Sabbath Keeping & Vigilance

An individually discerned practice of Sabbath keeping is invaluable to your practice of vigilance.

St. Ignatius teaches us, “the goal of life is to life with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit.” Several biblical vocabularies further explain the purpose of following Jesus: to abide in Christ (John 15), to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). These are all the dimensions of “entering his sabbath rest” of Hebrews chapter 4.

Abraham Joshua Heschel explains in his classic book titled, Sabbath, is that the biblical instruction is not to practice Sabbath merely one day a week. A sabbath is not a pit stop on our way back into the frenzy of busyness and the breakneck pace. Instead we set one day aside per week to deepen our familiarity with resting in God so that we can take sabbath into the rest of the week. The goal is to become sabbath people, that rest will define every aspect of our lives. In fact, another way to understand the purpose of the School of Prayer is to say we are attempting to develop a rule of life that will help us more fully live in the sabbath to follow the ways of the Lord of the Sabbath.

Regular, helpful discernment for your spiritual health will consider with vigilance: Why am I afraid to rest? Why do I resist sabbath? Who do I really believe sustains and provides for me?

We can develop a delightful confidence in rest as we learn to trust in the careful, faithful loving guidance of the Holy Spirit. We will be considering contemplative, wordless prayer in the SOP. However, contemplation does not replace petitionary prayer. God wants to be involved in the details of our lives, even the weeds.