Br. John Thomas Fisher, O.P., on the Finer Things

"On one of the most satisfying nights at college, I did nothing but sit on a porch with two close friends. The three of us (Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish) followed our weekly routine of gathering over beer and cigars either to bash Hegel, scratch our heads over Heidegger, praise Meister Eckhart, or talk about some spiritual topic from our respective traditions. This particular night, one of us noted that the contrast between the noise from the packed football stadium down the street and our current conversation confirmed that we were the biggest dorks on campus. The Orthodox girl replied, 'Nah, these are just the finer things.'

"Six months later, in the middle of a 40-mile ultra-marathon, with the next aid station seven miles away and my water bottle drained, I wasn't as comfortable as I'd been on the porch. A 90-degree day supersaturated by sun and South Carolina’s infamous humidity made the shade of the trees hardly helpful. . . .

"One doesn't normally worry about getting the proper amounts of potassium, salt, carbohydrates, and the like. Yet deprived of these nutrients, the body seeks out what it truly needs, regardless of the taste. Once satisfied on a basic level, one can move on to more enjoyable goods.

"A soul too needs to be fed with simple truths in order to enjoy the greater spiritual fruits. The necessities of the spiritual life give us a basis for enjoying God's presence all the more. When our souls are depleted, either by neglect or overshooting our current ability, we may even have to take unpalatable remedies: a reminder that we aren't the center of the universe, or that we need to be forgiving and loving to all we encounter, or just that God is ready to forgive us and we simply need to repent. . . ."

In a recent commentary, Brother John Thomas Fisher, O.P., reflected on God's grace and its role in nourishing our souls.

To access Br. John Thomas' complete post, please visit:

Dominicana: The Finer Things (21 JUL 15)