When Doing Nothing is Better Than Doing Something - Part 3
We continue our look at when doing nothing is better than doing something. First we considered those times when when it's better to say nothing. Next we considered those times when it's better to think nothing. Now we condisder Fr. Hagspiel's advice about those times when it's better to desire nothing.
These, of course, apply to all aspects of our daily activities, be we'll focus, as usual, on applying this particular discipline to our work.
Desire Nothing
This advice - Desire Nothing - isn't negative or even passive. It's really positive and active. We're not being called to simply turn our backs on the world, it's rewards, pleasures and lures. We're called to put that which really matters first. So when we "desire nothing" it's not a call to a kind of neutral, or dull and emotionless state. We might understand this better if we re-phrase "Desire nothing" to: Desire nothing that the world holds up as desirable."
Unless we actively attend to and fill our lives with important things, unimportant, even trivial matters will fill our time. Think of the idiom "Nature abhors a vacuum." It means that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural , as they go against the laws of nature and physics. If we're not concerned with and actively pursuing the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, before you know it, we're expending all our time and energy on the trivial, the mediocre, even the ugly. For example, we focus strictly on making money and acquiring stuff. We worry about what others think of us. We'll let Father Hagspiel take it from here:
Count all this world’s goods as dross. They cannot bring happiness and content, and they generally harden the heart.
The only free man is the one who desires nothing. Let your prayer be “Give me only Thy love and
Thy grace. Having these, I have sufficient and nothing more do I ask.”
Do not desire riches which buy only material things. All the really valuable things of life, such as love, friendship, happiness, contentment, are unpurchasable. A rich man is a man who desires things, who has not poverty of spirit.
Neither desire that the hearts of others should be wrapped up in you, that esteem and honor should be yours, poor “mouth-breath” which satisfies no one.
Do not desire health or sickness, a long life or a short one, prosperity or adversity. Leave yourself completely in the hands of God, Who knows what will bring you to Heaven. Desire only to do His holy Will, the end for which He placed you on this earth.
Let's expand a bit on this last point. While we should always treat our bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit, we shouldn't obsess on our appearance or even how we feel physically or emotionally. The fact is, we won't necessarily be perfectly healthy all the time even if we eat well, exercise diligently, and take prudent measures to minimize stress. I suspect we can all point to instances either in our own lives or the lives of those near and dear to us where sickness or injury knocked us for a loop either temporarily or - in some cases - permanently. As Catholics, it's important for us to remember that Our Lord has explicitly told us we must take up our crosses. Of course, it may not be a pleasant recollection, but we need to reconcile ourselves to it.
(Frankly, it's hard for me to be saying this, as I'm the last one to either recall Our Lord's words enthusiastically and take up my crosses. A life of leisure and comfort would be my preferred mode. But as a Catholic, I do pray for the grace to change. And when misfortune comes my way in this area, I know - at least with my intellect - that God's grace will suffice.)
It might help here if we remember that love, in its most basic sense, means sacrifice. We would do anything for our beloved. And that will inevitably mean giving things up that we like, suffering, or - in rare instances - giving up our lives.
The prime example of this, of course, is the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ - done for the love of each and every one of us.
Many thanks to Father Bruno Hagspiel's comments about "nothing." I hope you found them as enlightening and helpful as I have.
These, of course, apply to all aspects of our daily activities, be we'll focus, as usual, on applying this particular discipline to our work.
Desire Nothing
This advice - Desire Nothing - isn't negative or even passive. It's really positive and active. We're not being called to simply turn our backs on the world, it's rewards, pleasures and lures. We're called to put that which really matters first. So when we "desire nothing" it's not a call to a kind of neutral, or dull and emotionless state. We might understand this better if we re-phrase "Desire nothing" to: Desire nothing that the world holds up as desirable."
Unless we actively attend to and fill our lives with important things, unimportant, even trivial matters will fill our time. Think of the idiom "Nature abhors a vacuum." It means that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural , as they go against the laws of nature and physics. If we're not concerned with and actively pursuing the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, before you know it, we're expending all our time and energy on the trivial, the mediocre, even the ugly. For example, we focus strictly on making money and acquiring stuff. We worry about what others think of us. We'll let Father Hagspiel take it from here:
Count all this world’s goods as dross. They cannot bring happiness and content, and they generally harden the heart.
The only free man is the one who desires nothing. Let your prayer be “Give me only Thy love and
Thy grace. Having these, I have sufficient and nothing more do I ask.”
Do not desire riches which buy only material things. All the really valuable things of life, such as love, friendship, happiness, contentment, are unpurchasable. A rich man is a man who desires things, who has not poverty of spirit.
Neither desire that the hearts of others should be wrapped up in you, that esteem and honor should be yours, poor “mouth-breath” which satisfies no one.
Do not desire health or sickness, a long life or a short one, prosperity or adversity. Leave yourself completely in the hands of God, Who knows what will bring you to Heaven. Desire only to do His holy Will, the end for which He placed you on this earth.
Let's expand a bit on this last point. While we should always treat our bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit, we shouldn't obsess on our appearance or even how we feel physically or emotionally. The fact is, we won't necessarily be perfectly healthy all the time even if we eat well, exercise diligently, and take prudent measures to minimize stress. I suspect we can all point to instances either in our own lives or the lives of those near and dear to us where sickness or injury knocked us for a loop either temporarily or - in some cases - permanently. As Catholics, it's important for us to remember that Our Lord has explicitly told us we must take up our crosses. Of course, it may not be a pleasant recollection, but we need to reconcile ourselves to it.
(Frankly, it's hard for me to be saying this, as I'm the last one to either recall Our Lord's words enthusiastically and take up my crosses. A life of leisure and comfort would be my preferred mode. But as a Catholic, I do pray for the grace to change. And when misfortune comes my way in this area, I know - at least with my intellect - that God's grace will suffice.)
It might help here if we remember that love, in its most basic sense, means sacrifice. We would do anything for our beloved. And that will inevitably mean giving things up that we like, suffering, or - in rare instances - giving up our lives.
The prime example of this, of course, is the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ - done for the love of each and every one of us.
Many thanks to Father Bruno Hagspiel's comments about "nothing." I hope you found them as enlightening and helpful as I have.
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