Br. Aquinas Beale, O.P., on Guilty Pleasure and Peaceful Leisure

"We all struggle with it, at some level. No matter how much we tell ourselves that we are going to be diligent workers and focus on the task at hand, there remains the temptation to set aside our work and indulge in a more immediately rewarding activity: guilty pleasure. But there is something distinct about this kind of distraction that can make it all the more tantalizing. Now, guilty pleasure can be said in different ways. I’m not talking about the I-know-I’m-a-dude-but-I-really-like-Taylor-Swift’s-new-song guilty pleasure, but the I-have-a-lot-of-work-to-do-but-I-really-want-to-take-a-break-and-do-something-else-that-I-enjoy guilty pleasure. While petty and often mind-numbing distractions, such as surfing the web instead of the Summa or writing blog-posts instead of papers, provide little fulfillment, we tend to identify some of our guilty pleasures with activities that produce something more substantive, something like happiness."

In a recent commentary, Brother Aquinas Beale, O.P., reflected on the difference between appropriate peaceful leisure and taking breaks that hinder us from meeting deadlines.

 To access Br. Aquinas' complete post, please visit:

Dominicana: Guilty Pleasure and Peaceful Leisure (9 DEC 14)