Reflective ective Moments Moments Refl By Sister Marietta Wethington, OSU
August 2007
The purpose of Reflective Moments is to offer you a way to incorporate the spirit of Saint Angela into your own lives. We hope that it enriches you spiritually.
Remember the words in a song, Summertime and the livin’ is easy? I feel sure that was true at one time in our culture. But what about today – how many of us can really say that? It seems that today’s norm is overwork and constant activity. Thomas Merton called that a form of violence that we inflict on ourselves. So many of us seem to be addicted to work and to busyness. Our identity seems to be tied to our work. Is that God’s design for us? Scripture tells us that on the seventh day God rested. So it seems to be a Godlike thing to take time for rest and play. In the psalms we read: My soul finds rest in God alone. Psalm 62:1 Be at rest once more, my soul, for God has been good to you. Psalm 116:7 Exodus 20:18 tells us, Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. That seems to direct us to take time for rest and play at least one day a week. God gave us time to rest – even modeled resting for us. It would seem that when we allow our compulsions to production and work to run our life, we are allowing them to invade the God given time we have for rest. What do you want to do about that if you are one of those compulsive over achievers? Perhaps all of us can: Go with Angela to the feet of Jesus and... • Reflect on how we can attend to our body and spirit. • Design a day of rest and recreation that would be perfect for our body and spirit and schedule it on our calendars. • Set aside some weekly time to play and be faithful to it. Angela told us to visit each other often: • Who would enjoy a visit from you? • With whom would you enjoy visiting?
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