Detroit — In an age of busyness and bustle, those who seek to grow closer to God need to rediscover the necessity of rest, a Companions of the Cross priest told a gathering of parish leaders Sept. 10 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. Fr. Mark Goring, CC, delivered the keynote address during “The Lord’s Day,” an afternoon for parish leaders across the Archdiocese of Detroit on the need for rest and how it brings people closer to God.

“In Mathew 11:28, Jesus tells us, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,’” Fr. Goring said. “Jesus restores that rest through his resurrection. He tells the disciples, ‘Peace, be with you;’ he restores that rest.” Fr. Goring said rest is a state of being in which people are in the condition God intended for humans, secure in the knowledge of God’s love for them. Rest did not always come easy for Fr. Goring, who said he had problems sleeping at night because he never felt at peace with the existence of God or the path God intended for him to follow. “Growing up, I was an atheist, but I was a miserable atheist,” Fr. Goring said. “I grew up in a good Catholic family; we read aloud and prayed the rosary together. But at times, it felt like I was praying to a brick wall. I felt that smart people didn’t believe in God, because psychology and the sciences could explain why we felt we needed God.”

Fr. Goring said his outlook on life did not bring fulfillment, especially when it came to relating with his friends who were doing things he felt were wrong and morally empty. “I reached a crossroad of moral decisions. Even though I was young, I knew if I went down the path of doing what felt good, it would lead to an empty life.” That’s when Fr. Goring discussed his lack of faith with his father, who suggested reading about the saints. “When reading about the saints, I was in awe with how much they were in love with God,” Fr. Goring said. “I decided that is what I wanted. I wanted to encounter God. From then on, when I prayed, I felt God was in my presence, and that night, I had the deepest rest I could remember. That’s the meaning of God’s rest.”

The change of heart for Fr. Goring came from reflecting on the lives of the saints, their struggles, their faith and what challenges they overcame through God’s love. “I looked at all these wonderful people with whom God was pleased, and I wanted that,” Fr. Goring said. “God loves to tell us how much He loves us. This is the grace we receive, that God wants to believe us.” Fr. Goring said he started to take a new path with his newfound grace, using the lives of the saints as a model to show what a human being is capable of when they accept God’s love for them.

“After a while, I read more and grew to appreciate the protections of St. Joseph,” Fr. Goring said. “It was from there I learned what it takes to be a real man, not what my ‘friends’ wanted from me. I learned what a true man is; a man of virtue, fidelity, a worker, a family man. There is no better model of a father to strive for than St. Joseph, no better model for a man of God. “