Leisure > Contemplation > Gratitude > Charity > Evangelization

Leisure - Leisure is essentially “non-activity”; it is a form of silence. Leisure implies an attitude of total receptivity toward, and willing immersion in, reality; an openness of the soul, through which alone may come about those great and blessed insights that no amount of “mental labor” can ever achieve. Leisure implies that a person is freed for this period of time from any social function. Yet leisure does not mean the same as a break. A break, whether for an hour or 3 weeks, is designed to provide a respite from work in anticipation of more work; it finds its justification in relation to work. Leisure is something entirely different. The essence of leisure is not to assure that we may function smoothly but rather to assure that we, embedded in our social function, are enabled to remain fully human. 

Contemplation - It has been interpreted to mean: not only in the life to come, but also in his material existence in history, man is, to the very roots of his being, a creature designed for and desiring vision; and this is true to such a degree that the extent of a man’s happiness is only as great as his capacity for contemplation.

St. Teresa of Avila - “Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.”

St. Gregory the Great - “the contemplative life is to cling with our whole mind to the love of God and our neighbor, and to desire nothing beside our Creator.”

Aquinas says people’s life are said to be contemplative who are chiefly intent on the contemplation of truth.

"Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. "I look at him and he looks at me": this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the...