I recently asked a small business owner if she would be closing her shop for vacation this summer. She replied that she loves her work and doesn’t take vacations. Interestingly, the next day I saw an article in the online Catholic newspaper, Aleteia, entitled, St. Augustine’s Guide to a Holy Summer Rest. The tagline reads: We have forgotten how to stop. Augustine has some surprisingly practical advice.
In today’s American culture, most of us think of a vacation as an earned rest from hard months of routine and labor. We book our accommodations a car ride or flight away, spend a few days packing, a day or two traveling, a day to get settled in, and then have five days left to do what we went there for. Some people may choose to lounge by a pool or beach; others may pack their days and nights with sites and entertainment. Often people come home exhausted, admitting that they could use a vacation from their vacation.
The author, Daniel Esparza, explains that “Augustine would tell us to stop treating rest as something we have earned. Rest is not the prize at the end of the race. It is the condition in which we become most fully human – the posture in which the love of truth can actually function. Practically, this means that the first act of a holy summer is not booking the holiday but deciding what the holiday is for. Not what you will do, but what you will allow yourself to receive.”
He goes on to explain that there is a clear line between doing things for their usefulness and doing things for their own sake. “A walk that has no destination. A meal that goes on too long. A conversation with an old friend that produces nothing. These are not wasted hours. They are in the Augustinian sense, the most human hours of all.”
Some of my most treasured childhood memories are summer nights and simple pleasures with family. Australian Country singer, Keith Urban sings the same tune in his song Wasted Time: “Ain’t it funny how the best days of my life was all that wasted time.” Augustine claimed, “Leisure, properly understood, is a rehearsal for eternity, which will not, he suspected, be particularly busy.”
Scripture: Read Psalm 116:7. What stands out to you?
Call to Action: Whether you are traveling or vacationing at home this summer, make sure to truly rest, soak in quiet time with God and the people you love. Turn off the podcasts and audiobooks. Contemplate and rehearse your eternity.
