Reflections | ENTHUSIASM

Words are important at PRI and this is a big one! Listen as Msgr. Don expands on the meaning of the word, “enthusiasm” and goes back to its roots. It might surprise you.

Good morning. Gosh, about ten years ago, a friend of mine gave me a gift. Oh, I remember it was very heavy in the box, but it was the Oxford English Dictionary. You know, these volumes that go across my shelf in my library. And what is so interesting about that is I began to be really interested in the meaning of words because there are many words that have changed over centuries.

And what they meant when they started was different than what they mean today. But in all of those cases that the research these people do, I think is fascinating because of the column after column on description of words instead of just one line. The one word that really struck me very powerfully was a word I use all the time: enthusiasm. you're so enthusiastic. People are enthusiastic about that.

And I've always thought it meant just high energy. And then you look at it, the description of it is so spiritual. Enthusiasm means “Theos is God”. It means being filled with God. Isn't it amazing? A word we use so casually is a recognition that the true enthusiasm for life or for truth, for love, for all the highest virtues, that energy that people have, that they strive both to be filled with those gifts, and help other people to find them, that is the kind of energy that comes from God's presence in them, that indwelling gift of God in your heart.

So when I think about teaching people about this gift that's there, that's already there, you need to discover it. You don't have to put it there. You don’t have to clean up everything to get it in there. You come with it in you. Everyone is born with this gift in them. And then if you can sense that, then you can feel this energy flowing from you and is enthusiastic about things that are important, things that are valuable, things that are good for people.

It's an enthusiasm for virtue, let's say. And that's what we call the spiritual life, you know? And so watch that word because it's fun to use it in a way that people don't expect. Maybe you might say, you know, you've got something in you that's really giving you a lot of positive energy. I wonder what it is. Then maybe you'll discover it is God.

Have a great day.

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Kyle CrossComment