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  Episode Transcript  

One

The End of Another Year

It’s the end of another year. Let’s admit it. We could have done better. So here comes the familiar temptation: This is the year I finally get serious: More productive at work. A better spouse. Fix the kids. Exercise more. Do my spiritual practices. Get disciplined.

Already tired? I am. Here is something we resist hearing: God does not want - and does not need you to get busy.

He wants something much harder. He wants you to be still.

To see this, look at St. Joseph. Joseph is facing the greatest crisis of his life. Mary is pregnant. Nothing makes sense.
His future, his reputation, his marriage — everything is at risk.

From the Gospel of Matthew we hear, “Jesus was born in this way. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honor and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally.

He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit.’”

The wrong answer came by his effort alone. The right answer came when he was at rest. 

And it is precisely there, in rest, that God speaks.

Two

What If Joseph Had Stayed Busy?

What if Joseph had stayed busy instead of becoming still?

He divorces Mary; she gives birth to Jesus in Bethlehem alone; there is no one to take them to Egypt and Jesus is killed along with the other children by King Herod. We would still be saved by the death of Jesus but there would be no Apostles, no Church, no priesthood, no Eucharist, no body of teaching… 

What will be the results of your life be if you don’t become still and seek God in the rest of prayer?

Maybe not dramatic sins. Just a life driven more by busyness and distraction. Oh you might achieve things – but in the end they all fade. Only in God will our soul find rest. 

Three

Prayer Is Rest

Pope Francis speaks with striking clarity about St. Joseph:

Prayer is Resting in the Lord. Rest is so necessary for the health of our minds and bodies, and often so difficult to achieve due to the many demands placed on us. But rest is also essential for our spiritual health, so that we can hear God’s voice and understand what he asks of us. Joseph was chosen by God to be the foster father of Jesus and the husband of Mary. As Christians, you too are called, like Joseph, to make a home for Jesus…To hear and accept God’s call, to make a home for Jesus, you must be able to rest in the Lord. You must make time each day for prayer. But you may say to me: Holy Father, I want to pray, but there is so much work to do! I must care for my children; I have chores in the home; I am too tired even to sleep well. This may be true, but if we do not pray, we will not know the most important thing of all: God’s will for us. And for all our activity, our busy-ness, without prayer we will accomplish very little. 
This is not gentle advice.
It is a warning.

Psalm 62 reminds us “In God alone is there rest for my soul.”

This does not mean the mind is quiet, or the heart feels calm.
It means the soul has stopped looking elsewhere for happiness.

Not in accomplishment.
Not in control.
Not in productivity.
In God alone.

Four

Prayer Is More Fruitful Than Action

St. John of the Cross is even less accommodating.

He writes:

‘Those who are very active and think that they are going to encircle the earth with their preaching (work and busyness) . . . should realize that they would do the Church much more good, and please God much more . . . if they spent even half of this time being with God in prayer. In this way they would certainly achieve more, with less trouble, in one work than they would have done in a thousand: their prayer would merit it and would give them inner strength.’

Why are we so busy? Because we are trying to manufacture identity and self-worth through achievement.

So we exhaust ourselves. Then we exhaust our children.
Teaching them — without words — that value must be earned. But identity built on achievement always collapses. Careers end. Businesses sell. Bodies weaken. Health fails. Those who have lived long enough know: it all ends.

Only God can give you: your identity, your worth and what lasts forever. God does not need you to do anything for Him. What He wants is harder: 

Sit down.
Be quiet.
Receive.

Receive — not achieve.

Five

Bethlehem Is in Your Soul

All through December I have been meditating on an icon of the nativity scene. The little baby Jesus is in the center in the Manger. And everyone Else is completely still gazing at him, resting in him: Mary and Joseph the wise men the angels the shepherds and even the cow and the donkey – are just resting in him. 

And Bethlehem is not a thing of the past. Bethlehem is within you, it is in your soul because that is where Jesus is born again and again.

But there is a condition.

You must stop.
You must be still.
You must be silent.

And do not be surprised if rest does not feel restful at first.
When you stop running, everything you have been running from will speak. And when those things clamor for attention, for love. Say to the Baby Jesus, “I don’t need those things Lord, I just need you."

Only then can you adore Him there.

So the question is simple:

Will you rest in God alone?
Or will you keep running?

It’s up to you.

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