“To rest is not to do nothing”

'It seems'--so you say--'as if every imaginable sin were awaiting the first idle moment. Why, idleness itself must be a sin!' He who pledges himself to work for Christ should never have a free moment, because to rest is not to do nothing: it is to relax in activities which demand less effort. (The Way, 357)

You have to be a live ember that sets fire to whatever it touches. And, when your surroundings are incapable of catching fire, you have to raise their spiritual temperature. If not, you are wasting time miserably, and wasting the time of those around you. (Furrow,194)

‘All that passes away and is not pleasing to God, is worth nothing, and less than nothing’ [1] (St Teresa of Avila). Now do you understand why a soul loses all sense of peace and serenity when it turns away from its goal, and forgets that it was created by God to be a saint? Strive never to lose this supernatural outlook, not even at times of rest or recreation, which are as important in our daily lives as is work itself. (Friends of God, 10)

[1] St Teresa of Avila, Life, 20,26

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