If you look up the word “holiday” in a certain online source-of-all-knowledge you will find this: “The intention of a holiday was typically to allow individuals to tend to religious duties associated with important dates on the calendar.” Yes, the idea of a holiday has its origin in religion, as we can see from its two halves holi- and –day.

So as we get into the traditional summer holiday part of the year, we could pause a moment to remind ourselves that there is a spiritual dimension to the concept. I suppose we could connect the idea of an annual rest to that of a weekly one – a kind of yearly Sabbath – and that, of course is based on the Book of Genesis telling us that even God took a break after the mighty and somewhat exhausting task of creating everything.

Through most of history, the only type of holidays the average working person got was precisely religious ones. The idea of state, or Bank, holidays is a lot later. In some countries the link between state and church holidays is still much stronger than here in Britain where the Whitsun holiday got disconnected from Whitsun or Pentecost. We still have Christmas and Good Friday, though – at the moment…

So make sure this summer that you try to get some rest for your soul as well as your body. Don’t fill up your time with busy-ness. If possible, make sure you have time for just being as well as doing. Visit somewhere quiet and inspiring, maybe an old church or ruined abbey – we have plenty around.

Find a nice view or a quiet corner… give time for your soul to breath. Enjoy the summer – and may your holidays truly be holy-days!

Fr Matthew