I need a little rest

 

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Being retired is good, for the most part.  There are a couple of drawbacks, though.  I miss the camaraderie of my former coworkers a lot lately.  The other is having to deal with insurance coverage that tends to change every year.  In the last 5 years that I’ve been retired, my insurance plans have changed 4 times!  Most of the changes are insignificant, but a few of them have aggravated me to no end.  The first aggravating change was when I had to switch my primary care physician, as the doctor I’ve had for over 30 years was not an “approved” physician for that plan.  Another change is that some of the specialists I’ve been seeing, as well as other health care providers have led to frustration and other less-than-Christian thoughts on my part.  The most annoying is that the company who was providing me with my CPap (a device to help me with my sleep apnea) supplies stopped providing that service and my sleeping of late is not very good.  My sleep doctor and I have figured it out and new supplies are on the way, but Jesus’ invitation in Matthew’s gospel provided me with my reflection today.

One of the most delightful and healthy activities in life is sleep.  This is especially the case when one is able to enter into a deep and refreshing sleep.  Upon awakening, the person who has slept deeply feels refreshed and ready for a new day.  Of course, the opposite is also true.  When sleep is difficult and restless, the person can suffer numerous ill effects, especially when a lack of healthy sleep becomes the norm.

The same is true in our spiritual lives.  For many people, “spiritual rest” is something foreign to them.  They may say a few prayers each week, attend Mass, or even make a holy hour.  But unless each one of us enters into a form of prayer that is deep and transforming, we won’t be able to experience the interior spiritual rest we need.

Jesus’ invitation to “Come to me…” is an invitation to become transformed, interiorly, as we allow Him to relieve us of the burdens of our daily lives.  Each day we often face spiritual hardships and challenges, such as temptations, confusions, disappointments, angers and the like.  We’re often daily bombarded with the lies of the devil and his minions, the hostility of a growing secularized culture and an assault on our senses through the numerous forms of social media we digest.  These and many other things we encounter each and every day will have the effect of wearing us down interiorly on a spiritual level.  As a result, we need the spiritual refreshment that comes only from our Lord.  We need the spiritual “sleep” that results from deep and revitalizing prayer.  And that form of prayer is only possible if we heed Christ’s invitation to come to Him with every fiber of our being, surrendering all that we are and all that we encounter each and every day.