Our leisure time often gets renewed attention in August as summer quickly passes. A few observations in Laudato Sí seem particularly apt for us to consider this month.
In #237 we read, “…Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important about work: its meaning. We are called to include in our work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite different from mere inactivity. Rather, it is another way of working, which forms part of our very essence. It protects human action from becoming empty activism; it also prevents that unfettered greed and sense of isolation which make us seek personal gain to the detriment of all else…. Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture….”
“By learning to see and appreciate beauty, we learn to reject self-interested pragmatism. If someone has not learned to stop and admire something beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats everything as an object to be used and abused without scruple.“ #215
Leisure can give birth to a new way of being.
In #220, we are reminded “[Ecological] conversion calls for a number of attitudes which together foster a spirit of generous care, full of tenderness. First, it entails gratitude and gratuitousness, a recognition that the world is God’s loving gift, and that we are called quietly to imitate his generosity in self-sacrifice and good works….It also entails a loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion. As believers, we do not look at the world from without but from within, conscious of the bonds with which the God has linked us to all beings.”
Sadly, “…Many people today sense a profound imbalance which drives them to frenetic activity and makes them feel busy, in a constant hurry which in turn leads them to ride rough-shod over everything around them…. An integral ecology includes taking time to recover a serene harmony with creation, reflecting on our lifestyle and our ideals, and contemplating the Creator who lives among us and surrounds us, whose presence ‘must not be contrived but found, uncovered’.” #225
Leisure is definitely not understood as filling one’s schedule with more frenzy and agitation, more activities, while off work and on vacation. It’s not finding oneself in need of a vacation once one’s vacation ends.
Rather, leisure enables us to pause – to take a deep breath – to look around – to glory in all that we see and hear. It invites us to celebrate with a sense of wonder and gratitude for all creation – a deeper relationship with God, nature, and others.
Suggested activities:
- Organize a picnic with family and friends. Go on a hike. Play croquet or bocce. Play cards or a board game. Share food and drink. Relish life!
- Read a novel. Enjoy it.
- Get lost in a beautiful piece of music.
