Recreation is a duty

A quote from Catherine:

Recreation is a duty; but as soon as anything gives pain it ceases to be a jest.

In Catherine's day (as in my early days) recreation was a scheduled time on the weekly horarium. We had it whether we wanted it or not. The days without it probably were days with silence. Luckily for me we had formal recreation at least five days a week and the other two were more informal. Some days i did not like it since we were mending or sewing something. The ones I liked were the days we played volleyball. We put our whole hearts (and bodies) into it.

I think that in Catherine's time it was a time to sit back and have good conversation while mending, writing letters, or doing some hand sewing. Today it would be as a community when we watch Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy and talk during the commercials or answer the puzzle as we figure it out. Sometime we have some pieces of homework to do that we glance at during commercials.

I think that fun and good conversation have a great place in our lives because we are so busy most of the time and do not take time to re-create! This is about re-creating ourselves, our lives and re-connecting life with our primary relationship with God.

So often we are so busy, we live in small groups or alone and we work all day as well as have night meetings that we do not take the time to re-create and renew ourselves. Maybe Catherine had it right, to stress that recreation is a duty- a duty to be your best for ministry, for prayer and for each other. I think I want to explore the recreation I do and see if it renews me daily. Maybe I have to take more time for it and maybe I am doing fine. How about you? How do you re-create yourself each day?

www.sistersofmercy.org