Tired, weary, anxious? The usual advice is a tonic, a holiday, an indulgent luxury or a night out. The problem is that even after these solutions the condition continues.

GK Chesterton wrote that this world alone makes us inwardly weary. Life becomes a struggle and we are dissatisfied. Life’s mysteries fail to inspire or touch us. We may even be pulled in to what Chesterton termed the heresy of “repeated excess”

Our forefathers and foremothers in the Faith understood from the teaching of Christ himself that real life is a question of less, rather than more.
Excess twists the soul  and empties the heart. We may even experience what the twelfth century visionary Hildegard of Bingen called WORLDLY SADNESS.

The cause is self-centred original sin, which promotes in us the conviction that we are alone and must simply grab what (or who) we can.

Our Catholic Faith teaches us something different; something true – namely that Jesus Christ came to rescue us from quick-fix living. Following him means that our egos are on a diet. We are rightly deflated so that the love and eternal life of Christ can fill us. This life is now, today, not just for future heaven.

The desert Father John Cassian tells us of a visit to his spiritual director. John felt the full force of “worldly sadness” “What must I do?” he asked the holy monk. In reply the monk said “Less John”.