Rest Vs. Idleness
One
Idleness as a sin against the third commandment
One of the fascinating things St. Thomas Aquinas says about the third commandment is that it’s actually broken by those who spend their Sunday in idleness.
That’s right. Even if you go to mass, if you’re just idle the rest of the time, that violates the command to rest.
“But isn’t idleness rest?”
No, it isn’t. Quite the opposite. Idleness, just killing or wasting time, that’s a form of restlessness.
Picture someone sitting in front of the TV, just idly flipping through channels. We’d also say that person is restlessly flipping through channels.
So what, exactly, is the difference between rest on Sunday and idleness on Sunday?
Two
The difference between rest and idleness
The essence of rest is that it involves the celebration of reality. It nourishes the soul by paying attention to the goodness and truth and beauty of things.
Rest stops, remembers, contemplates, and rejoices – because this is a good world, from a good God, and it’s good to be alive.
The essence of idleness, by contrast, involves an attempt to escape from reality
You try to distract yourself, to forget the real world for a while, because you just can’t handle it anymore. You want a break, not just from work, but from life itself.
But you’d only try to distract yourself, escape from life if you somehow had forgotten how to see the goodness and the joyfulness of it.
And that’s not a good place to be. Not on any day, and especially not on Sunday.
Three
The difference in the result
Rest feeds on an appreciation of the truth, goodness, and beauty of things.
As we said, rest nourishes the soul. After resting, you feel happier, more grounded. You are grateful for your life and the opportunities that life has given you.
Idleness is the opposite. Idleness feeds on mere mindless entertainment, on distraction.
It’s a terrible diet for the soul. It’s like eating a huge bag of candy corn. You feel disgusting afterward. You feel worse. You feel less happy about your life. You feel less able to face reality.
So what are you doing on Sunday? What are you doing with your leisure time on other days, for that matter?
Is it life-enhancing rest and recreation?
Or is it just an escape into mind-numbing, soul-wearying entertainment?
Four
Different forms of rest
Now, what counts as restful recreation can be different for different people. And remember, your recreation doesn’t have to be super-sophisticated.
You might just like driving around and listening to country music. You might enjoy watching a good movie or reading a fun book. You might enjoy calling a friend or a family member.
You do have to watch out for some things, though – things that can suck you in and make it harder to re-enter the very world that rest is supposed to help you appreciate. So watch out for video games, which are designed to mesmerize you. Watch out for movies or shows that are super-stimulating, or shocking. And watch out for too much sports-watching, where you sit in front of the TV all day, like a blob, watching other people engage in recreational activities.
If you’re not careful, these things will suck you in and become distractions and escapes – not opportunities to remember how wonderful life is.
So pay attention, and see if when you stop these activities you feel more rejuvenated and better able to appreciate your God, your family, yourself, and your life.
If not, then find something else to do on Sunday.
Five
We don’t have to escape. We can enjoy.
This life is too good to try to escape. It’s too good to try to distract ourselves from.
We’re unhappy because we’re distracted. We’re unhappy because we don’t stop, and look, and listen to the real world, to the beauty of nature, of our faith, of our spouses and kids.
The point of Sunday is to stop and pay attention and smile.
Don’t ruin that by getting addicted to idleness. We don’t need to escape. We can enjoy Sunday, and then let that joy permeate through the rest of the week.
That’s the gameplan of the third commandment – making the Lord’s day restful and holy.