The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Growing up, I listened to Black women in my life share that their souls were tired and watched as they carried the world on their shoulders anyway. They were my role models and I learned to be like them—I learned Black women are expected to be strong. It was pain to wear proudly, our inclination to be a sturdy and dependable pillar for our community and push through our hearts’ exhaustion for everyone’s sake. We’re temped to this especially in times of unrest, like during this pandemic and resurgent movement for Black lives. I couldn’t resist the lure of staying strong and doing more to the point of collapse. Didn’t I need to pray harder for peace and healing? Didn’t I need to engage my friends and family on the topic of racism? Didn’t I need to spend more time willing safety into being for my vulnerable loved ones? If I didn’t spend time worrying about the state of the world and my place in it, who would?
“I will give you rest,” Jesus says.
It was terrifying to accept His gift at first. The Holy Spirit inspired me to take two weeks away from work and other virtual commitments, but I delayed the “vacation” for a week because I couldn’t let go of all the things that needed to get done. Finally, I gave in to His rest. Each day I encountered more of His peace—in nature, at a family wedding, in Scripture and in prayer, and in doing lovingly for myself all the things I once regarded as inconveniences.
In these two weeks I discovered that rest is a gift, granted to us by the One who loves us most. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened.” When I laid down at His feet everything I was carrying these last three months, I was surprised to learn that I’d picked up more along the way than Jesus had asked me to carry in the first place. “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.” We have our crosses to carry, yes. In carrying them we learn to be more like Jesus, meek and humble of heart. We must be careful to live in that humility so that we don’t take on more than He asks of us. Jesus always found time to rest and to spend with His Father. That rest allowed Him to continue to live out the Father’s will for Him and to be a good shepherd to the people who needed His love.
It took more strength to abandon myself to Jesus’ offer to be still with Him than it did to resist. But now I am refreshed and ready to carry my cross anew. I give praise to the Father who gives His little ones permission to be soft and carefree, and who invites us to rest in His heart.
Perpetua Charles is a book publicist in Boston, Massachusetts. She loves the Lord, TV, Disney princesses, books, Baby Yoda, 90s-00s teen pop, and the color pink. Come say hi on Instagram!