having fun

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angell1

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from reading the bible and the lives of the saints, i’ve noticed that no one really did anything just for fun. for example, sports, games, music. the early church fathers even condemned instruments as being immoral. jesus said to deny nourselves and st. paul said to put the flesh to death. i don’t relalu know how to apply this to daily life. everyone seemed to be really super religious and only focused on church things and charity work all the time.
 
Saint John Paul II played football as a goalkeeper! There is many great music out there even pure! Keep God #1 aspect in life and find a mix of interesting but less sinful things
 
angell1 said:
from reading the bible and the lives of the saints, i’ve noticed that no one really did anything just for fun. for example, sports, games, music. the early church fathers even condemned instruments as being immoral. jesus said to deny nourselves and st. paul said to put the flesh to death. i don’t relalu know how to apply this to daily life. everyone seemed to be really super religious and only focused on church things and charity work all the time.
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I would think that the wedding celebration at Cana would qualify as “fun”. There was certainly a lot of wine involved, and the celebration must have gone on for a while, perhaps days, to go through that much of it. I doubt so many people would have stuck around that long and drank that much wine if they weren’t having fun.

Beyond that, one must consider the times, place and culture. Most people, other than the very wealthy, had little time or money for leisure activities, sports or the arts. They worked and struggled to survive. Even then, I expect that they had “fun” when they could, but it was nothing like what we consider today as entertainment. Plus, scriptures and other religious writings by or about the early church fathers were focused on the meaning and growth of the faith, not on secular things. Not much was said about what foods they ate, or how they dressed, or about any of their other every day activities. Yet I think the people back then found some time for relaxation, a little laughter, and good times with their family and friends, etc. Just like everyone else has throughout history; even the saints.
 
chaunceygardner said:
I would think that the wedding celebration at Cana would qualify as “fun”. There was certainly a lot of wine involved, and the celebration must have gone on for a while, perhaps days, to go through that much of it. I doubt so many people would have stuck around that long and drank that much wine if they weren’t having fun.

Beyond that, one must consider the times, place and culture. Most people, other than the very wealthy, had little time or money for leisure activities, sports or the arts. They worked and struggled to survive. Even then, I expect that they had “fun” when they could, but it was nothing like what we consider today as entertainment. Plus, scriptures and other religious writings by or about the early church fathers were focused on the meaning and growth of the faith, not on secular things. Not much was said about what foods they ate, or how they dressed, or about any of their other every day activities. Yet I think the people back then found some time for relaxation, a little laughter, and good times with their family and friends, etc. Just like everyone else has throughout history; even the saints.
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perhaps, like you said, maybe they just dind’t write about it. and well the bible is a pretty sober book, it’s hard to tell sometimes
 
Ironically, either today or yesterday, they setup a ‘track’ in St. Peter’s square and representatives from major sports and the olympics were visiting the Pope.

If I heard the radio correct last night, or recently, this week has washed together with long days.
 
angell1 said:
perhaps, like you said, maybe they just dind’t write about it. and well the bible is a pretty sober book, it’s hard to tell sometimes
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I think that is true…that they just didn’t write about it. They just focused on the spiritual part. And the bible has specific things to tell us about salvation, and did not focus on types of recreation.

There is a spiritual classic called “Introduction to the Devout Life” by St. Francis de Sales, and I remember a part of it where he said recreation is important.

There is a great story about St. Teresa of Avila, who was very helpful in bringing the Carmelite order back to its original strictness. The nuns gathered for their recreation and socializing time, and one of them said to St. Teresa “This is a waste of time…I am going to my cell to contemplate.” So, St. Teresa said to her…“Go to your cell and contemplate, and we will make merry with the Lord here.”

Cloistered nuns are required to have specific times of recreation. This allows them to relax physically, and mentally, and refreshes them to be able to continue their tasks of praying and working.
 
angell1 said:
from reading the bible and the lives of the saints, i’ve noticed that no one really did anything just for fun. for example, sports, games, music. the early church fathers even condemned instruments as being immoral. jesus said to deny nourselves and st. paul said to put the flesh to death. i don’t relalu know how to apply this to daily life. everyone seemed to be really super religious and only focused on church things and charity work all the time.
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It sounds to me as if you are flirting with the Puritanical Protestant idea the if something is fun, it must be sinful!
Taint true!!!
 
George_Stegmeir said:
It sounds to me as if you are flirting with the Puritanical Protestant idea the if something is fun, it must be sinful!
Taint true!!!
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i certainly don’t want to be flirting with that idea. i really feel like Satan gets a hold of my brain sometimes and twists it in a knot to make me doubt things
 
angell1 said:
from reading the bible and the lives of the saints, i’ve noticed that no one really did anything just for fun. for example, sports, games, music. the early church fathers even condemned instruments as being immoral. jesus said to deny nourselves and st. paul said to put the flesh to death. i don’t relalu know how to apply this to daily life. everyone seemed to be really super religious and only focused on church things and charity work all the time.
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St. Francis de Sale said: “A sad saint would be a sorry saint.”

While I doubt that the saints didn’t do any sport, listened to music or played games at all, I believe those activities just weren’t the focus of their living. Your last sentence, in particular the concept ‘super religious’ underestimate the meaning of a vocation. The happiness of attending the call from God is supposed to be superior from the '‘just for fun’ type as you said. So, I am afraid saints even in the midst of their burden were in fact having a lot more fun on their hearts than the rest of us. And could exist greater happiness than being in Heaven as the saints are now?

I strongly recommend you to read the catechism, in particular the sections on vocations and virtues. Also the book: “Saints are not Sad” would make you review your thread.

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a7.htm

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a2.htm

ignatius.com/Products/STNS-P/saints-are-not-sad.aspx
 
You could watch also this short documentary: “God is the bigger Elvis” about Dolores Hart, who abandoned her successful career in Hollywood at the age of 24 to become a Benedictine nun. She looks so happy there :).

Link youtube.com/watch?v=C8kvbkxm0Hg
 
Pax Christi!

As a boy St. John Bosco entertained his friends with acrobatics and sleight-of-hand tricks. He was very popular, and made some cash.

He also mixed in catechism lessons.

God bless.
 
LoveandMercy said:
Saint John Paul II played football as a goalkeeper! There is many great music out there even pure! Keep God #1 aspect in life and find a mix of interesting but less sinful things
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And JPII was active in the theatre, acting and writing plays!
 
angell1 said:
from reading the bible and the lives of the saints, i’ve noticed that no one really did anything just for fun. for example, sports, games, music. the early church fathers even condemned instruments as being immoral. jesus said to deny nourselves and st. paul said to put the flesh to death. i don’t relalu know how to apply this to daily life. everyone seemed to be really super religious and only focused on church things and charity work all the time.
Click to expand...
During the life time of the authors of the various parts of the Bible, living day to day took all they had. They didn’t have much time for playing games and such. Remember, in Jesus time, the average life span was only about 35 years of age.

Heck, even during my own grandparents day, the 1920’s, they were focused on feeding their families and keeping a roof over their heads. They did have more time than generations before them, but not nearly as we today have.

We take for granted how easy we have it today, but R & R, having hobbies and interest are a great part of life and I believe God welcomes our taking part in such things, as long as we keep everything in perspective.

Jim
 
Mass aside, that’s what Sundays are for; holy leisure. You’re supposed to rest and enjoy yourself as God did in Genesis. All the atheists, pagans and anti-Catholics combined haven’t done a smidgen of damage to the gospel as sour-faced, joyless Christians.
 
i believe St. Maximilian kolbe and the friars who lived with him had bows, arrows, and targets used for recreation. Max Kolbe lived very close to God, very close conformity to Christ.

St. Max definitely played chess.
 
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