We can find the answers in the Jesus’ words.
He said, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” which gives us the primary elements of rest.
First of all, “Come away by yourselves.” In order to rest, we have to go away by ourselves, putting ourselves set aside from daily relationships, works and surroundings. To understand what it means to be together, we need to be away. Secondly, “to a deserted place.” The deserted place means not only a quiet and remote place but also a solitary place to see who I am without distraction. So “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place” is the very basic element to make rest possible.
What about our rest or vacation? We are not accustomed to go away by ourselves to a deserted place. The favorite places we choose to go for vacation are usually beaches or parks filled with people. We like to constantly drive around, looking, eating and enjoying. The cell phones ring anywhere and anytime; text messages unceasingly remind us of the tasks we left behind; our ears are covered by iPod and music all day long, making us unable to listen to the sounds of the nature. After this kind of vacation, we find ourselves exhausted and wanting a real vacation to rest only. If it is true, what does it mean for Jesus to say to the disciples “rest”?
Above all, the rest is a physical resting. What I usually do first in a retreat is sleeping. I sleep as long as I want. Long sleeping with good eating always helps me be able to pray. When I started the thirty-day-silent retreat, our spiritual director said, “There are three things we need to pray—eating well, sleeping well and puffing well.” The physical resting is the very basic which leads to a spiritual rest.
Exactly today one year ago, I was in a small village in Santa Cruz, Bolivia because I recruited a couple of Korean dentists from Cleveland and went to the mission. There are six young priests from Daegu who have ministered to Bolivians. The situation in Bolivia is very poor like our 60 or 70s. Many villages don’t have water and electricity; people live less than one dollar a day. It might be a luxurious thing for them to go to a dentist. Looking at terribly rotten teeth of a Bolivian, I asked why didn’t go to the dentist. He said that he couldn’t afford the cost that was only about two dollars—about two thousand won. The mission team worked four hours in the big town in the morning and drove to the remote villages in the afternoon to work another four hours. Since we didn’t have adequate equipments, it was very hard to treat countless patients. The doctors had to bend down and stand all day long to treat the patients who sat on a small school chair. There was no hot water and food was not used to. So I as a leader decided to have a full day off without any schedule. Everyone slept late and ate whenever they liked and rested again all day. And then we gathered in the evening to celebrate the mass. We realized at the celebration how we encountered God in this far-far away even though we could do that in the States. It was finding something that had been in our deep hearts for a long time. In the primitive and beautiful nature, that is, in the deserted place by ourselves, we tasted the soft touch of God through the Psalm 23 that we just sang as a responsorial:
“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. In green pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul. He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and your staff that give me courage.”
As important as the physical resting was the realization that God is with us and we are sowers who spread seeds, trusting that God make it grow and bear fruit someday. What we needed was only faith, working diligently and without measuring what we had done and how many we treated. The more important understanding was that Bolivians are our brothers and sisters and God’s beloved ones like us. After that, our mission activity became more focused on encountering, sharing and understating the people with friendship than work and achievement. After that, with our friends, we laughed more, ate more and played more. I believe that it wouldn’t be possible without our rest in the deserted place.
We need a time to stop although we are always asked to move without stopping. There are two kinds of stopping. One is stopping to rest; the other is stopping because of breakdown. If we stop to rest, we can be refreshed to restart. If we stop due to breakdown, we can be only regretful.
Therefore vacation or rest is “going away by ourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” However, the rest can be begun here and now and continued. If we understand that the rest consists of physical and spiritual resting and it is possible where a person sees oneself in a deserted place, it can take place here and now. If someone who is hurt and tired is renewed and gains strength and goes back to the daily life, is it the rest or the vacation? In other words, rest in God, namely, prayer could be the everyday vacation.
We need to leave people and the world and go to a deserted place like the church and pray. In prayer, we can realize who we are and what God wants for us. Only through prayer, we can understand that God doesn’t ask us work and achievement; rather God wants us to know that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters as we are. We can be refreshed anytime and anywhere, praying and resting in the merciful Father. So the daily vacation is nothing but the daily prayer. Like Jesus says, “Come to me and take rest in me for I am meek and humble of heart and my yoke is easy,” we can go away by ourselves to a deserted place to be consoled and loved in rest. So the vacation starts here and now and be continued all year long.
Are you planning to take a summer vacation? What is in your mind? I ask you before you leave to stop for a moment. Breathe slowly and find what you want and think what it means to rest. And then find yourself before wandering the world. God our Father invites us to go away by ourselves to a deserted place. Take a good rest there.
“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.”