Last week I was talking to a New York Times author and she asked me the following question, “without thinking too much about the answer what is the most important lesson the contemplative nuns you knew for 40 years taught you.?” Immediately I said, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Beliefs drive the unconscious as a human being. Paying attention to belief systems can be very illuminating. Much like the season, we are into this month: A season of Light, a Festival of Lights celebrated through Hanukkah or the moonlight that led the Wise Men to Baby Jesus in a stable. This is the season of Light and yet worldwide we are all facing dark days of winter living through a Pandemic. Depending on where one is in the life cycle the Pandemic has yielded a spectrum of opportunities as well as emotions including loss, anxiety, depression for some. For some, a newfound kind of rest; rest from daily commutes, from others expectations, allowing new ways of coping to open up and adapting to a new reality. This uncertainty of what lies ahead in winter is both hopeful and ominous. A vaccine is on the way, but not before these dark days of winter. Turning toward Advent I read this morning in my morning prayers the words,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you.” (Matt. 11:28-30)

Rest and prayer are very much related to one another. A noisy, busy or tense body does not lend itself to the experience of prayer. In the Psalms, we hear God Speak to us: Be still and know that I am God. St. Augustine reminds us of the restless nature of our hearts which are calmed and rest only in the Lord, (for those of us who are Christian) When Jesus himself was confronted with the weariness that comes from constant giving, he retired to the desert or the hills or the garden to be in the quiet communion with the Father. And we hear him invite his apostles, after a particularly busy time, to “come by yourselves to an out of the way place and rest a little.” (Mark 6:31)

A part of the Hanukkah story is the Jewish festival commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. This revolt involved conflict. Patients come to us with conflict and seek new ways through their beliefs to go and live life.

Talking relieves stress, reflecting is equally as important to give rise to deeper communication with loved ones. Take a moment and breath deeply, in through your nose and out of your mouth. Feel your body, alive, well, healthy. What does the Season of Light mean to you, how are you reconciling this sea change of humanity with your own sense of the mystery of faith?