Michael KellyWorkaholism is a clear and present danger
Growing concern has been expressed about the health of Pope Francis. There’s a certain inevitability when an elderly man – Francis will be 78 later this year – is elected to such a public role. The Pope has cancelled a number of appointments in recent weeks with the Vatican spokesman saying Francis suffered an “unexpected disposition”.
There’s a joke in Rome that the Pope is never sick until he is dead. Papal aides respond furiously to questions from journalists about the well-being of a Pontiff.
In August 1914, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano published an editorial denouncing in no uncertain terms unnamed commentators who had suggested the day before that the Pope at the time, Pius X, was suffering from a cold. The following day, the Pope was dead.
Pope Francis has set a frenetic pace since his election last year. He has shown a vigour that men decades younger could only marvel at. Respected Vatican writer Andrea Tornielli recently penned an article entitled ‘The many labours of the Pope who never rests’. Tornielli recounts how Francis never takes a day off, rises each morning at 4.45am and works late in to the night.
It’s hard not to admire such stamina, but, I’m not so sure it’s a model to emulate. After all, even God rested on the seventh day, according to the creation account in the Book of Genesis.
Danger
Workaholism is a clear and present danger. This is true in pastoral ministry as it is in the secular world. We all know people who spend their day running from meeting to meeting. Usually, they achieve very little. Busyness almost becomes a compulsion, the desire to be seen to be doing something becomes even more important than doing something.
Inevitably, the spiritual life suffers, often it is difficult to find an equilibrium. This can have disastrous consequences: for those in full-time ministry the need for proper rest, renewal and recollection can be replaced by unhealthy pastimes and shallow escapism.
Finding an equilibrium is vitally important to live a healthy life. We all know the story of the well-meaning person who is ‘too busy with the work of the Lord for the Lord of the work’. During his public ministry, Christ was acutely aware of the need for balance. In Mark’s Gospel he tells the disciples to “come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while” when he realised they were over-burdened (Mark 6:31). Again, Matthew’s Gospel gives a glimpse of the gentle mastery of Christ when Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Similarly, when Martha complains that her sister Mary is listening to Jesus rather than busying herself with work, the Lord scolds her saying: “Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed, only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her” (Luke 10:41).
So rest and relaxation are not to be seen as a sign of weakness or indulgence, as the Puritans would have it. They are a necessary antidote to the busyness of daily life.
Josef Pieper the German philosopher wisely wrote that leisure is the basis of culture. Unless we are ourselves refreshed and renewed, we have nothing to give. We all need to learn to slow down, enjoy the journey and, ultimately, come back with more to offer.
This is an ideal time of year to reassess the balance in our lives.