Is a holiday doing nothing? No! We can use our time off for our body and soul..

God did not create man just for work… But do we know that we also concern the soul besides the body? Have we given any of our spare time to the soul recently?

Jesus says to the disciples: “Come ye yourselves into seclusion … and get some rest,” but he also acts. Mark writes that he “began to teach many things” (Mk. 6:30, 34). Jesus knew what it meant to rest. He often retires alone into silence. There he takes time to speak with the Father. Work is a consequence of original sin. Knowing to rest with God is time rightly used for the soul, for eternity. Jesus knows that those who work need to recharge their strength. Excessive activity, an unhealthy attitude toward the rights of body and soul, a gamble with health, will sooner later echo[ and one will suffer from sickness, and even hasten one’s death. God expects man to conquer the world by the peacock. Man is to take due care of the needs of both soul and body. Many today possess much and yet do not enjoy what they have accumulated. Who is to blame. God? Are there no reproaches: “God, why are you punishing me? Why did you die so young?

The world until the end of time needs leaders, teachers… shepherds, because the world, its misery, Jesus presented with the image that it is like “sheep without a shepherd.” (Mk 6:34) Jesus not only speaks the truth about the world but explains the need for rest for the shepherd, which the Evangelist St. Mark makes clear: “And he began to teach them many things” (Mk 6:34). Sheep without a shepherd is a picture of tragedy.

Jesus warns us not to be bad leaders, shepherds. Jesus, the “good shepherd,” desires that we walk toward holiness. This time is a time of grace. God said: “To everything, there is a season and a time to every endeavor under heaven… What profit hath he that is continually active, of all that he hath labored for?” God appointed the seventh day for rest. We read, “And on the seventh day he rested from all the works that he had done.” (Gen. 1:2). And shortly before that, we read, “And God created man in his image.” (Gen. 1:27).

We have time to ourselves. The less of it we have, the more we need to indulge ourselves. It is commendable that time of rest can be used for spiritual cleansing. Just as during leisure, we can paint, put things in order, and order in the soul, in thoughts, opinions, attitudes, towards ourselves, others, duties, hobbies, things, places, has to be done. With God, the proper use of vacation time holidays… can enrich and change life beyond recognition. Life changes by many degrees; life becomes more joyful, more fruitful…

You may have read that world-class company even give their employees funds for vacation time. They know that when they get adequate rest, they can perform better. There will be less sick leave. They will transfer their talents, skills, and intellectual values more and benefit their workplaces.