The disciples return from being sent and, upon that return, they gather together with Jesus to tell Him all about their experience, and, afterwards, Jesus tells them to rest. Yet, His instruction is not typical, because He does not just tell them to take a break, but says something much more profound: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” And, though the disciples were not able to take advantage of such an opportunity, it points us to something deeper.
These disciples were most likely exhausted from their missions, but not in the way we might think, they were healing, casting out demons, proclaiming the mystery of God Himself.
Their exhaustion then, was not entirely physical but, more so, spiritual, this is why Jesus does not encourage them to take a nap because spiritual exhaustion can only be remedied by spiritual renewal, no amount of physical rest can replenish that. That is why Jesus points them to a deserted place, a place of solitude and silence, a place where it is only them and God.
And, this instruction to the disciples is also ours, for our lives are busy, just like the disciples, our lives can be draining but the question is, how do we rest? Do we find ourselves in front of the TV or computer, or listening to our iPod or talking on the phone, in short, do we find ourselves doing those things that, while not bad, are not necessary, or do we set ourselves quiet time with the Lord?
Because the more we spend time neglecting our prayer, the more we start to see our exhaustion grow, our frustration intensify, the more we start find simple tasks less interesting or more daunting and the more we start to find anything we do less appealing and fulfilling.
For, although, we are not doing the same as the disciples, because we are spiritual beings we, too, need spiritual renewal. We need to rest in the Lord every day, we need to embrace that spirit of solitude and silence and retreat to that deserted place.
It may sound almost monastic, but as many saints have attested to, it is only when we practice silence that we become aware of the presence of God in our lives, it is only in silence when His voice is the clearest. In fact, St. Faustina puts it well, she says: “In order to hear the voice of God, one has to keep silence in one’s soul…not a gloomy silence (as she puts it), but an interior silence; that is to say, recollection in God.”
We must learn, in our lives, how to retire to the monastery of our hearts, as I once heard a priest put it, creating for ourselves a quiet place so that whether at work or at play, as it were, when we cannot physically be in the presence of God on the altar, we can still rest. That way, we are able to hold that solitude and that silence within us, being in a very real sense, temples of the Holy Spirit and living tabernacles of love.
The difficulty and reality, however, is that silence, especially, the silence of the soul, seems almost impossible to achieve, particularly in this day and age, but that is because, if we are honest, we are afraid of silence, it lets us hear too clearly, it makes us uncomfortable and, for some, God’s voice is heard clearly for the first time, and that scares us.
For, although, we are not doing the same as the disciples, because we are spiritual beings we, too, need spiritual renewal. We need to rest in the Lord every day, we need to embrace that spirit of solitude and silence and retreat to that deserted place.
It may sound almost monastic, but as many saints have attested to, it is only when we practice silence that we become aware of the presence of God in our lives, it is only in silence when His voice is the clearest. In fact, St. Faustina puts it well, she says: “In order to hear the voice of God, one has to keep silence in one’s soul…not a gloomy silence (as she puts it), but an interior silence; that is to say, recollection in God.”
We must learn, in our lives, how to retire to the monastery of our hearts, as I once heard a priest put it, creating for ourselves a quiet place so that whether at work or at play, as it were, when we cannot physically be in the presence of God on the altar, we can still rest. That way, we are able to hold that solitude and that silence within us, being in a very real sense, temples of the Holy Spirit and living tabernacles of love.
The difficulty and reality, however, is that silence, especially, the silence of the soul, seems almost impossible to achieve, particularly in this day and age, but that is because, if we are honest, we are afraid of silence, it lets us hear too clearly, it makes us uncomfortable and, for some, God’s voice is heard clearly for the first time, and that scares us.
And yet, it is only in the silence where God can instruct us, it is only in the silence where He can heal us and love us, the way He did in the Gospel. He was found in that deserted place, because that is where He always is, calling us to Himself.
All too often, in the midst of the world, in the noise and the distractions, we search for Him like a sheep without a shepherd, but once we find Him, we know that, in the end, there is then nothing else we shall ever need nor ever want.
All too often, in the midst of the world, in the noise and the distractions, we search for Him like a sheep without a shepherd, but once we find Him, we know that, in the end, there is then nothing else we shall ever need nor ever want.
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