Catholic Culture This Week: The Value of Rest

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Yes, this post is late by an entire day.  Yes, it was somewhat intentional.  However, the reason for the delay should be clear based on the topic of this post.

During a day that offered the final opportunity for rest for several more weeks, God sent a phrase into this author's brain, and it became repetitive. "The value of rest," He revealed.  "The value of rest."  So, work (primary job, second job, or even thoughts about jobs) fell by the wayside.  Instead, the order of the day was light housework and errands, watching a classic Humphrey Bogart movie, and reading a few chapters of Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis.

God's revelation became all the more acute when a phrase leaped off of one of the pages penned by that scintillating writer and thinker.  In the midst of writing about virtue, he commented that a Christian life is "something which is going to take the whole of you brains and all" (Mere Christianity, p. 71).  Indeed, Christianity is a venture of the total person, body, mind, and soul; a venture that can is physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually exhausting.  Without proper caution and care, a Christian life can surely create "burnout," even among people with the best of intentions.

Lewis's claim evoked a related thought that was proclaimed by the Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council.  In Gaudium et Spes, her pastoral constitution on the modern world, Holy Mother Church declared that all workers must "be allowed sufficient rest and leisure to cultivate their family, cultural, social and religious life" (GS 67).  The revelation that came to this author yesterday made it abundantly clear that every person must not only be allowed such rest, but that every person must take prudent opportunities to rest.  Such is the only way that a man or woman will be refreshed, renewed, and prepared to continue efforts to live out his or her particular vocation in the world.

The ensuing quietude brought clarity about two modern problems that are related to this idea.  Interestingly enough, the two problems regarding rest and leisure time are nearly the polar opposites of each other.  The first problem: many people do not, for one reason or another, take even a small amount of leisure time.  In her great wisdom, the Catholic Church acknowledges the need for rest, lest people become numb and enslaved to their work.  The second and opposite problem: some people take leisure time in excess, which leads down a perilous road toward sloth.

Human beings were created with an innate need for recuperation.  That desire, in fact, is one of God's great gifts to humanity.  However, without God's help (especially through grace and exercise of virtue), we will surely tread too far toward one extreme or the other.  So, let us pray together for an increase of wisdom and virtue so as to know when and how to take leisure time; let us pray for those who have already strayed too far; and let us make time for our families, friends, and hobbies. 

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