Simon Marsh

The apostles returned from their mission. They gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

Mark 6.30-32

I LOVE TO RECALL FR JIM BRAND’S coming to address one of our Swanwick Clergy Conferences years ago. An energetic and inspiring priest, much of the gist of what he had to say has stayed with me, long after I finally lost the tapes I was in the habit, frequently, of loaning to friends. I keep promising myself that, one day, I’ll ask the Diocesan Office whether they’ve kept copies of those tapes.

Christian people, Fr Jim suggested, wasted many of life’s most wonderful opportunities simply because they were too busy rushing on to the next thing. When engaged in conversation, or administering the sacraments, Fr Jim reckoned to work hard at ensuring that the person in front of him, at that moment, received his fullest and best attention. I’ve tried, often unsuccessfully, to follow his example.

‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile,’ …

… said Jesus to his apostles, teaching them, much as Fr Jim would later teach our gathering at Swanwick, something of the spiritual discipline of retreat, or waiting, or contemplation. Of course we know that Jesus was pastorally compassionate, too: only a verse or two after his call to rest we read, in v. 34

… as he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things …

But that takes nothing away from the principle that Christian people need to take time for rest, refreshment, prayer and contemplation—time for the present moment. Time for God.

Fr Richard Rohr OFM—another priest who continues to teach me a very great deal, tells of an encounter between a Zen master and his disciple:

“Is there anything I can do to make myself enlightened?”

“As little as you can do to make the sun rise in the morning.”

“Then of what use are the spiritual exercises you prescribe?”

“To make sure you are not asleep when the sun begins to rise”

Fr Richard goes on to say

“The contemplative secret is to learn to live in the now. The now is not as empty as it might appear to be or that we fear it may be”. ¹

Come, then, let us rest awhile

 

“in the Lord; in whom you (we) also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God.”

Ephesians 2.22