Sr. Doreen, SSJD
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. (St. Augustine)
“God, of your goodness give me yourself. For you are enough for me, and I may ask nothing that is less that may be full worship of you. And if I ask anything that is less, ever will I be wanting. But only in you do I have all.”
This teaching echoes that of Meister Eckhart who talks of how all creatures seek “repose” and how “God enjoys the divine nature which is repose.”
As I pondered this, I though that there is a very intimate exchange in our understanding of our relationship with God, ourselves and with those around us. We know that God longs for us and seeks us out to welcome our love and at the same time makes a home within us: as we say each evening here in Compline “we forget that we are your home”. God seeks our love but also finds repose, finds a home in us.
How is this done? By offering a “quiet heart” says Eckhart. “Nothing resembles God so much as repose,” he insists. This repose can happen when quiet and along, and even in activity and is part and parcel of our creativity and co-creation with God. Many of the psalms have at the heart of their ‘song’ the suggested need for rest. “Truly my soul finds rest in God … ‘ psalm 62:1(NRSV) or ‘God is breathing room for my soul’ (Message Translation).
We all know what it feels like to have a packed schedule, a full day, or an excessive load of responsibilities. Sometimes it feels almost impossible to take a break, either because of limited time, or guilt over not doing anything, or conflicting priorities. It can seem like an inappropriate choice when there is seemingly so much to do. At the same time, we also know that taking a break is so essential for our own physical and spiritual well-being. In fact, breathing room for our soul is a top priority for a healthy balance of life!
There are so many scripture passages that reach out to us, trying to help us understand how important it is to take a break, a true rest. God is a perfect role model for us. “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day God rested from all work…” (Genesis 2:2) If we listen carefully to Jesus in the gospels we also hear “come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest … (Matthew11:28). One of the best know psalms, psalm 23, in the Message translation: “God, my shepherd, I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.” This translation of psalm 23 ends with a very refreshing and loving comment about God being our true rest … “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.”
To find this true rest can at times be hard to grasp. For me, Holy Saturday was a day during Holy Week that called me to find the wisdom of this true rest that might be waiting for me. Holy Saturday was standing in between, an empty, silent, unknown and not yet experience of my life. It offered time to ponder ways that I might let go of things, people, identities, securities and at the same time made me wonder what might happen that would rise new in my life from this time of loss, of ‘true rest’. It made me realize that I need to welcome holy Saturdays in my life, and how much of my life, much of our lives, are spent in holy Saturday places, often missed opportunities that we don’t notice. We spend so much energy resisting these times, wanting resolution and closure. We live in a time of great unsettledness with threats that can evoke fear, anger, denial, and deep sorrow. In times like these, where divisiveness is intentionally sown, we need to help each other find the wisdom waiting for us in these holy Saturday moments – these times of in between and not yet – this gift time of true rest. We need to sit with all the paradoxes of our lives, be fully present, rest in the space of waiting and resist trying to come up with neat answers or resolutions. We need to take the time to honour the mystery that is life.
Julian of Norwich puts it this way her Revelations “Showing of Love” as she contemplates the cause of our unrest and the only source of True Rest: “Each man and woman who desires to live contemplatively needs to have knowledge of the littleness of creatures and to like as nought all things that are made, for to love and have God who is unmade. For this is the cause why we be not all in ease of heart and soul, for we who are occupied willfully in earthly business and evermore seek worldly wealth are not heirs of God in heart and soul for to love and seek here rest, in these things that are so little wherein is no rest, and know not our God who is all mighty, all wise, all good. For God is the very rest. God will be known and God likes us to rest together, ourselves and God, for all that is beneath God does not suffice us. And this is the cause why no soul is rested, until it is noughted of all things that are made. When I am willfully noughted for love to have God who is all, then I can receive true spiritual rest.”
There is such a truth in this desire for true rest. You and I know only too well that we continually grasp at what we can see, hear, taste, touch, and hold in the palm of our hands. Too often, what we seek after with such determination distracts us from that deep longing we have for meaning and purpose in life. Our ever-increasing needs and goals can mount up and build a wall between our deepest self and our longing for a deeper relationship with God and ourselves and others. This cannot satisfy our fundamental longing. For Julian and for Augustine and also for us, only God and finding God in each other is great enough to satisfy our soul’s deepest desire. Turning from self-centeredness in order to become more focused on the ’other’ is the journey towards a deeper learning of love and of our true rest. God wants to be known and delights that we rest ourselves in God. By dropping that self-centeredness, openly, plainly, and like a little child again, rushing into the arms of God our loving parent and resting there, Julian says, ‘for this is the natural yearning of the soul.’
In her book “Fragments of the Ancient Name” Joyce Rupp writes in response to Julian of Norwich’s comments about God as our true rest:
Rest for the frequently restless, rest for the easily slighted
Rest for the unjustly treated, rest for the inwardly disturbed
Rest for the innocently harmed, rest for the physically pained
Rest for the harshly betrayed.
Draw us close when we are in need. Do not let us forget what we can receive.
Today I find needed rest in The True Rest.
In these deeply troubled times of anxiety and sorrow, of unrest and anger, of all that seems broken and at odds with each other may Julian’s prayer become our daily prayer. In letting go of all that plagues us, may we, too, drop into the boundless love of God; our creator, protector, and eternal lover.
Julian’s Prayer:
“God, of your goodness give me yourself. For you are enough for me, and I may ask nothing that is less that may be full worship of you. And if I ask anything that is less, ever will I be wanting. But only in you do I have all.”
