EVEN A POPE TOOK HOLIDAYS. CAN YOU SWITCH OFF TOO?
The afternoon is free. You, though, are already looking for something to fix. John Paul II in the mountains leaves us a question about the time we give ourselves.
The computer's closed, but you're still working. Think about that answer, check if a notification came in, remember something to do on Monday. You imagined an afternoon off. Now that you have it, you almost don't know where to put it.
Sometimes resting puts you in more trouble than having a commitment. If someone asks you what you've done, you'd like to be able to list at least three useful things. A walk without a destination seems to be too small an answer. Sitting outside and looking, you feel like you have to justify it.
Yet even in the life of a pope there was the time of vacation. In view of the memory of Saint John Paul II, on October 22, let us stop on an image different from the large squares: a stay among the mountains of the Aosta Valley, with space for silence.
Les Combes, a Sunday of 2004
On 11 July 2004, John Paul II prayed the Angelus in Les Combes. He thanked those making his stay and that of his colleagues peaceful, and spoke about the quiet of the mountains. In the text he recalled how the many opportunities for communication and information could leave little space for reflection. He also presented holidays as a time to cultivate inner life.
This is the documented point from which we start. The following reflection is about our days: what happens when we always have something to receive, read, solve? Can we still leave an open question without immediately filling the silence?
Maybe you recognize that scene: you are in front of a beautiful panorama, take the photo, send it, wait for an answer. When you raise your eyes, you realize you've looked at the screen longer. You don't have to blame yourself for the photograph. You can just stay there a little longer.
Rest does not need a final benefit
You can come back from a walk without having a brilliant idea. You can read ten pages and forget the time. You can spend an afternoon with someone without turning it into an opportunity to deal with all the outstanding problems.
Even people you love can meet you in a different way when you're not coordinating every minute. Maybe you start talking about lunch and you end up telling each other something you missed. Maybe stay calm. Not every encounter must produce an important confidence to be shared time.
This also applies in our relationship with God. A moment of recollection may contain a reading of the Gospel, a known prayer, a question of yours. You can get there with thoughts scattered. If you don't get the silence right now, it doesn't mean you got your rest wrong.
What if you can't afford a vacation now?
There are lives in which to find free time requires a huge organization. Jobs, assistance to a loved one, children, expenses to be faced: it is not enough to suggest turning off the phone. Sometimes that phone has to stay on just because someone might need it.
That is why a reflection on rest must have regard for the real possibilities. A trip and ten minutes in the sun are not the same thing. Both, however, can make us recognize a need that deserves to be listened to. People who take care of others need, in turn, people to share something with.
You could ask for a precise change, if anyone's available. Or protect a small interval that already exists: the walk, the break after lunch, a few minutes before returning. Its value doesn't depend on the beauty of the place you're in.
An inhabited break, with your name
Try to imagine a time you really want. Not what would be nice to show. Maybe it's taking a walk with a friend, maybe listening to music, maybe going to church when it's quiet. Maybe for today, it's just sitting down.
You can also choose what to leave out for a while. A working conversation that can wait, a repeated check of notifications, the claim to respond to everything immediately. If you have shared responsibilities, talking about it with those who are next to you makes that break more concrete and possible.
The quietness of Les Combes must not be transformed into a recipe for a peaceful day. Life continues to bring commitments and concerns. That page of John Paul II invites us, however, to take the interior space seriously, which easily always ends after everything else.
Today you could start with a small thing: give yourself time to finish the coffee feeling the flavor. Really look at the person you're with. Stay two more minutes in front of that view. Without having to prove on the way back that it was worth it.
