A 2023 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) survey collated the data of the annual average hours worked in different countries. At the top of the charts was Mexico clocking in at an average of 2,128 hours per year, per worker, and at the lowest was Germany at 1,349 hours a year, per worker. This was the data that was documented. Singapore is however not on this chart and its data of labour hours is not recorded, but a quick calculation of the permissible 44 work hours per week according to Manpower legislation, multiplied by approximately 52 weeks in a year, gives a resounding average of 2,288 hours worked in a year for each worker. Singapore surpasses the most worked country that has been documented, Mexico, in terms of the average hours spent labouring by a worker. These statistics are stupefying. How in the world is this possible that Singapore’s population of 5.8 million is more overworked than Mexico’s 129.83 million people?

The world we live in exists in a mania and delirium of chaos, noise, restlessness, ennui, and overwork. There is a culture that glorifies workaholism, while stress and burn-out are celebrated as badges of honour. The Trappist monk Thomas Merton writes,

“There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.” (Merton, 1966, P. 73.)

The disclaimer that Merton proposes to a world caught up in its relentless rat race, is that work must be accompanied by rest. However, rest, is a concept that appears foreign to many and seems difficult to grasp. Yet, the work of the Kingdom of God cannot and does not exist in a constant flux of toil and exertion, but is prayerfully punctuated by moments of retreat, solitude, and repose.

In fact, God our Maker and Father, Himself enjoins and prescribes the need for rest, as He rested as well. As Genesis 2:2 states, “On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.” As labourers in God’s fields, we are also specifically commanded and exhorted: “Six days you may labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your work animal, or the resident alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested.” (Exodus 20: 9-11) The implication of this command is tremendous. As it coincides with the Sabbath Day, with the Sabbath Day being holy, rest as gifted and required by God is thus sanctified and sacred.

This is further augmented by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC. 2042) which proclaims,

“The first precept (“You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labour”) requires the faithful to sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the principal liturgical feasts honouring the mysteries of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints; in the first place, by participating in the Eucharistic celebration, in which the Christian community is gathered, and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days.”

The concept of rest is so important that it is mentioned 346 times in the Bible as the word, “rest”  (Lyons, 2008, p.1621) and 419 times as its synonym, “peace” (Lyons, 2008, p. 1458); while the word, “sleep” is mentioned 78 times (Lyons, 2008, p. 78). For example, when his disciples were overwhelmed and exhausted by the crowds of people and the ministering work at hand, Jesus tells them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” (Mark 6:31).

We also find that the creative work of God follows sleep. In Genesis 2:21-22, “So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman.”

Sleep is sometimes the means through which God speaks. Before Abram was given his mission, he fell into a “deep sleep” (Genesis 15:12), while Joseph was sent an angel as he slept: “… the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.’ (Matthew 1: 20)

We also understand that sleep is a gift from God – to be able to rest is a gift of God – as the Psalmist proclaims, “It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night, to eat bread earned by hard toil— all this God gives to his beloved in sleep.” (Psalm 127:2) It is something to take note of, because when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, a curse was proclaimed upon humanity: “Cursed is the ground because of you! In toil you shall eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bear for you, and you shall eat the grass of the field. By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17-19) While we have been commanded to toil with great difficulty because of this Original Sin – work in itself is not the punishment, because prior to this incident, Adam and Eve’s work was to tend to the flora and fauna growing in the garden of Eden – to which they deployed themselves without shame, and in the fullness of joy. What however has happened is that now with sin, the work has become laborious. The Lord in His mercy gifts rest and respite as a blessing to counter the curse of languid and arduous toiling.

At the heart of this, is a God of Compassion – that He who made us understands our human frailties, and the limitations of our capacities. The call to rest amidst our daily labour, is an invitation to come away from the pandemonium of daily living and be still in the quietude. As a sacred space is created for God in our time of rest, our spiritual work is renewed and rejuvenated as our battered and tired bodies are healed and recharged in a much-needed breathing space. It is thus foolishness to work at the mill like we are chained to it, incessantly, without pause and rest, like a workhorse in servitude with its blinkers on.

In the face of our worldly cares and drudgeries, Jesus gently calls out to us: “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30)

The Saints too encourage us in our weariness:

“God is there in these moments of rest and can give us in a single instant exactly what we need.”
– St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross

“Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.”
– St. Augustine

While our Beloved Pope reminds us,

“Joseph’s rest revealed God’s will to him. In this moment of rest in the Lord, as we pause from our many daily obligations and activities, God is also speaking to us. He speaks to us in the reading we have just heard, in our prayer and witness, and in the quiet of our hearts…

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 make a home for Jesus! You make a home for him in your hearts, your families, your parishes and your communities.

To hear and accept God’s call, to make a home for Jesus, you must be able to rest in the Lord.” (Pope Francis, 2015, para. 6 – 8)

The importance of rest and the need for it, are understated. To accomplish our fullest potential in our daily work and ministry, rest is mandatory, and it is in fact highly recommended by God our loving Father.

 

By the Grace of God,

Brian Bartholomew Tan

 

References

Catechism of the Catholic Church. (1999.) Catechism of the Catholic Church (Revied Edition). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Burns & Oats.

Lyons, C. (2008). The Catholic Bible Concordance. (Revised Standard Version, Catholic Version). Emmaus Road Publishing.

Merton T. (1966). Conjectures of a guilty bystander. New York, NY: Doubleday.

OECD (2023), Hours worked (indicator). [Report] Retrieved March 23, 2023 from https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm. doi: 10.1787/47be1c78-en

Pope Francis. (2015). Meeting with Families. Address of His Holiness Pope Francis. Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Francis to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. (12-19 January 20215). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved from, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/january/documents/papa-francesco_20150116_srilanka-filippine-incontro-famiglie.html