Maintaining Your Spiritual Life on Vacation
By Katie Zachok
I don’t know a single person who doesn’t look forward to having time off. Vacation is a welcome break from the cares and responsibilities of everyday life. Whether you’re a mom, a student, or a working professional, everyone needs a break and an opportunity to switch up the schedule (or clear it) now and then. This is particularly true after a year of quarantine and restrictions, and I’m sure many of us are chafing at the bit to escape the mundane.
While it is a fantastic feeling to let go of that to-do list for a time, it also seems that it is all too easy to throw our prayer routine to the winds as well. I have often found in my own personal experience that it is really challenging to keep up my spiritual life when I’m at the beach and inclined to sleep in, stay up late, and do some general lounging around.
Our bodies and souls need rest, yet the enemy is resourceful and will use any of our circumstances to drive a wedge between us and God. But the Good Shepherd never takes a vacation. He pursues us everywhere and is always knocking at the doors of our hearts. So even while we are taking a well-deserved break, it is paramount that we create space for relationship with the Lord, and not apart from Him. Below are five ways you can maintain your one-on-one time with God when the rest of your routine has taken a back seat.
1. Consider your location and list of activities.
This is probably the most practical place to start. Will you be at the beach, in the mountains, or in a city? Will you be sightseeing, visiting family, or do you have a clear schedule with nothing planned except lots of napping? Are you traveling alone, with friends, or with children? Are you traveling by plane, or is this a road trip? These are important questions to ask because they will help you to set reasonable expectations for yourself. If you’re going on a tour or are still juggling the duties of motherhood, then reading Scripture and journaling for an hour each day might be difficult to pull off. On the other hand, if you’ll be contentedly resting under a beach umbrella for most of your visit, then you’ve got even more free time to spend with the Lord than you normally would!
2. Decide on your non-negotiables.
Just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean you have to completely switch up your prayer routine. If something has been working for you, or a certain devotion has been feeding your soul, don’t abandon it! Decide on two or three things that you’d like to keep consistent throughout your time away. Do you say the Rosary every day without fail? Do you pray the Liturgy of the Hours or have a Magnificat subscription? Is spiritual reading important to you? Of course, always do a little research ahead of time and make plans for Sunday Mass, wherever you are!
3. Use your “holy imagination.”
While your imagination is an important tool for meditation, you can also use it to come up with creative ways to connect with the Lord! Oftentimes, vacation is about sharing new experiences and spending time with the people we love the most, just in a different location. We can do the same with our heavenly family! Going on a hike? Time to reach out to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati! On the beach or out on the open ocean? What a perfect opportunity to contemplate Christ walking on water, to think about His “ocean” of Divine Mercy, or to foster devotion to Our Lady, Star of the Sea! In a big city? Why not look up local shrines or cathedrals to visit? If you’re still a little overwhelmed, nature is always a fantastic fallback. God’s creations inspire wonder and awe, and that can naturally move us to prayer and a deeper love for the beauty He has created to win our hearts.
4. Embrace your crosses.
Easier said than done, right? The interior life is full of challenges, and our crosses don’t take time off just because we do. Whether you’re dealing with chronic illness, family tension, travel hiccups, or just trying to gather the willpower to say your Rosary instead of scrolling on social media, opportunities for sacrifice abound. Holding onto the dream of the “perfect vacation” can limit how much you’re actually able to enjoy. Making time for God when an open schedule beckons requires sacrifice, but as I’m sure most of us know, when we don’t make time for Him, life becomes harder to navigate. Pray for strength and patience, so that you can roll with the punches along the way. It’s no small task to keep your cool when you’re suddenly confronted with your crosses, but each moment can be another victory, another situation in which you can choose Christ over your circumstances.
5. Be open to change.
God is endlessly creative. Sometimes, He will use a break in the routine to shake things up, challenge our current perceptions, or bring up things in our hearts that need attention and healing. He isn’t trying to turn the tables on us just when we finally have time to ourselves. Rather, He is using this down time as a way of asking our permission to let Him come closer. That can feel unnerving sometimes, especially to experience His persistent knock during a time when we’re searching for peace. Good news—He is Peace. Pay attention to His voice and let Him enter in. Because He is Love Itself, our willingness to be open will be the start of something great.
Spiritual idleness is a snare laid by the enemy right smack in the middle of our summer vacations, but we can sidestep it with a little creativity and perseverance, and a whole lot of grace. St. Teresa of Avila once remarked that we are never static in the spiritual life. We are either growing toward God, or we are growing further away from Him. Love is never at a standstill. Love always wants to keep growing and expanding because it seeks unity. These tips could be the vital first steps in letting Him transform our “lazy” days into days during which we rest more deeply in Him. As women, we are hardwired to give of ourselves to others, which is why it is so difficult, especially in today’s culture, to allow someone else to give of themselves to us. Vacation is a golden opportunity to allow His Sacred Heart to be the resting place for which we yearn so deeply.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28
