catherine
5-2-12, 7:55am
I was going to post a link to this quote but I think I'll just post the whole short article from one of my favorite sites. I love that Latin proverb: Non Multa Sed Multum. And I like what the author has to say about "enough" being in the quality, not the quantity, of doing. (Not sure if this belongs in the "enough" forum or the "simple spirituality" forum)
“Not Many Things But Much”
by JIM MANNEY
Something to think about ¦ A Latin proverb adds a spiritual dimension to the point: non multa sed multum, or “not many things but much.” Jesuits didn’t coin that phrase, though I’ve heard it attributed to them, probably because its spirit so closely aligns with other Jesuit ideals.
The quality with which a work is done—the “muchness” of it—can be more important than the sheer quantity of tasks a person completes. What value, for example, that a social worker counsels fifty people a day if each feels like a processed can rolling through an assembly line? Or what value is there in people parroting hundreds of prayers without real conscious engagement? We earlier quoted Archbishop Oscar Romero’s take on this theme: “We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and do it very well.” Or as Mother Teresa put it: “We cannot do great things on this earth; we can only do little things with great love.”
“Not Many Things But Much”
by JIM MANNEY
Something to think about ¦ A Latin proverb adds a spiritual dimension to the point: non multa sed multum, or “not many things but much.” Jesuits didn’t coin that phrase, though I’ve heard it attributed to them, probably because its spirit so closely aligns with other Jesuit ideals.
The quality with which a work is done—the “muchness” of it—can be more important than the sheer quantity of tasks a person completes. What value, for example, that a social worker counsels fifty people a day if each feels like a processed can rolling through an assembly line? Or what value is there in people parroting hundreds of prayers without real conscious engagement? We earlier quoted Archbishop Oscar Romero’s take on this theme: “We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and do it very well.” Or as Mother Teresa put it: “We cannot do great things on this earth; we can only do little things with great love.”