Vacation from Hell

Loving our neighbor on earth and in heaven

07/18/2021

Mk 6:30-34 The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Summertime is vacation time. When people ask me when I am going on vacation, I jokingly answer: “Well, my vacation will start when other people leave town.” In other words, my vacations have as much to do with getting away from certain people as it does with going to certain places. It is like that old saying, “The only thing better than seeing family come is seeing family go.” Have you ever been on a vacation with people that when you returned home you felt like you needed a vacation from your vacation?

C. S. Lewis adapted this desire to ditch people as the basis of hell in his book “The Great Divorce.” The book begins in a Gray Town, where people are always arguing and fighting. And if they really cannot stand each other, they can instantly move away from each other as far as they please. Lewis was literally describing a “vacation from hell.” But by painting hell as a place to “get away from it all,” and especially get away from particular people, he was actually advocating the opposite point. How so?

He was implicitly arguing that heaven is where we will enjoy each other’s company not try to escape it. If hell, therefore, is where we get away from other people, then heaven is where we get closer to other people. Put simply, the difference between heaven and hell is the love of neighbor.

In the gospel today, we see the apostles in need of a little vacation. Maybe it was summertime and they had just returned from peaching, teaching and healing. Jesus notices their exhaustion and says: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” In other words, Jesus sensed (like me) that the apostles’ vacation would start when everyone else was gone. A priest friend once joked, “It would be great being a priest, if it wasn’t for all the people.”

But Jesus was careful they did not thereby conclude that absolute peace comes from avoiding people (like the people in Lewis' hell). Hence, when our Lord sees the needy crowd, we read, “His heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” Jesus wanted to teach his apostles, too, that while they may need a vacation to recharge their batteries, they may never take a vacation from their vocation, which is the love of neighbor.

Cardinal John Henry Newman was asked rather sarcastically by Bishop Ullathorne, “Who are the lay people anyway?” (meaning they do not matter much.) To which Newman answered: “Well, the hierarchy would look very silly without them.” Escaping people is the business of hell; encountering people is the business of heaven, which is the love of neighbor in a nutshell.

My friends, may I suggest three simple ways we can make the people business our own business and prepare for heaven rather than hell? First, pray for the people you would like to take a vacation from: the coworker who causes you countless problems, the in-laws who act more like out-laws, the politicians, the pundits, even the priests who get under your skin and push your buttons. Know any people like that? When you think about them, pray one Hail Mary and ask God to bless them. Why? You will be taking one step closer to the heavenly Jerusalem, and one step away from that Gray Town.

Secondly, be careful using social media as a means of expressing your disagreement and dissent. Bishop Taylor recently issued his decision regarding Pope Francis’ letter about the Latin Mass. It was reasonably and respectfully worded, and I support it.  But I was deeply saddened by the lack of respect shown to our bishop in people’s comments and criticisms.

How often we feel too comfortable and over-confident hiding behind a computer screen to say scathing things we would never say face to face. Dc. Daniel Wendel mentioned he gave up social media last Lent and never went back to it. What a great idea. That may help him (and us) to take a step closer to heaven and another away from hell, as we learn to love our neighbor.

And thirdly, try to find the good in the people you want to take a vacation from. And once you find their good qualities, send them a compliment. Tell them you are impressed by them. And even if circumstances do not let you communicate directly with them, at least acknowledge their gifts to yourself and even praise God for them.

After all, God is the author of all their gifts and talents, just like he is the author of our abilities also. St. Therese of Lisieux is reported to have said, “One drop of mercy would empty out hell.” May be if we show a little mercy to those who make us miserable, at least that drop of mercy may help to keep us out of hell.

Folks, have you gone on vacation yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Remember, my vacation can only start when you leave town. But seriously, be careful your vacation is not only about getting away from people. There is no vacation from our Christian vocation, which is always the love of neighbor. Why? Well, because that is the basic difference between heaven and hell.

Praised be Jesus Christ!