Sabbath
“Our willingness to rest depends on what we believe we will find there. At rest, we come face-to-face with the essence of life. If we believe life is fundamentally good, we will seek out rest as a taste of that goodness. If we believe life is fundamentally bad or flawed, we will be reluctant to quiet ourselves, afraid of meeting the darkness that resides in things–or in ourselves.
“Sabbath rest invites us to step back and see that it is good…This is the only commandment that begins with the word ‘remember,’ as if it refers to something we already know but have forgotten. In our hurry and worry and acquiring and work, we forget. Rest, take delight in the goodness of creation, and remember how good it is.” (Wayne Muller, Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest)
As a two-pot-a-day coffee drinker; multi-tasker, restless, relentless, always working, easily distracted, easily bored Catholic–I both yearn for and dread the idea of a Sabbath rest. Growing up, my family generally observed the Sabbath as a family day. Now that I have started to attend church regularly, I feel secretly guilty about working on the Sabbath, but have continued to do so, justifying my open-ended work schedule as necessary for a person with chronic illnesses to work when she feels best…Even as I write this it sounds like a lame excuse. Should I take the plunge and observe the Sabbath? I want to…and yet…what am I going to do all day??
