Familiarity Breeds Contempt

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"A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be an automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."[1] Once one has encountered beauty and does so repeatedly, what happens to our love of it? Do we soon think we have an exhaustive knowledge of it? When vacuuming the floor, perhaps we can feel safe assuming this is true. Yet, how can we know that we have given God a chance He needs to have us encounter Him? Shall we disparage the mysteries we have come to know or at least grown accustomed to? It is the place of the Christian to be open to the grace of encountering beauty anew every time, and though growing familiar, we grow in the love of the mysteries God bestows and not contempt.

When a couple gets married they are filled with grace and consolations expressed in many avenues that make their love for one another boil over almost. Under the regime of sin, we imagine this is the only height of love however there remain two general paths from here. There is a path of continual growth and redirection and re-expression of those love and graces through prayer and mercy or the couple can grow tired of each other’s failings, quirks, choices, and the love that once abounded is laden with bitterness. This very same dynamic approaches us with our faith and it is no wonder these things our attacked by our enemies as they are what validate and encapsulate the beauty and goodness of a life properly lived with God. Our presumption that the mysteries God provides for us will only ever give us what they have no matter what we do and that these graces are not sufficient will not destroy the love we have for God but supplant it with bitterness, frustration, and agitation. On the contrary, the lie must be continually refuted by intentional openness to and encounters with not only to what God provides for us but also God, Himself in spite of our temptation to let our familiarity breed contempt in our hearts. Indeed, God’s grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9) and it is us (corrupted humans) who can fall out of love, for God is always providing for our good (Romans 8:28).

In conclusion, do not we have a duty to not only love God and neighbor in a singular moment but in perpetually reimagined and reinvigorated ways and magnitudes. If we are to truly honor the title “Christian”, we must be in marital love with/of God (second not even to a potential human spouse) and if possible madly so. Of course, we humans must struggle against anything which may try to interpose itself between us and Him even when it means difficult choices, this includes our own misguided passions. “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.“ (Matthew 18 Chesterton was describing a very particular mystery of the saints when He spoke of such things. This post has great importance concerning the Mass is it is what Catholics gain familiarity with first and often even when we grow in the love of God through our great faith we must still work to renew our minds about the depth of graces that flow from any given Mass and what a subliminal gift the Eucharist.

FN:

  1. G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, Ethics of Elf Land: https://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Gilbert_K_Chesterton/Orthodoxy/The_Ethics_of_Elfland_p10.html





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