Rest in the Garden of Labour

You tell me of a week that never ends

In the Name of Jesus Christ crucified and of sweet Mary. Dearest children, you tell me that the days run together, and that work has no edge; that you carry with you a lure which calls you at all hours, so that the day which should be given to rest is eaten up with errands and chatter, and the evening that remains is spent in watching the lives of others until the heart is hollowed and the sleep is only a little curtain that covers a hungrier waking. You say that physicians name this weariness and call it burnout, and bid you seek rest, which you cannot find. I will not call your state by any name that is not yours to bear, nor will I pretend that my dusk and your dusk are of the same craft; you tell me what you endure, and I will set it against what I know of the soul and of the remedy God gives.

Rest is received, not merely taken

Hear this plainly: rest is not only the stopping of hands and feet, for many a one rests in outward stillness and yet is more weary than the ploughman in the field; and many a one labours, and yet is full of ease in the conscience. The difference between stopping and being at rest is great and must be understood, because if the soul only lays down her tools and keeps inward hate and rebellion, she has not rested but only ceased to move. Know, dearest daughter, how, by humble, continual, and faithful prayer, the soul acquires, with time and perseverance, every virtue. In that saying is the whole secret: the soul is given repose by a loving exchange, for when she shuts her door and waits upon the Lord in humble and continual prayer she receives what she did not make; she is filled by the largess of God, inebriated by the sight of the Blood which clothes her with the fire of divine charity, so that her labour, rightly ordered, becomes food and not theft.

Make two homes: outer order, inner cell

If rest is a thing received, the creature must prepare a house that is ready to receive it; otherwise grace comes and she is not at home to welcome it. One actual home in thy cell, that thou go not running about into many places, unless for necessity, or for obedience to the prioress, or for charity’s sake; and another spiritual home, which thou art to carry with thee always—the cell of true self- knowledge, where thou shalt find within thyself knowledge of the goodness of God. I told a simple maiden this, and she learned that the active life and the inner life must dwell together as two rooms in the same house, the one to attend bodily needs and the other to shelter the eye of the intellect so that it may see by the light of faith. If thou hast no inner cell, then every errand and every message will scatter thee, and thou shalt carry the tumult of the world into thy sleeping hours; but if thou art used to entering that inner cell, even business done with the hands may be pierced by recollection and made prayer, so that toil ministers to charity and does not steal the soul’s peace.

Distinguish rest from mere stopping

Men think that to stop is to rest; but often halting brings only more unrest, because the hunger of the spirit is left unfilled and the appetite of self-love is not slain. This is a thing which is very necessary, if you wish to have God in your soul through grace, and to be at rest even according to the world. When a man keeps inward hatred, or dwells on injustice, or nourishes a secret pride, he has not taken rest but only put aside his tools; his conscience gnaws him as a dog gnaws at a bone, and sleep is troubled. True rest is the quieting of the will by contrition and humility, the slaying of self-will with the knife of hatred, and the setting of love of God before the desires of the creature; then the conscience is refreshed, mercy is restored, and peace descends like dew. I have seen with my eyes how men who forgive and who renounce private vengeance live in peace and quiet, and suffer no perturbation, because the wrath that perturbs is slain in their soul; that peace is the first sacrament of rest. Give therefore thy soul satisfaction in God: confess, humble thyself, and remove the opinions of self that disturb the night and the day.

Leisure that is not distraction

There is leisure which is a field laid for sowing and there is idleness which is a wilderness where the weeds of self-love grow. Leisure must feed the flame of charity and not the fever of vainglory; it is to be a flowering, not an empty field. Recollect thyself a little after bread, return to that cell you carry within, and let the appetite of the eyes and tongue be ruled, that the mind may keep holy desire as a continual prayer; this is what I mean when I say that vocal prayer should lead to mental prayer, and that a good and holy will is itself a continual prayer. Read with judgment, not to show thy knowledge, but to be instructed; visit the poor in humility, not for praise, but to labour for the salvation of souls; use the hours of evening to quiet vigilance rather than to look outward at the pictures and voices that feed discontent. The love of obedience places in the house of his soul the lovers of his spouse, Obedience, who are the true and royal virtues, and when she has entered she possesses peace and quiet, for her enemies have been exiled. In such ordering leisure is a gift that increases desire, and desire draws down rest from the hand of God. Beware, therefore, of amusements that scatter the mind and of occupations that substitute the opinion of outward life for the judgment of conscience.

What the lay reader may do differently this week

To those who are not religious I will speak plainly, as I spoke plainly to men of office in my day: know thyself. There is no rule that one must live cloistered in order to recover rest, but there is a rule that the soul must be taught to carry a cell within. Withdraw sometimes not merely in body but in will, to reckon thyself and to see whether thou livest for display or for service; this is the cure which no device and no quantity of sleeping can give. Let the night be for needed rest and for a little vigil of the heart; let the morning find you with some recollection before any voice demands reply, that you may begin the day by placing God, or that which is highest, before your work, and so order the lesser things by the measure of what is supreme. Take heed of the appetite that would make your labour the end and not the means; labour rightly ordered ceases to devour because it is offered for the neighbour and for what is good. Again I say to you—do not delay; use the strength God gives to slay those petty tyrants within, the little wills that would have you always answer and be seen and be amused. This slaying is not cruelty but medicine: it is hatred of the bad in you that becomes love of what is good.

A last exhortation: be courageous and persevere

To every soul I say: be a manly man; be courageous in deciding what the heart needs and then do not delay to do it. The Devil fears a strong will more than many prayers; therefore gird thy will with humility and strike at the things that waste thee. Perseverance is the queen who is crowned, and by perseverance, seasoned with the light of faith, the soul comes to taste the food of the Blood, and is inebriated with love until she rests. Remember the saying of our Lord, that you are not to take thought for the morrow; seek first what is great and eternal, not to the neglect of the household, but as the rule of ordering all lesser cares. Order thy life, then, with moderation: the night to recollection and such sleep as the body needs, the morning to prayer, and the daytime to works of charity and duty; and in the intervals keep thy soul’s chamber so that when grace comes it finds a habitation. I say no more. Remain in the holy and sweet grace of God. Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love.