emotional and spiritual rest? In reality, we often trade that kind of rest for relaxation: just zoning out, surfing the internet, scrolling social media, or binge watching TV. We may enjoy those things, but I think we also know at a deeper level that they’re not really restful. In fact, they can have the opposite effect, getting us worked up or stressed out, pushing us even farther away from being truly rested and restored. Other kinds of rest that we might think of – taking a day off, enjoying the company of friends, getting away for a vacation – those things are good, but even they don’t fully restore and rejuvenate us.

What we need is the kind of rest that Jesus calls the disciples to – a rest that is with him, in his company. Jesus commands this of every disciple, anyone who wishes to follow him, just as he commanded us last week to go out and bring his message to others. Both are necessary: to work and labor in his name, bearing his message to others, and to come away for a while and find rest and repose in him. This spiritual rest is what we call prayer. Sometimes we think of prayer only as something we *do*: words that we recite, or intentions that we speak to God. But prayer is also essentially a disposition, a way of being, a spiritual demeanor aimed at recognizing God’s presence and resting in him.

To do this, we have to eliminate distractions. Notice how Jesus invites the disciples to come away to a deserted place; that is because it is easiest to pray in quiet, in silence. When we try to pray in the same place that we spend most of our day, in the crowded, busy spaces – physical or spiritual - that we are accustomed to, we’re going to have difficulty. When we are unwilling to put down our phones, or put away our other devices, when we can’t pull ourselves away from the endless chatter that we listen to, it is going to be hard to rest in Jesus. That’s why he calls us to come away for a while – to leave those other things and even persons behind so as to spend time with him, resting in his presence. It is not always possible to do this. We may not be able to find that deserted place, physically or spiritually, that is most conducive for an encounter with the Lord. When that happens, try to pray anyway; it is better to have imperfect prayer than no prayer at all. But we should try to carve out each day some time – even if only 15 or 20 minutes – where we can put ourselves into silence and solitude, and rest in Jesus. It is not always easy or enjoyable, but it is what he asks of us as disciples.

Of course, the greatest prayer we have is the Mass, and for that reason the Mass should be the place of our greatest spiritual rest. Notice I said "spiritual" – Mass is not the place to catch up on sleep! But how important it is to see the Mass, the Sunday Mass especially, as more than just something we do out of habit, even more than just an obligation. It is an obligation; Jesus commands it, but he does so because he knows we need it. We should wish to come to Mass because we see it as the place of our deepest rest, our opportunity be spiritually restored and rejuvenated, to contemplate and understand better the experiences of that happen to us in the world. The Mass is our spiritual rest, because it is where we encounter God most nearly in this world. Jesus himself is our peace, as St. Paul tells the Ephesians, and so in the Mass we are most clearly in the care of our Good Shepherd. It is here in the Mass where we hear his words spoken to us and where his loving mercy is brought near. It is here in the Mass where he ministers to us, as he did to the people of the towns and villages of Galilee who came to him. It is here in the Mass that we – the Lord’s friends, his disciples – come away for a while from all that wearies and worries us, to step out of the world for a time to rest with him, so that refreshed and rejuvenated, we can go back to once again labor in his name.

Perhaps you heard that this past week Pope Francis issued some changes about how the Mass can be celebrated. Specifically, he restricted the celebration of the Mass in the way it was celebrated before the Second Vatican Council, the so-called Traditional Latin Mass. This form of the Mass isn’t very common in our diocese, and it won’t affect us here; but still, the pope’s decision has been controversial and is very painful for many Catholics who prefer that way of worship. While the particulars of the decision might be debated, I think what is important for us is that clearly the Holy Father desires that there be greater unity in how we worship at Mass: a deeper reverence, a fuller conscious participation, and a more loving appreciation for how the Mass puts us in communion with the Lord who is our spiritual rest. Perhaps we each can reflect upon how we approach the Mass, as individuals and as a community. Do we prepare well each week for the chance to meet Jesus, our Good Shepherd? Do we pray each day in preparation for the Mass, striving to make this the sum of all of our prayer? Do we come to find rest here – not relaxation, not entertainment – but rest, rejuvenation, communion with the Lord?

Friends, the Lord who calls us to rest and to pray will also help us to do that if we ask him. Like St. Paul tells the Ephesians, just as Jesus broke down the dividing wall between mankind and God by his Cross, let’s ask him now to break through all that keeps us from resting in him: our daily cares and responsibilities, our distractions and drudgery, even the disunity that sometimes appears here in his house. May the Eucharist that we will celebrate strengthen and unify us in body and in soul so that together we may find in him, especially in his Presence here, our peace and our rest.