Where to find our true rest

CHRIST himself said it very clearly that it is in him

where we can find our true rest. These are his words: “Come to me, all

you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11,28)

  

            To be sure, the rest that Christ gives us is not only

physical. It is the rest that includes all the aspects of our

life—emotional, psychological, mental, moral and spiritual. We need to

broaden our understanding of rest to go beyond the physical dimension.

  

            Christ offers us the due rest for our soul that can be

harassed by the problems of this world and the requirements of our

lifelong pursuit for holiness and apostolate. (cfr. Mt 11,29) This is

the real rest that is indeed meant for us. Short of this, our rest

would be at best only apparent, and cannot cope with the over-all

demands and pressures of our life.

  

            For this he advises us to learn from him, particularly in

his meekness and humility. I imagine that these virtues were

highlighted because they are the ones that would open the gates of our

soul to receive God’s grace, to be guided by faith rather than simply

by our senses and emotions and even by our intellectual powers.

   

            We have to see to it that our search for rest should not

get stuck in the level of our physical, emotional and intellectual

conditions. This is a crucial point because the entry point in our

process of knowing is through our senses, instincts and emotions,

before things get processed by our intellect.

  

            And things do not just end there in our intellect. We have

to see to it that our intellect, which does not create the truth but

can only recognize and express it, be enlightened and inspired by the

ultimate source of truth, which is our faith.

  

            Faith is a God-given view of the all the truths that we

need to know. It is God revealing and sharing his knowledge of things

with us. It is God sharing his powers with us. We just should not be

guided by our own lights and faculties, but by the light God gives us

through the gift of faith.

              To be sure, our faith is not just an intellectual affair,

limited to the world of ideas. It involves our whole person and

requires that our correspondence to it should precisely involve our

whole person.

             In other words, our life of faith should actually be an

actual encounter with Christ who is the fullness of God’s revelation

to us. And this is always possible and not just a fairytale, because

on the part of God, he already has given us everything that would make

his presence and provident action on us effective in our whole life.

  

            We really have to exercise our faith that in turn would

require of us to be meek and humble as Christ has advised us clearly.

For without meekness and humility, we would consider all this talk

about faith as enabling us to have an actual contact with Christ as

pure hogwash.

  

            If we truly have actual contact with Christ, and more than

that, if we follow him and identify ourselves with him, then there is

nothing in the world and in our life that we cannot handle. Christ can

take on anything, and we with him can also do the same.

             That is why Christ reassured his disciples that his yoke

is easy and his burden light. (cfr. Mt 11,30) We should not be afraid

and anxious about anything. Christ has resolved everything for us. And

we also can as long as we identify ourselves with him. That is why

Christ gives us the real rest meant for us.