When you lie down, you will not be afraid, when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.
So says the book of Proverbs (chapter 3 verse 24), and while I would say my sleep has always been sweet for the most part, I have just not gotten enough of it at times.
As I get older, I appreciate more the benefits of sleep and time to relax and recharge. I was able to get away for three weeks this summer, and I was amazed at how good it felt to get seven or eight hours of sleep each night.
When I was younger, I rarely took more than a week or 10 days off during the summer because my jobs required it. I have more flexibility now that I am semi-retired, and those three weeks away were truly enjoyable as I not only got more sleep but also just relaxed, caught my breath, prayed, spent time with family and friends, and reflected upon the past year and the coming year.
I have stayed extremely busy in “retirement.” I tell people I may have retired from Catholic Charities but not from the priesthood. Most priests I know feel the same way. We might give up some ministries and responsibilities as we get older, but we never stop being priests.
I love being busy with baptisms, weddings, and funerals, often doing one or more a week. I also love being the chaplain at St. John’s. I’ve noticed that as we get toward the end of the school year, the busyness catches up with me and I start to drag a little bit. I love what I do, but I am aware that I no longer have the same energy I used to.
That’s one reason vacations have become important to me. They are now more of a need rather than a want. I make sure to build in some down time and take it seriously as part of my physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
I think we would all do well to remember the importance of taking time to refresh and recharge in summer and at other times when possible. You may not always be able to take a vacation, but even something as simple as sitting outside or taking a walk on a beautiful day can be a time of renewal.
I pray more and better when I get away or have quieter times. I am able to think about important things in my life, how I am responding to God’s call, and what’s ahead for me. These are not retreats, but they are still times of greater spirituality and reflection. They are opportunities that many of us – especially those of us who are Type A personalities – don’t enjoy as much or as often as we should.
I hope you had a good vacation and got some rest and relaxation this summer. If not, I hope you will be able to soon. We come back better after we catch our breath, relax physically, put things back into perspective emotionally, and spend time with God reflecting upon our journeys and whether we are where we’re supposed to be.
Even God rested on the seventh day after creation, and even God’s Son went off by himself to recharge and to pray many times, as we read in scripture, such as before choosing his disciples or after feeding the 5,000.
Two of Jesus’s most famous questions came when he was off with his disciples at Caesarea Phillippi. He asked them, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13-15) Questions he asks of us today.
If Jesus himself took time for peace, quiet, and prayer, shouldn’t we all think about doing the same? We can hear the quiet voice of God better away from all the distractions. Maybe the quieter setting helped Peter give his equally famous answer to Jesus’s question: “You are the Messiah, the son of the Living God.”
(Msgr. John Enzler serves as the mission advocate of Catholic Charities of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a chaplain at his alma mater, St. John’s College High School in Washington. He writes the Faith in Action column for the archdiocese’s Catholic Standard and Spanish-language El Pregonero newspapers and websites.)
