I don’t like the term vacation (Translator’s note: The word in Czech is “dovolená”, evoking the feeling of being allowed time off work by somebody else). Its true meaning is misleading. It’s not about someone giving us permission to rest. After all, even the Ten Commandments say, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
So we have an outright obligation to rest. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? The “vacation,” as the time off for rest is called, is actually a God-given holiday. And it doesn‘t matter how one spends it. Whether you drive to a cabin not too far from your home, fly abroad, or relax at home.
Personally, I don’t wait around for summer to come and then try thinking of places to go. For me, a vacation is not sweating somewhere on a beach, sleeping in a strange bed, and being forced to meet with people from the same hotel or camp for entertainment in the evening. My whole life, as I say with exaggeration, is one big party, and I travel enough throughout the year, so I have plenty of experiences and new places to discover 365 days a year.
In the summer, I rather enjoy the quiet when the streets are empty after most city residents take off for their vacation jaunts. Outside, you can hear the fountain humming in the square, smell the barbecue from surrounding gardens, sometimes even from my garden, where I like to grill something for my friends. I’ll meet up with friends for a drink or two by the water... That’s what I call relaxation!
I don’t begrudge anyone their way of spending the summer; let everyone enjoy it as they like. In any case, the essential thing is that wherever we are, at home, in the forest, by a lake, far away in the mountains or on a beach by the sea, God is always with us. Whether we are with Him, I don’t know, but He is definitely with us.
The world we live in, the world that surrounds us, is the most beautiful temple of God. And the greatest temple is nature itself. The wonders of summer, sunsets and sunrises that we travel far and wide
to see during this period, the smell of the forest or a freshly cut meadow, the surge of sea waves, the colors of flowers in the fields or butterflies landing on them... All of this confirms that there is something that transcends us, whether we realize it or not.
So my wish for everyone is that their holidays do not empty their souls, hearts, or wallets!
THE AUTHOR
Zbigniew Jan Czendlik (born September 6, 1964, in Brenna, Poland) is a Roman Catholic priest of Polish descent working in Czechia, and the dean of Lanškroun. He is incardinated in the Katowice archdiocese.
He studied the faculty of theology in Katowice and Warsaw, and he was ordained as a priest in 1989. Three years later he was sent to Czechia.
In 2005 he launched a children‘s home in Žichlínek. He was named a dean in 2008.
He is the benefactor of a dog shelter as well as an active athlete.
