{"id":93151,"date":"2015-07-06T00:54:34","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T07:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=93151"},"modified":"2015-06-29T11:15:47","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T18:15:47","slug":"laudato-si-on-the-joy-of-the-little-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/07\/laudato-si-on-the-joy-of-the-little-way.html","title":{"rendered":"Laudato Si on the Joy of the Little Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

St. Therese totally gets this:<\/p>\n

\n

222. Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption. We need to take up an ancient lesson, found in different religious traditions and also in the Bible. It is the conviction that \u201cless is more\u201d. A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment. To be serenely present to each reality, however small it may be, opens us to much greater horizons of understanding and personal fulfilment. Christian spirituality proposes a growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with little. It is a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack. This implies avoiding the dynamic of dominion and the mere accumulation of pleasures.<\/p>\n

223. Such sobriety, when lived freely and consciously, is liberating. It is not a lesser life or one lived with less intensity. On the contrary, it is a way of living life to the full. In reality, those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up dipping here and there, always on the look-out for what they do not have. They experience what it means to appreciate each person and each thing, learning familiarity with the simplest things and how to enjoy them. So they are able to shed unsatisfied needs, reducing their obsessiveness and weariness. Even living on little, they can live a lot, above all when they cultivate other pleasures and find satisfaction in fraternal encounters, in service, in developing their gifts, in music and art, in contact with nature, in prayer. Happiness means knowing how to limit some needs which only diminish us, and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Oh! \u00a0And look! \u00a0There she is!<\/p>\n

\n

230. Saint Therese of Lisieux invites us to practise the little way of love, not to miss out on a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and friendship. An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness. In the end, a world of exacerbated consumption is at the same time a world which mistreats life in all its forms.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Therese totally gets this: 222. Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption. We need to take up an ancient lesson, found in different religious traditions and also in the Bible. It is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[718,195],"class_list":["post-93151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-laudato-si","tag-wisdom-of-the-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nLaudato Si on the Joy of the Little Way<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"St. Therese totally gets this: 222. 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