By MSGR. THOMAS J. MCSWEENEY
Religion Columnist

In the early part of World War II, when it seemed that England was about to be invaded, Winston Churchill rallied the people with those memorable words: “We shall fight them on the beaches . . . we shall fight them in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight them in the hills.”

When asked to comment on those words, a high school student with a fair share of humor and reality said, “It sounds just like our family vacations!”

I hope your summer vacation wasn't all bedlam, but rather a truly relaxing experience. If it was, you may be feeling a little sad, a little let down, because Labor Day will soon be here signaling the time to get serious and get back to work. But what I hope you don't feel is guilty about enjoying rest and recreation. Some folks do. Actually, when we take time away from our everyday routines to relax, we are following a tradition that could even be called biblical.

Scriptures tells us that “on the seventh day God finished the work that He had done and He rested.” (Genesis 2:2) What is more, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. In reading this creation story, notice that God did not give His special blessing to the six days He worked but only to the day on which He did nothing but rest.

From time to time, our sagging spirits, our spinning heads, our sputtering hearts and our tired bones all need to be refreshed, relaxed and renewed. Many of us are reluctant to take time out. But it's downright egotistical to think we can or should keep going when God gave us a very different example. The book of Genesis also says that you and I are made in the image of God. And just as God took time out, we can be sure that we need periods of rest, too.

More than that, quiet time for yourself offers a golden opportunity to take stock of life: “Am I really being the person God wants me to be? Am I really doing what God wants me to do? Am I really doing all I can to make Christ visible in me?”

In Tom Hansel's book, “When I Relax I Feel Guilty,” a man tries to manage his life without anytime for rest and reflection. The result is he finds he has no time to think about God. He foolishly wishes that, rather than develop an ongoing relationship with God, he could just pay for it, like a bag of fruit or any other commodity: “I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine . . . I want ecstasy, not transformation, not a new birth. I want a pound of Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.”

Of course, we can't buy God. We don't have to. God gives Himself to us freely and unceasingly. In the midst of work or leisure, trouble or contentment, God is there. It's simply that when we put aside the things that keep us so busy it's easier to see just how close He really is.

Over the Labor Day weekend make time to consider the very first Worker, all He made and our part in Creation. Then rest and “rejoice in our hope of sharing in the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2)

For a free copy of The Christopher News Note, LIVING THE SABBATH, write to The Christophers, 12 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017

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