By Father Rich Tomkosky
Peace in the Scriptural and Catholic understanding is not simply the absence of conflict, which is a part of peace that is so needed — witness the fighting in the Ukraine, in Gaza, and in other places in the world, which we should pray for every day — but the deepest meaning of peace is the tranquility of order, or being made right in the depths of our souls with God, living in harmony with the Lord. How does this come about? By inviting the Lord to live His life in us, especially the sacred mysteries of His Passion, Death and Resurrection, in which He won the victory over the disorder and lack of peace caused by satan and the other fallen angels; by sin, original and actual; and by death in the world at large and in individual lives. Jesus wants to win that same victory in our individual and communal life, by His grace – if we allow Him to work over time.
A major help in bringing this peace about is what Jesus recommends to the Apostles and invites us to do the same: to come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while, to make a little retreat, to take a little vacation.
We all need a rest now and then from our daily occupations and normal routine, especially if we are under a lot of stress in our life. We need time to re-charge our spiritual batteries so that we can go back to our daily duties refreshed and renewed with a new perspective on life in the Lord. This is why the Church so highly recommends making a spiritual retreat periodically. In fact, the priests of the Church are required by canon law to take a five-day retreat every year to help us grow closer to the Lord (mine this October), so we can help the lay faithful draw closer to the Lord in our sacred ministry.
There are some nice places, some nearby, if you want to do a formal retreat: St. Vincent’s in Latrobe, St. Emma’s in Greensburg, the Divine Mercy Shrine in Stockbridge, MA.
Vacations too, even if they are not exclusively spiritual, can also help us to be renewed in the Lord. In pondering the beauty of the ocean, or the mountains, or the forest, these can remind us of God’s beauty and love and peacefulness. God uses the beauty of creation, if we are open to Him, to fill our hearts with an inner peace, calm, and perspective that helps us to do better and live better when we return to the busyness of our daily life and have a better spiritual perspective on our daily life and duties in our vocation.
Retreats and vacations are also opportunities to help us renew our good resolutions to follow the Lord more faithfully in daily life, to turn away from sin and selfishness, and to open our heart and mind more deeply to His will and presence in our soul. For this to happen however, we must always strive to include God amid our time away from the burdens of daily life.
A vacation should never be a vacation from God and His will. We must plan it out to make sure if we are away on a weekend to attend Mass at the nearest Catholic Church. This is why I always put a reminder in my bulletin column in the summer about www.masstimes.org, which can locate the nearest Catholic Church for you and your family members when on vacation.
Each Sunday also can be, if we make it that in the Lord, a mini retreat, a day to spend in prayer and relaxation, so that we can be re-created in the Lord for the other six days of the week. Don’t squander the gift of Sunday, which so many in our culture tragically do, just seeing it as another day of the week, or fall into the overemphasis on sports in our culture – watching and playing too much – it can become a false god – will have a chance to implement that with football starting up.
Also, each of us, whether we fully realize it or not, needs a day a month or a few hours a week to just spend in quiet with the Lord by ourselves. This is something husbands and wives should be sensitive to, especially if you still have children at home who can be quite demanding on your time and energy many levels, as you well know. Work it out, so that each of you can have some time regularly to relax, go for a walk, to pray, to go to Confession, or to go on a spiritual retreat periodically.
In order to grow in holiness, all of us need special times to be with God, to allow Him to renew us and show us how to be more like Jesus in all that we say, and think, and do. As Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospel, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and find life burdensome; And I will refresh you, for my yoke is easy and my burden light.” May we all find that inner peace that all of us are searching for, and may we discover it in deeper union with the Lord, for as Saint Augustine famously said in his Confessions, “Our hearts were made by You O’ Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” God bless you.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and the Pastor of Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove.
