Ordering Life

The other day we visited the Congregation of Holy Cross at Moreau Seminary in South Bend, Indiana. I knew very little about this religious order prior to our visit, but within minutes of stepping foot into the seminary a certain peace came over me.

Simplicity, order, prayer, education, charity. These are all things that I could see very clearly about this group of men from just a one day visit. And all these things struck a chord somewhere inside me, as they all draw one closer to God.

The day we were visiting happened to be the feast of St. Clare. She is known for her complete love of God that was expressed in her giving up all she ever had to gain the singularly most precious thing of all -- Christ. She desired nothing more than to know and love Christ. What a beautiful soul she had. From her love of God flowed an entire religious order and way of life, that of the Poor Clares.

One thing that most religious communities share in common is an ordered or structured way of life to some extent.  There seems to be something about an orderly life that reflects something of God. Whether the Poor Clares, the Congregation of Holy Cross, the Benedictines, or any other community. An orderly life is deliberately established in order to bring a sense of peace and freedom from confusion to day to day tasks. This allows more time to be given to doing what is important and less time spent trying to figure out what to do.

Most people these days recognize the benefit of order in their lives, thus the thriving industry of day planners and personal organizers. Life flows from organization. This can be seen from the beginning. God created life in a very orderly way over the course of six days. And human life is very much ordered in cycles, seasons, and periods of life. A baby grows in the womb for 40 weeks. We are over the hill at 40 years (joke). The Church also recognizes the value of order as laid out by God. And so we celebrate seasons for certain periods of time and holy days on an annual cycle.

Another reality is how sin and chaos work to draw us out of order. Busyness and or laziness (two extremes) can easily throw us out of our patterns of life or helpful daily routines. Sinful or bad habits also throw confusion and frustration into other parts of our lives. Confession is especially helpful in this area. It helps us to get right with God and others and to head off the corrosive effects of sin before they start to affect other parts of our lives or lives of those around us.

As my wife and I were leaving the seminary, we both remarked that we though it would be nice to have the kind of order in our lives that we saw among the men in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Well, I do think there are some things we can probably do in our marriage to establish more order. But we also have to remember that order in our family may look different from order in a religious community. Regardless, it could probably benefit all of us and society as a whole if we slowed down for a little bit, got back to basics, and consciously chose to live a more simple and orderly existence.