But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33
“Strive with all your might to bring your interior activity into accord with God, and you will overcome exterior passions.”
Abba Arsenius (360-449) a desert father in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated by Benedicta Ward (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 1975) 10.
There’s a lot in this short sentence. To be generous we have to have margin in our schedule, our finances, and our hearts. Most of our time, resources, and hearts are occupied by our passions.
We tend to desire things, namely, possessions, power, or pleasures of all sorts, because the world says we need them and promises they will bring us happiness. But do they?
To create margin in our calendars, our budgets, and in our hearts, we need insight from a desert father who has stepped out of the busy circles of life to get perspective.
Ward writes, “Arsenius was born in Rome about 360. A well-educated man, of senatorial rank, be was appointed by the Emperor Theodosius I as tutor to the princes Arcadius and Honorius. He left the palace in 394.”
So at 36, he secretly moved to the desert. Some might say to get away from Rome, but he would say to find clarity and focus. Today, we are living in crazy times. Perhaps we too should retreat to get perspective.
Arsenius advises us to bring our interior activity into accord with God. Or as Jesus put it, to seek God first, so that everything else will fall into place.
I am learning that the more margin I create for God in my interior activity, the less my living, giving, serving and loving are overcome by external passions.
God help us leave our worries and cares with you and seek you first in 2021 so that our lives will be filled with peace and so that we serve as conduits of generosity.