God Sister Teresa

The expression ‘delayed gratification’ wasn’t part of nursery vocabulary in the Fifties but ‘don’t snatch’ certainly was, especially during meals.

As I was competing with three older brothers, I felt justified in snatching but seldom got away with it.

With hindsight, the ban on grabbing was laudable. It encouraged good manners (a sometimes overlooked but necessary aspect of charity) and patience (one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit), and it discouraged greed (a form of idolatry).

One of the major shortcomings of the Sixties was the constant and relentless craving to have everything NOW. And, with the inexorable rise of technology, this hankering has become very much worse today.

Instant gratification at all times and for everything has never been part of the Christian ideal. We are ultimately destined for the next world and designed to be here on Earth only for a relatively short span of days. This doesn’t mean piein-the-sky hopefulness, but the conscious practice of a way of living that will lead to full human development. This, in turn, means not endlessly fussing about having everything we think we want at once.

The New Testament is constantly urging us in this direction, often bluntly: ‘God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race, and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God … we must be self-restrained’ (Paul to Titus 2:12-13).

It is possible, however, to have too much of a good thing, self-restraint included. There is a grim hymn written by Love M Whitcomb in 1859, which appears in no fewer than 212 hymnals. It begins, ‘Father, hear the prayer we offer/ Not for ease that prayer shall be…’

It is a negative paraphrase of that best-loved of all psalms, The Lord is my shepherd. I find myself raging at the impudence of someone thinking she knows better than the psalmist:

Not forever in green pastures Do we ask our way to be; But the steep and rugged pathway May we tread rejoicingly.

Green pastures, whether actual or metaphorical, are our right and our destiny, and in troubled times we all need the comfort that they offer.

During lockdown, actual green pastures have literally been a godsend for many people who had never paid them much attention before.

Not forever by still waters Would we idly rest and stay; But would smite the living fountains From the rocks along our way.

There is a place for muscular Christianity, but not by the still waters. It is the Lord who leads us to them.

Noisy rock-smashing is not on; it is a form of egotism ruining heavensent peace.