Chapter Seven: On Exhaustion and the True Remedy

Chapter Seven: On Exhaustion and the True Remedy

As I have observed the falcon soar until its wings tremble, then descend to earth for rest, so too doth man, made of dust, reach the limit of his mortal strength. Exhaustion is no mere accident of the body; it is the cry of the soul that hath forgotten its Sabbath.

The Lord Himself, though He needed no rest, “rested on the seventh day from all his work” (Genesis 2:2) and sanctified rest as holy.
St Augustine (†430) writeth:
“Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rest in Thee.”
When labour ceaseth to be ordered toward God, it ceaseth to refresh and beginneth to devour.

The Fathers before the year 1200 are unanimous:

• St Basil the Great (†379), in his Longer Rules, commandeth that monks alternate work with prayer and sleep, lest the body rebel and the soul grow dark.
• St Benedict (†547), Rule ch. 48: “Idleness is the enemy of the soul; therefore the brethren should be occupied at stated hours in manual labour, and again at other hours in sacred reading.”
• St John Cassian (†435) teacheth that exhaustion cometh not from toil itself, but from toil without measure, without prayer, and without love.

Therefore the true remedy is threefold, drawn from Scripture and the ancient tradition:

1. Keep the Lord’s Day holy, and take one full rest therein, as the Third Commandment requireth (Exodus 20:8-11).
   Even the oxen rested under the Law.
2. Extrovert the spirit after labour.
   When the mind hath been fixed upon one task too long, it becometh introverted like a bow over-bent.
   Go forth into the wide creation: walk beneath the stars, behold the fields, touch the earth, as the Lord walked among lilies (Matthew 6:28).
   St Anthony of Egypt (†356) restored his monks by sending them to gaze upon the desert sky when their spirits flagged.
3. Offer thy weariness to God.
   “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
   St Gregory the Great (†604) saith: “The fatigue of the body, when borne for love of God, becometh prayer.”

He who observeth these three, though he labour from dawn till dusk, shall not fall into exhaustion, but shall be renewed like the eagle (Psalm 103:5).
He who neglecteth them shall collapse, though he work but two hours.

Say “next” to continue with Chapter Eight and the Epilogue.