Bulletin Column: Why Rest?

Six hours before his death, Pope St. John Paul II said in Polish, with a very weak voice and with mumbled words, "Let me go to the house of the Father." 

Jesus chose to come into this world through a family because God is a family. The Most Holy Trinity is a communion of persons, each pouring out and receiving the gift of the other. This is the image that we were made in: a family of life and love, where each unique soul is on its journey toward our eternal home: union with the Most Holy Trinity. 

We all long for a place of rest, a sense of belonging, an experience of deep peace and security, a true and lasting "home." Although this desire finds its fulfillment in heaven -where we are called to live forever within the communion of love which is God Himself-we do not have to wait until heaven to begin experiencing this life-giving relationship of love. As St. Augustine famously wrote in his Confessions, "You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You." Through the gift of Baptism, we become children in God's family and the Most Holy Trinity dwells in our souls. Children have a tremendous capacity for play, leisure, and enjoyment; they rest in reality with wonder and awe. 

When you rest in God, you trust that He is with you, but also that He is preparing the best for you. Jesus said to Blessed Angela of Foligno in a vision, Make yourself a capacity, and I will make Myself a torrent. God wants to fill us with Himself. Our need for rest is ultimately not a sign of weakness, but of His love. Leaning into rest helps open us to receive Him, and receiving Him gives us true rest. As a child rests in his mother's arms, so my soul rests in you (Psalms 731:2). 

Those who have held a baby in their arms know that there is something both tender and sacred in watching a newborn yield to the power of sleep. 

In the act of rest, there is a silent openness of soul, a peaceful acknowledgement of one's limits. No human being can survive without rest; God has designed our human lives with natural boundaries and limits, and this is not to hinder us, but it can be a way we remain in a right, dependent relationship to our loving, Heavenly Father. As Charles Peguy said, 
"God doesn't trust a man who doesn't sleep." We do not 'need' rest; it's what we're made for! What is prayer? It is resting in God: our Light, our Life, our Love...

Resting under Mary's Mantle, 

Father Daly