We activists, city-people or not, spend most of our time, it seems, trying to produce, trying to accomplish something we and others will consider worthwhile. A "life worth living" – even in the Church – is usually seen as a life of great achievements. We admire and even envy those who rise through the ecclesiastical ranks, or publish an impressive number of books, or make their voice heard with authority in the halls of academia or via web lists and chat rooms. We devote hours, days and years to discovering and realizing our "PIL," our purpose in life. Yet most of us never quite find it, never quite feel satisfied with our lot or what we've done with it. So eventually we burn out from frustration, or get divorced, or seek a transfer: a "geographic cure" that heals nothing. And all the time the message drones in our mind: "God, like other people, will judge us on the basis of our accomplishments." Today's most poignant existential question is not whether "to be," but rather "to do or not to do?" Yet paradoxically, more is accomplished by being than by doing. At least more that's worthwhile.
December 13, 2004
Meditation by Fr John Breck, via Thomas of ER fame:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment