Chillaxing

Learning to find leisure in the Lord

Letter to the Hebrews 4:1-5, 11 

Let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed. For in fact we have received the Good News just as our ancestors did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened. For we who believed enter into that rest, just as he has said: As I swore in my wrath,  "They shall not enter into my rest," and yet his works were accomplished at the foundation of the world. For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works; and again, in the previously mentioned place, They shall not enter into my rest.

          May I share something that’s a little embarrassing but honest? I don’t really enjoy going on vacation; I find it hard to get some good “r and r” (rest and relaxation), or as people like to say today, to “chillax” (a conflation of the words “chill” and “relax”). This is partly because I’m a workaholic; after all, who gets up at 4 a.m. to prepare daily Mass homilies? But it’s also partly because I’m not sure how to relax well, especially during the holidays.

          We just finished the Christmas holiday, and how did many people “chillax”? I recently read an article in Crisis Magazine that may get close to how many Americans spent Christmas. It said: “Is Christmas now just a day to tear open gifts, play with the kids a while, and end the day stuffed and half-drunk in the soft embrace of the La-Z-Boy?” (“The Proper Way to Celebrate the Holidays,” Crisis Magazine, December 22, 2015). Maybe my discomfort with vacations stems from only resting the body, but not also the soul. I’m saddened by the fact that we’ve forgotten that our “holidays” originally started out as “holy days,” their roots were Christian feast days. I guess I just want a little more “holy” in my “holly,” and then maybe I could chillax a little.

          In the first reading today, the Letter to the Hebrews also asks how best to chillax, and gives the answer, “rest in the Lord” is the best rest. It teaches: “Let us be on guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of your seem to have failed.” In other words, real rest entails an awareness of God’s presence, his work of grace transforming us from within, his mercy re-making us like him, his peace flooding into our souls filling every empty space. “Resting in the Lord” means putting a little more “holy” into your “holly.” Sometimes when I visit parish families for supper, I stay late and the children have to go to bed. I always bid them goodbye by telling them: “Sleep with the angels.” And then I moment later I add with a smirk: “Don’t let them push you out of bed!” The kids laugh. But I hope they hear that real rest – which is the purpose of slumber, a “good night’s rest” – only comes “in the Lord,” held in the arms of his angels.  I pray those children will “not seemed to have failed” to “rest in the Lord”; while I, on the other hand, fall asleep “stuffed and half-drunk in the soft embrace of the La-Z-Boy.”

          Folks, may I suggest a few ways you can inject a little more “holy” into your “holly”? Unlike me, you may love to go on vacation, and like the rock-band, Loverboy, you’re just “working for the weekend!” Nevertheless, let me invite you not only to rest your body, but also your soul, only that way will you really rest, because you will find rest in the Lord. Some parishioners send me pictures of churches where they attend Mass while on vacation, with the caption: “See, we made it to Mass!” in New York or Las Vegas or Rome. One friend always goes to confession while on vacation, explaining, “That way, I don’t have to go to you, Fr. John!” Observe the 6 holy days of obligation (besides the 52 Sundays), and go to Mass as eagerly and anxiously as you await secular holidays and 3-day weekends.

          Have you ever heard people say after a long vacation: “Man, I need a vacation after this vacation!”? I believe that’s because as Hebrews predicted: “They seemed to have failed to enter into God’s rest.” They rested the body, but the soul is still restive (meaning restless). St. Augustine taught this timeless truth about real rest in his classic work, Confessions. The doctor of grace wrote: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” That’s how you chillax.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!