Avoiding a Life of Quiet Desperation

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. 

So wrote the American author Henry David Thoreau right at the beginning of his work ‘Walden’ in 1850. He wrote in the quiet of a forest, next to water. He sought to understand the whys of life, and not just live the drudgery of existence. Later on in the work he wrote: 

This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it reminds me of the Englishman who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. The Book of Job calls us to look at our existence and see if it is life giving. Is a man’s life on earth nothing but pressed service, his time? He asks.

Thoreau and Job ask the same question: What are we doing with our life? For we who are at Mass tonight, these are reasonable questions. Socrates, the Greek philosopher has acknowledged centuries before Christ that: An unexamined life is not worth living. No surprise there either, since at the beginning of Mass we examined our conscience, declared a need for God’s mercy and guidance, and then prayed the Confiteor.  

We gather to celebrate our faith, to pray, to challenge ourselves and be challenged, inspired and raised up by the word of God and the sacrament of the Eucharist. Everything about our celebration calls us to live the life that we have been called to live. St Paul says that he must live it, as it is his duty to share the gospel. We may not phrase the imperative in the same way as Paul, but we would all agree with his passion and thrust. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well and one hundred per cent of our effort. Living our lives at home, at work, at school, in the community are worth doing with purpose, direction and faith, never letting a chance go by!  None of us are called to drift along, to be carried by the tide or to bump along at the bottom.  However, we all know people who do, and sometimes we are those people. When we do that we are not being authentic to our calling or life and we are leading lives ‘of quiet desperation’. This is not the vocation of a Christian.

In the gospel, Jesus was confronted by crowds who were leading lives of quiet desperation. They were drifting, looking for a wonder worker to save them. After they had heard of his cure of Simon’s mother in law they pursued him, looking for a quick fix. This was the original something for nothing deal, or so they thought. Jesus escaped with his disciples, and in doing so taught them a salient lesson: no amount of miracles will cure and heal a person if there is not a change of heart. Changes of heart take place in silence and openness. These conditions were plainly missing from the group pursuing him.

The prayer after communion often sums up the liturgy. Listen to it carefully today when it asks God that: we who are made one in Christ may joyfully bear fruit for the salvation of the world. If that prayer is granted, we will never be found to be leading an unfulfilled life of quiet desperation.

Homily OLQP Broome Sunday 5th Feb 2012, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B