On Recreation

Recreation is only rightly called "recreation" or "refreshment" when work is completed--that is assumed by the prefix "re" (again). It is refreshment AFTER work is done when the mind and body are afforded a time of renewal...for more work. Idleness is sinful and simply has no place in the Christian life. In fact, I'd say you can't get much more sinful than to be idle. Idle people often justify their idleness by saying they don't hurt anyone or that they don't spend any money. That is false. Their daily eating and drinking is wasteful because the principle is "he that does not work shall not eat". The idle person is like a car that burns fuel, but does not move or the cow that eats grain and gives no milk. Their LACK of production comes after they have filled their belly with food that God intended to strengthen man for work...not to provide sluggards with something to do every few hours.

The real problem in our culture is defining "work". Most Americans define "work" as punching a clock somewhere until they earn enough money to cover their expenses. A family that pays their bills is "doing well". The problem with this is that our desires then define work as it merely covers our costs. A selfish and indulgent man appears responsible by earning enough to cover his expenses--but this is a false appearance of responsibility. God does not teach us that paying our bills makes us righteous. He takes issue with those bills and teaches us that they ought to be limited to our needs...not our needs as defined by a weak and indulgent society, but our needs as defined by nature. The old philosophers all taught that frugality was a great means of income and that those who give to the poor lend to the Lord. This leads us to the true goal of Christian work. It is not self-support. It is charity.

St. Paul teaches the laborer to work, "that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need." Our Lord callus to to the abundant Christian life when He teaches, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

The definition of our "work" is supplied by our own charity. It is determined by our own spiritual goals and as Our Lord likened the Christian life to an investment in the kingdom of heaven, we ought to be seeking to become as wealthy (in eternity) as possible...this life is a timed shopping spree for eternal rewards!!! The more we desire to do good, the more joyfully will we work for others--without reference to our own needs. Hope of reward will motivate us to give and do more and more...not seek rest here--rest that is cheap and inferior compared to that which we will have there! The most beautiful thing about charity is that the man doing good to another is doing so with the fruit of his own toil--which he could have spent on himself. The thief steals from him that works to satisfy his own desires, but the man of charity works to supply another man's needs. Is that not beautiful? That beauty of soul is what marks us as the children of God and disciples of Christ. It is the mark of the saints..not whether they keep their treadmill routine up or whether they've had a vegetable at each meal.

This leads us first to appreciate those who are generous--with true sacrficial generosity, not sharing out of abundance. Wisdom teaches that "the sluggard craves but has nothing", while the man of charity has to elect to work beyond his own needs that he may do good to others. How different is that spirit from the man seeking days off, watching the clock, making just enough to pay the bills, etc.?

You're going to waste your time trying to find guidelines to justify recreation because it is a question that history'd great people didn't sit around asking. The body is not a machine that runs out of gas and needs to be re-fueled as modern nutritionists health experts pretend. Our bodies run on more than calories and Jesus said as much when He taught that "man does not live by bread alone." Our bodies can work tirelessly when the hope of eternal rewards inspires us and the love of God and our neighbors enflames us. When we are doing God's will we are strengthened to do it, as He said, "My grace is sufficient for you." You will notice in the lives of many of the saints that their nutritional and sleeping habits were very strict, but we misread this to think of strictness and hardship. The saints were filled with love and courage...they didn't want to eat because they wanted their minds to be sharp and discerning. They didn't sleep because they saw too much work to be done--and they longed to do it.

Consider David in Psalm 132:

"LORD, remember David and all his anxious care;
How he swore an oath to the LORD, vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
"I will not enter the house where I live, nor lie on the couch where I sleep;
I will give my eyes no sleep, my eyelids no rest,
Till I find a home for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

David saw the Lord's worship in a very humble state...and couldn't allow himself to sleep while it remained so.

Consider our Lord and the Apostles. They were tired after much service and sought to get some refreshment. Jesus said, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." However, they were kept from resting by a crowd of 5,000 that traveled to find them. It was in that context that Jesus said to his apostled, "You feed them." In the end...instead of a time of refreshment, the apostles spent the day serving the multitude. Their own "refreshment" was never sought in place of the work of charity.

Such people do not live on vitamins, well-balanced meals or 8 hours of sleep. They love on grace, which God himself supplies to those who serve Him. It was this food that Our Lord lived on, as He said, "My food and drink is to do the will of Him who sent me." This is the spirit of true refreshment, and is captured eloquently by St. Ignatius in his prayer for generosity:

"Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will."

That is true Christian refreshment and, last of all, was the refreshment the Lord sought through...yes THROUGH...the cross:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. FOR THE SAKE OF THE JOY THAT LAY BEFORE HIM he endured the cross."

By William Michael, CLAA Family Forum

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