7 Papal Quotes on Summer Holidays and Vacations

As life slows down over the Summer weeks, here are a few quotes from our most recent popes on vacations, rest and relaxation.

Saturday, July 30, 2022
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As life slows down over the Summer weeks, here are a few quotes from our most recent popes on vacations, rest and relaxation.

1. During Summertime, let us learn how to take a break, turn off the mobile phone to gaze into the eyes of others, cultivate silence, contemplate nature and regenerate ourselves in dialogue with God.

Pope Francis

2. Holidays and vacations can help to balance activity with contemplation, haste with more natural rhythms, noise with the heralding silence of peace.

Pope St John Paul II

3. Every good Christian knows that vacation is the time to rest the body but also to nurture the spirit through more time for prayer and meditation, to grow in one’s personal relationship with Christ and follow his teachings ever more closely.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

4. In today’s often frenetic and competitive society, in which the logic of production and profit prevail, often at the expense of the individual, it is still necessary for everyone to be able to enjoy adequate periods of rest, in which to regain their energy and at the same time restore the right inner balance. Vacations, holidays, must be wisely used in order to benefit the individual and the family through contact with nature, tranquillity, the opportunity to foster greater family harmony, good reading and health recreational activities; above all, through the possibility of spending more time in prayer, in contemplation and in listening to God.

Pope St John Paul II

5. Rest is so necessary for the health of our minds and bodies, and often so difficult to achieve due to the many demands placed on us. But rest is also essential for our spiritual health, so that we can hear God’s voice and understand what he asks of us.

Pope Francis

6. Vacation time offers the unique opportunity to pause before the thought-provoking spectacles of nature, a wonderful ‘book’ within reach of everyone, adults and children. In contact with nature, a person rediscovers his correct dimension, rediscovers himself as a creature, small but at the same time unique, with a ‘capacity for God’ because interiorly he is open to the Infinite.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

7. Through the recreation and leisure made possible by travel, people are restored and renewed, body and spirit. They return home to family and work with a new perspective and enthusiasm for life.

Pope St John Paul II

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