In days gone by, summer was the classic time to slow down and rest. However, the culture has subtly changed that attitude. It is business as usual in so many aspects of our lives. We need to be purposeful if we intend to find any R&R. The family has sports tournaments, parish feasts and festivals to work, summer conferences and many other must-attend events that create a full schedule. If we want to restore our spirits we must get out that red pen and deliberately mark off the time to seek God, rest our body and soul, and even “be still and know that I am God.” If we presume that there will be time for care of the soul, it will never happen. This is the moment to put aside some time before the school bells of late August begin to ring, to spend a day at a retreat center, a weekend away or even a full-blown week at the beach may be the cure for our weary sprits.

Women make up about 78% of the parish-volunteer-catechist as well as professional staff. Well-rested catechists and DREs are an endangered species. In the six weeks before we return to active duty in the classroom, I offer you a wonderful spiritual makeover for women: Choosing Beauty by Gina Loeher. The author speaks and writes on the topic of women’s spirituality, and her book affirms that she has walked in the shoes of a busy woman. She offers a 30-day retreat for women that kicks off a beauty routine beginning with the work of the soul. She believes that beauty is an inside job. Choosing Beauty guides us through daily exercises that deal with a change of heart. We learn to seek a purer heart that brings a refreshing inner light which radiates God’s beauty to the world. If you get this book today, by August you will be a new creation! However, there is strength in numbers, and Gina’s book is the perfect resource for an early-morning coffee klatch with four good friends. In whatever way you use this book, it promises to be that wrinkle cream without price that can turn a prune back into a plum.

If your summer reading list contains only the latest best-selling novels, add balance with a short spiritual audiobook. Father Robert Barron’s Eucharist is a four-hour exploration of the “source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11). In the introduction, Father Barron says, “The Eucharist is not a luxury, but a necessity, for without it, we would, in a spiritual sense, starve to death.” I’ve selected a short clip from the audiobook Eucharist to share with you.

It’s time to pack up that young adult and send him or her off to college, the first apartment, to the armed services or anywhere life takes them. Parents may be looking forward to that empty bedroom becoming a new office, and shouldn’t feel the least-bit guilty.