Can you imagine how tired Pope Saint John Paul II would be at the end of the day on any of his many trips overseas? Each Apostolic visit was a marathon for him. I recall seeing a video many years ago in which the Holy Father was in front of a multitude of people. He was resting in his chair waiting for the conclusion of Mass. People started to applaud and acclaim him for several minutes. When they stopped, in his great sense of humor, the Holy Father told them to keep applauding because the more they would do it the more rest he could get.

People who would stay at the same bishop’s house or seminary building that Saint John Paul II stayed on his trips would agree on one thing. It did not matter how tired the Holy Father would be, or how late at night it would be, or how early he would need to wake up the next day, Pope Saint John Paul II would always spend twenty or thirty minutes on his knees in personal prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament before going to sleep. He knew perfectly well who would give him the rest he always needed.

In today’s gospel the Lord says, “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11, 28). All of us humans labor and are burdened, even those who have it all, good health and wealth included. The truth is that the souls of all humans are burdened by sin. The Lord’s invitation to come to him for rest is an invitation for all people. The Lord is the only person who can offer us forgiveness for our sins. He alone can give us the true rest for our souls since he alone can take away our sins. This fact shows us the importance of coming to the Lord to receive the rest we need.

Sadly, we see how many people do the opposite. They leave the Lord; they leave the Church. The religiously unaffiliated people are a group that grows bigger and bigger with each passing year. A question that we may ask is, where or to whom do they go to find the rest that they need in their lives?

I would like to explore three ways to come to the Lord for rest. Firstly, the Lord gives us rest through his words. In the gospels the Lord often takes away people’s burdens just by talking to them. I particularly like the time when the Lord consoles the disciples at the Last Supper. On the Eve of his Passion and Death, the Lord performs his role of Consoler in chief with such gentleness and love. The Lord always tells us the hard truth about our lives and always affords us the true hope we need. We do need to reflect more on the Lord’s words in the gospels daily. 

Secondly, the Lord gives us rest through the sacrament of Reconciliation. After Baptism, I believe that there is no better place or moment to receive the Lord’s rest than in confession. Sadly, for us Catholics who are some of the few Christians who have this sacrament, it is ironic that we live as if we did not have it because we do not use it. The common feeling that we Catholics have towards confession is fear. We are afraid of something. We may be afraid of sharing who we really are with another person. We need to remind ourselves that the priest only represents the Lord. We may also be afraid of change since receiving the Lord’s forgiveness challenges us to stop committing the sins.

Thirdly, the Lord gives us rest through the sacrament of the Eucharist. After his glorious Ascension, the Lord did not abandon his disciples. He wanted to stay with us until the end of time. After his Death on the cross for us, staying in the Eucharist is the second greatest proof of the Lord’s love for us. In the Eucharist the Lord is truly present and comes to us so that we may experience his rest and love, his consolation and peace, in a word, all that we truly need in this life, and he alone can give. I would like to invite you to come to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on first Fridays. I would also like to announce that, during this year of the National Eucharistic Renewal, the parish will start offering Adoration on the evening of the third Thursday of each month.   

Let us humbly ask the Lord to grant us his grace to, first, acknowledge that he is the only source of our true rest, and second, come to him to receive this rest with humility and faith.