Is everything a waste of time if not done in penance/service?

[westcoast]

After reading bits of “My Imitation of Christ” and “The Way of Perfection” and “Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints”, I feel confused. In the “Purgatory” book, Saints see the horrible visions of Purgatory and truly spend the rest of their lives in serious penance. In “The Way of Perfection” we are shown that everything that is not of God is a waste of time and worthless. So how do I live my life and not feel like I’m not doing enough penance (since Purgatory is so horrible and the Saints in the book stress that we must always be doing penance to shorten our stay there, if we are going to go there at all), or feel like something like watching a movie or reading a “fun” book isn’t just wasting my life away on frivolous nonsense? Because that is definitely what these books are leading me to believe. I know that “everything in moderation,” but I feel like the authors of these books would laugh at the thought of watching movies when we could be gaining wealth in Heaven or helping others.

 

[Michael_Howard]

After reading bits of “My Imitation of Christ” and “The Way of Perfection” and “Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints”, I feel confused. In the “Purgatory” book, Saints see the horrible visions of Purgatory and truly spend the rest of their lives in serious penance. In “The Way of Perfection” we are shown that everything that is not of God is a waste of time and worthless. So how do I live my life and not feel like I’m not doing enough penance (since Purgatory is so horrible and the Saints in the book stress that we must always be doing penance to shorten our stay there, if we are going to go there at all), or feel like something like watching a movie or reading a “fun” book isn’t just wasting my life away on frivolous nonsense? Because that is definitely what these books are leading me to believe. I know that “everything in moderation,” but I feel like the authors of these books would laugh at the thought of watching movies when we could be gaining wealth in Heaven or helping others.

Often times the great saints were called from a very young age to be holy and set apart for God. God knowing the intense suffering they would have endure began his work early in them instilling special charismas of holiness and purity on an intense level. These saints were to be conduets lit up by holy fire to change the entire course of history and to save many souls, yet their suffering were tremendous. Perhaps that’s why they recieved these intense visions. I think if I saw purgatory or hell I would live my life in intense mortification and the image would always be before my mind.

Now, we are all called to be faithful and to strive after holiness but we will will not all walk in the same capacity. I do not see anything wrong with reading a book or watching a movie as long as there remains nothing in our conscience telling us otherwise. I personally am finding more and more in my own life that movies and television disturb my interior peace and communion with Jesus so I’ve cut way back, certain types of music as well I do better without.

Perhaps you should look at the way of the Little Flower St. Theres. She has taught us that it’s ok to do the little things and that if the little things are done with great love and are done “excellent” they are very pleasing to God.

These are acts of mercy and kindness. God is love and is very pleased with childlike faith. The other thing that I have learned recently from Jesus words to Faustina is that anything done without purity of heart is not pleasing to God. So we might say out of fear of punishment perhaps, “God I’m going to do penance to try and win your favor” but this is not pleasing to God because it’s not done out of love for Jesus but fear. See what I’m saying?

Also remember: Jesus has attached great promises to saying the chaplet of Divine Mercy especially in the hour of mercy at 3:00 pm. Not only that but on the feast of Divine Mercy if we have confessed our sins and are walking in grace, when we celebrate the feast in the way that he has instructed all of our sins, veryone and the punishments for those sins are wiped out!! I think as time draws nearer to the end Jesus is opening up everyway possible for us to be saved, perhaps because of the hellish confusing time we live in, there’s such chaos, confusion and spiritual darkness that the earth is ripe for the heart of his mercy to be opened.

All that to say fear not, trust in His mercy, be faithful in the capacity he’s called you to be and love life, all of it

 

[Linda_Marie]

I understand where you are coming from since I suffer from this same kind of reasoning. I go on to reason that since heaven is being with God always and I want to go to heaven, shouldn’t I at least strive to attain that on earth? Shouldn’t I try to show that I really want to be with God now and I can’t wait for heaven so I need to spend every waking minute praying? That frivolous minute(hour, day) could have been spent praying for the conversion of sinners. Will I stand before God and convict myself of not doing as much as I could have because I selfishly wasted time watching a movie for my own pleasure? If I said. “I’ll give You this much (enter time unit), but the rest is mine to do with as I please” so to speak?

To me, the Lord was clear.
‘The measure with which you measure out will be the measure you receive.’ Luke 6:38

However, I am not a cloistered nun. I am a wife and mother and I live in the world. I work part-time and I have responsibilities and duties which are also God-given. So I have been trying to incorporate the prayer and penance into my everyday life. Driving - someone cut you off - pray for them, someone driving dangerously, pray for them; grocery shopping,pray for the people you meet at the store. make it an especial point if the person is unpleasant or has screaming whining kids (they obviously need it); caring for children; working (you get the picture); doing housework; and leisure activities. Basically, it is dealing with the people you meet everyday with Mercy, actively praying for them (not out loud of course, they’ll think you are some kind of nut). Ask God to be with you in all your activities, ask Him to help you do each to the best of your ability. Consecrate your day to the Lord in the morning. Ask Him to bless your day and make it fruitful, for His glory and try to be mindful of Him all through the day. (BTW, this is still a work-in-progress)

I have also brought this up at prayer group for discussion.

One person advised that Jesus said that He came that we might have life and have it in the full. This includes the joyful things of life, even simple pleasures like going to a movie or reading a good novel. After all, wasn’t Jesus at a party when he performed his first miracle?

If we only spent time on things of a religious nature, we would also be woefully ignorant. We just have to make sure that we are including God when we do these things.

 

[LilyM]

We’re human - limited by our very nature to not being able to spend 100% of every day in intense prayer without some down time!

Even St Teresa of Avila sang and ‘made merry’, as she put it, with her nuns.

How much time did Jesus ‘waste’ in this way at the Wedding of Cana? At supper with Zacchaeus or on the occasion when his feet were anointed? At the Last Supper with his disciples?

He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard - obviously these weren’t quick ‘eat enough food to keep you alive, and as quickly as you can so that you can get back to prayer’ type of things. They were his way of having ‘downtime’ in the absence of tv and our modern amusements.

Things like the Morning Offering (which makes the whole day a prayer) come in handy to remind us that anything we do can be turned into a form of prayer. And Paul’s statement - ‘whatsoever you do, whether you eat or drink or anything else, do it for the glory of God’. And you can, even in your relaxations, glorify the God who gave the gift of creativity to the makers of the movies or TV shows you watch, or the writers of the books you read.

The penance comes in not spending a lot of your life or time on the unproductive stuff.

 

[westcoast]

I think if I saw purgatory or hell I would live my life in intense mortification and the image would always be before my mind.

Thank you for responding. But don’t you think that we are supposed to believe what the saints say about Purgatory, therefore negating our need to actually SEE Purgatory for ourselves; their description alone should drive us to “intense mortification.” I certainly don’t engage in “intense” mortification but feel rather dumb for not doing so after reading first-hand experiences of all the saints who do so after seeing visions of Purgatory and Hell. They even say that so, so many go there and we should try our absolute best to do our penance here on earth. Even the smallest sin, even though we are sorry for it, it still must be “made up for” in Purgatory. Right? Or am I wrong?

 

[westcoast]

Thank you for your reply; it helped me a lot.

 

[Mark_Robert]

St. Augustine says “Keep the commandments and do as you please.” As long as the recreation is not sinful or violates the ten commandments then by all means enjoy yourself. Paraphrasing St. Paul, he says, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”. That means give every aspect of your life to God not only in doing penance and serving God’s people but even in the little pleasures of life such as eating, drinking and relaxing. Thank God for the comforts and pleasures he so richly provides you. Even the pleasures of life can sanctify us if we offer them back to God in praise and thanksgiving. The idea is to make our whole lives a continual act of prayer and adoration to God. Recreation fits into that tapestry just as well as pain and sacrifice do.

 

[Michael_Howard]

Michael Howard;2130514:

I think if I saw purgatory or hell I would live my life in intense mortification and the image would always be before my mind.

Thank you for responding. But don’t you think that we are supposed to believe what the saints say about Purgatory, therefore negating our need to actually SEE Purgatory for ourselves; their description alone should drive us to “intense mortification.” I certainly don’t engage in “intense” mortification but feel rather dumb for not doing so after reading first-hand experiences of all the saints who do so after seeing visions of Purgatory and Hell. They even say that so, so many go there and we should try our absolute best to do our penance here on earth. Even the smallest sin, even though we are sorry for it, it still must be “made up for” in Purgatory. Right? Or am I wrong?

I’ve spent some time thinking about this and really I believe it’s up to the conscience of the individual and what God may be calling them to. I definately see the need for more sacrifice of the part of believers especially here in the west though for sure.

Mary ask us to pray for these souls and for poor sinners, making a daily habit of this is a sacrifice. We can also offfer up our pain on behalf of souls in purgatory as well as those who need conversion. I have been working on creating an interior place for Jesus inside that will not be undisturbed by the world around me, learning from the great saints how to maintain this interior conversation with Jesus so that my life will be a continual prayer and that prayer will become as natural as breathing.

Just think of your self as a small child before him with much to learn, that’s how I see myself. I can maintain this space for Jesus and still enjoy life, having a good time with my wife and daughter, watching a movie from time to time. I trust Jesus in that if I should do something that violates his will and jepordizes grace in me he will let me know.

One thing to keep in mind is that the souls in purgatory are saved, not negating the fact that we should pray for them and never forget them, but many around us and even in our parishes do not have grace in their souls so we need to to vessels of mercy and show the people around us great love and we should be joyful holding out hope that people will come to the fount of mercy Jesus Christ.

Father Carapi makes the point in one of his teachings that the saints were not gloomy and long faced, that many of them like Theresa of Avila or even Pope John Paul II had a great sense of humor even though they were carrying so many burdens. We should walk naturally in the place that God has called us now not running ahead or falling behind. Nothing should be done out of fear but out of deep love for Jesus and a deep love for souls. I do not think that false humility is pleasing to God, we need to be ourselves where we are at this moment and allow Jesus to build His work in us as he pleases.

I would also recommend that if you are discerning a higher call find a spiritual advisor who is holy and can really guide you through the proper channels. God bless

 

[JimR-OCDS]

After reading bits of “My Imitation of Christ” and “The Way of Perfection” and “Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints”, I feel confused. In the “Purgatory” book, Saints see the horrible visions of Purgatory and truly spend the rest of their lives in serious penance. In “The Way of Perfection” we are shown that everything that is not of God is a waste of time and worthless. So how do I live my life and not feel like I’m not doing enough penance (since Purgatory is so horrible and the Saints in the book stress that we must always be doing penance to shorten our stay there, if we are going to go there at all), or feel like something like watching a movie or reading a “fun” book isn’t just wasting my life away on frivolous nonsense? Because that is definitely what these books are leading me to believe. I know that “everything in moderation,” but I feel like the authors of these books would laugh at the thought of watching movies when we could be gaining wealth in Heaven or helping others.

The saints speak of inordinate attachments to things. Everything from God is good, that includes good books, movies, food nature, etc. It’s not a waste of time enjoying these things because they are gifts from God.

Penance,… everyday life can be penance, in fact St. Theresa the Little Flower, discouraged corporal acts of penance saying in effect, life has enough thorns, without adding to them.

As the old Baltimore Catechism says;
**
3. Why did God make us?**
God made us to show forth His goodness and to share with us His everlasting happiness in heaven.
Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him. (I Corinthians 2:9)

Jesus taught us that the kingdom of God is here and now, all around you. It’s not the fullness of heaven, but merely a taste of it.
Be glad and rejoice in it!

St. Francis of Assisi, saw the beauty of God in everything. Do you think this sort of joy and enjoyment, is opposed to the process of getting to heaven? Its not, its a small piece of heaven.

So, relax. Enjoy the good things God gives you and be thankful. You’ll have enough crosses to carry in life, especially if you follow Jesus, that will balance out the good times. God is our salvation, not our penances.

Jim

 

[dublingirl]

I can understand the sentiments here alright. One thing that I’ve started to try to bear in mind is that God wants us to offer him the joys as well as the sufferings of our day. If you’re going to a movie, it might be an idea to say ‘Lord, I invite you in to the cinema with me here and I offer you the enjoyment that I’m going to receive out of looking at this movie’. While I do believe that mortifications and fasting etc are very important, I also believe that enjoying the fruits of God given intellect (through reading books by talented authors etc) also gives God great glory and joy, especially when done in union with Him.