Living in our constantly-connected society means that work-life balance is difficult to find. With so much to do, how can we carve out quality time to rest, rejuvenate, and relax with our family?

During a recent Catechetical Corner on Go Ask Your Father™, Msgr. Stuart Swetland highlighted the importance of keeping holy the Sabbath, and pointed out that this commandment from the Lord may hold the key to helping us find the rest that we desire. Msgr. Swetland said:

“The 3rd Commandment about worshipping God on the Sabbath, celebrating His holy day, speaks of work and prayer, labor and rest. We need to have a balanced life. We need to have periods of work – intense work, work done well in a timely, orderly, and complete way – but we also need times of rest, of recreation. Including, of course, our summer vacation for most of us. It’s that time when we take time off to recuperate. This is something the Lord wants for us.

If you look at the statistics, people in the United States work longer hours than every first-world country. We work an incredible amount of hours more than the Japanese and the Germans, for example. These are two very industrious nations, but we work longer hours than they do.

God wants us to have a work-life balance. Part of the Commandment is that we work, but part of the Commandment is that we rest. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. It is a day of rest, a day of renewal, a day of worship and prayer.

And so in our life we hunger for and work toward that work-life balance, that work-rest balance, that life-prayer balance that the Lord wants for us.”

Listen to the full Catechetical Corner below:

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