from "Enjoyment as an Expression of Worship"

The following comes from "Enjoyment as an Expression of Worship" an essay by Sr. Olga Warnke, I.B.V.M. These few excerpts are only a taste. Whether you are religious or not, if you have faith in fun, the essay is very much worth reading in its entirety.

So I began asking..."What do you enjoy doing?" There was hesitation in the replies, even astonishment at the questions. I saw the need to probe deeper and it became only too evident that the work-responsibility-guilt syndrome was a real issue for these who were seeking spiritual help.

...it was the novel Les Nouveaux Pretres that I think first put me on to the train of thought that led to this paper. In this story, two ardent young priests, faced with the misery of the lower classes in Paris, were wearing themselves out going to meetings, organizing groups, missing meals, working long hours after they should have been resting. Into this parish was sent a newly ordained priest whom the other two set out to educate. He listened to their exhortations to him, to their sermons, to the message of their lives. He saw total dedication; but he knew something was wrong. One evening, as he was praying before retiring, he had a sudden insight: there was no joy in these priests, nor in what they said or preached. And since he could not suppress the joy within himself, he was relegated by the other two to the school and the children?s worship service. The children flocked around him; the children's worship service began to draw the parents too to the amazement and consternation of the other two; and they came to hear what was being said...The end of the story is of no consequence here. The key to what was wrong was the discovery: "There is no joy!" And I think it was then that the significance of the role of joy, of fun, of enjoyment and of relaxation began to nibble at my subconscious mind.

...Our preparation for prayer is not so much an intellectual one, as one that will heal body and emotions and nerves and heart and mind..."Sing a song, take a walk, have a bath, converse with a friend" was the classical advice for heaviness of spirit. Perhaps relaxing in an easy chair with your favorite music, or seeking a spot where you can hear the rustle of the leaves, feel the wind in your hair - whatever brings release to your over-taut nerves - this it is imperative to discover about yourself and ever more imperative that you do!

...philosophers have noted that we can deny most abstractions if we like - justice, beauty, truth, goodness, mind, God; we can deny seriousness but we cannot deny play. It is a reality found not only in humans but also in animals. Play is something we do freely - without constraint; it has a quality of a-partness from our usual occupations; it transports us into a dimension other than that of the daily humdrum. Play, therefore, has the power to make us forget ourselves; to take ourselves a little less seriously. It helps us to crawl out from under the world's burdens which we are all too prone to assume. Nietzsche is supposed to have said: "The trick is not to arrange a festival; but to find people who can enjoy it."

...I close with the wise and lovely words from the Talmud: "People shall be called to account for all the permitted pleasures they failed to enjoy."