A Vacation from God?

_{Author: Catherine Loh, Diocese of Palm Beach Director of Marriage, Family Life, Faith Formation, and Youth Ministry} 

As summer vacation stretches out before us, beckoning us to locales far and near, we relish the promise of relaxation and release from the demands of our everyday lives, even temporarily.  However, while some ‘demands’, like school or work, can be placed on hold for a time, others do not diminish or release their hold on us.  Some of those demands are ontological (fundamental), they are part of our nature, who we are, our relationships with others.  Can a mother or a father ever stop being a mother or father?  Can a daughter or a son truly erase that relationship?  What about a priest who, through ordination, has become a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek? (Psalms 110:4) We can take a vacation. We can stop doing, but we cannot stop being.

When we are baptized, we become adopted children of God, co-heirs with Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit, forever changed by the sacramental graces. Even if we turn our back on our baptismal promises, we cannot erase the nature of our relationship with God.  But we can affect the impact or fruit of these graces in our lives depending on if and how we respond to the gift.

Just what is the nature of this gift, how far-reaching is it? From the very beginning, we understand that our life, our very being, is a gift from God, and it is only through God that we continue to exist.  The Creation account from Genesis 2:7 tells us: “then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”  In a reflection on this truth, the psalmist praises God: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”  (Psalm 139:13-14) St. Paul the Apostle attributes our continued existence to God as he evangelizes in Athens: “Yet he [God] is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’…” (Acts 17:27b-28a) Paul returns to this theme in many of his letters to the church communities he establishes on his various journeys to share the Gospel. Indeed, God both gives us and continues to hold us in existence.

We have so much to thank God for. Scripture tells us that everything we have comes from God. “Do not be deceived…. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:16-17).  Every good gift comes from God.

So, why would we even consider taking a vacation from God? If God holds us in existence, how can we expect to survive, let alone flourish, without him? What if he took a vacation from us? If every good gift is from him, even our vacation is a gift from him. Why would we exclude him? The only right response is gratitude, not neglect.

Let us resolve to observe the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy, and invite God to accompany us on vacation, so we can show him our gratitude for every good gift. And where can we find him, body, blood, soul, and divinity? At Mass, in the Eucharist, in every Catholic Church in every corner of the world.  As Catholics, we keep the Sabbath holy by attending Mass where participation in the Eucharist is an act of thanksgiving for all that God has done for us. Finding a local Mass is simple; check this link:  MassTimes – Find Catholic worship times for Mass, Confession, Adoration and Holy Days

Here’s what the Scriptures have to say:

Acts 17:27b-28  – Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

1 Corinthians 8:6 – …yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and from whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Colossians 1:17 – And he [Christ] is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Deuteronomy 5:12 – Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.