He may be controversial in some circles but the size of Dr. Jordan Peterson’s following certainly gives pause.
The clinical psychologist and former University of Toronto professor has been flirting with the Christian worldview for several years now. One of his many prescriptions for leading more fulfilling and meaningful lives is that we must not shrink away from responsibility.
In fact, he believes that people who willingly shoulder as much responsibility as they can tend to experience more joy in their lives.
As it turns out, many people are not interested in testing out these particular theories. At least, not on purpose.
In our Catholic faith we have an incredible number of saints whose lives were ended at a young age because they were spent from all their labours. (The iconic U2 song With Or Without You famously croons “and you give yourself away ….” Certainly the saints knew this secret before Bono put it to song.
We hear of the endless hours the Cure d’Ars spent in the confessional listening to people pour out their souls (sometimes 16 hours a day); we recall the long lineups of the sick and wounded that Brother Andre endured as a doorman-turned-healer in Montreal. We remember how much the media posed a life-long inconvenience for Nobel prize winner St. Teresa of Calcutta, who just wanted to serve the poor and wanted people to leave her in peace.
Most of all, we look to our Blessed Mother, Mary, who was living a quiet, simple existence when her life was asked of her. As a recompense for her fiat, her heart was pierced by sorrow and she had a front row seat to her son’s execution. This, somehow, was God’s idea of her being blessed among women and being given the “highest honour of our race.”
Yet, Mary gave herself away daily while she was on earth and Jesus gave her away to us on the cross.
Together with Jesus, Mary encourages us to be courageous in saying “this is my body; given up for you.”
The moment we become true Christians is the moment we realize there are no half-measures in love. We must graduate to praying the “scary” prayers and really meaning them. Prayers like St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Suscipe prayer: “Take Lord and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding. All that I have and all that I possess you have given me...”
And perhaps there is no prayer more terrifying and self-emptying than the Litany of Humility. “That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it …”
We are often tricked into taking long melancholy walks into “dry, weary lands without water” when we ask ourselves whether we are happy or feel fulfilled or have been administering enough “self-care.”
It is worth meditating upon how this fits into the Christian commitment to picking up our crosses and following after Jesus. If he gives us an easy path for a time, thanks be to God. More often than not, however, things will not go as planned and we will be asked to give ourselves away not from our excess but instead by putting into the treasury everything we have; our whole livelihood
Our retirement will not look as peaceful and carefree as we planned. Our children will have health problems and relationship problems. We will suffer with our own health.
If we covet something other than these things, we do not grasp the meaning and goal of our lives on earth. We are meant to be poured out like our Master.
Do we deserve better than his lot in life? Put Jesus before your eyes within each difficult moment and know that he has gone before you in all things. That’s all the self-care you will need.