Why is there an urgency to praise rest, the subject of your book?
We are the victims of the prevailing materialism, with its primacy given to efficiency. The Anglo-Saxon adage “Time is money” it’s imposed. The center of gravity of life is therefore no longer rest and leisure, but profitable work, due to economic challenges and the multiplication of possibilities linked to modern technologies.
Activism is certainly contemporary evil, and its consequences are disastrous: tension, extreme fatigue or burnout. Hence the necessary awareness that it is an anomaly, contrary to our human and Christian identity.
That’s to say ?
Subjected to a frenetic, overworked rhythm, modern man is crushed by the machine. He no longer takes the time to question himself and the world. It has literally become “superficial”, that is, “on the surface of itself”. “The characteristic movement of our present civilization is not centripetal (“going back into oneself”), but centrifugal (“going out of oneself”); not the return to unity, but the rush towards multiplicity; not the tendency to be, but action and having. Raniero Cantalamessa analysis in love differently (editions of the Beatitudes). But real life is not above all “doing”, but “being”. Let us therefore have the courage of authentic rest to rediscover our unity and our dignity!
What is “authentic rest”?
It is neither the laziness or the idleness of the “fact-nothingness” – the one who does nothing – nor the entertainment by which man “bursts himself”. Because hyperactivism affects work as much as free time. These times which should be used to recover, to refocus and to recollect are often torn apart by a thousand exhausting activities.
Moreover, when it imposes itself as a vital and imperious necessity, rest loses its authenticity. For true rest is always free. It is a disinterested occupation that I choose as such. Yes, it takes courage to make such a choice in a consumerist society that considers gratuitous acts as performance offenses!
What activities provide this rest?
They vary from person to person. Benedict XVI likes to stretch out on a sofa to read theology. John Paul II almost never stopped and his rest was union with Christ in prayer and giving to others… It is up to each person to find their own measure in relaxation, which involves getting to know each other, confronting questions existential: the meaning of life, the relationship to others and to God, etc.
There are many different forms of rest, but all serve our growth. When an activity really rests me, it makes me more human, that is to say conforms to my being. Then, I can grow in fraternal charity: gentleness, delicacy, listening, welcoming, etc.
Isn’t the most basic form of rest sleep?
Yes, and it even occupies the first place. The theme of sleep runs through the entire Bible. Didn’t Jesus sleep in the boat in the middle of a storm? While a significant part of the population sleeps less than six hours a night, it is necessary to reread the homage of sleep that Charles Péguy lends to God (see below).
Or listen to what Francis de Sales advised his nuns: ” Sleep well ! To eat little, to work a lot, to have a lot of mental worries, and to refuse sleep to the body, is to want to get a lot of service from a horse that is lean, and without letting it graze. » Grace never goes against nature. If you do not have sufficient physical rest, you will not be able to rest with Christ and in him.
What is the rest to which Christ calls us by saying: “Rest a bit” (Mark 6, 31)?
When Jesus invites his friends to rest, it is always a call to enjoy his presence and his intimacy. The interior life is exactly that: a life of friendship with God. Through the sacraments and through prayer, I operate a heart to heart where my soul rests in God, as the apostle John did by resting his head on his master’s chest. Rest is a gift from Christ that is a response to our dependence on him. “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, become my disciples, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest” (Matthew 11, 28-29).
The eternal rest to which we are called in heaven is already giving life on earth, today. It is the crowning achievement of the Christian life, as it is of the divine work. Indeed, by resting and blessing the seventh day, God crowns his creative work and affirms: rest is the best of my work, it is worth more than work.
Any tips for really resting this summer?
Don’t be afraid to waste your time with God, your child, your friends or a book. Rediscover free: rest without a second thought, without telling yourself, for example, that your holidays will allow you to work better afterwards. And also, ” Make haste slowly ! », as popular wisdom says. Any praise of rest ultimately begins with a praise of slowness. In other words, take time to live, to be more with things and people, to love.
To read
Spiritual Praise of Restby Maximilien Le Fébure du Bus, Artège, €9.90.
God fills his beloved when he sleeps!
“Sleep is perhaps my finest creation. And I myself rested on the seventh day. (…) But I am told that there are men who work well and who sleep badly. (…) They have the courage to work. They don’t have the courage to do nothing. (…) To relax. To rest. Of sleeping. Poor people, they don’t know what’s good. They govern their affairs very well during the day. But they don’t want to entrust me with the government overnight. As if I weren’t capable of ensuring the government for one night…”
The Porch of the Mystery of the Second Virtue, by Charles Peguy, Gallimard.
This summer, let’s learn how to make a place for “authentic” rest