Complacency

Complacency:  good or bad? 

I am confident, dear Reader, that you answered bad. As commonly understood, complacency is self-satisfaction that is smug, superior, uncritical, lethargic, insensitive, and lacking in ambition, drive, energy and sense of urgency.  Fair enough! That is bad!

But this morning I read in The Sanctifier, by Archbishop Luis Martinez of Mexico, about the complacency of Jesus in the love and will of the Father. He suggests that our life in the Holy Spirit, emulating that of Jesus, springs from a wholesome, holy contentment, serenity and restfulness in God. In classical fashion, the Archbishop reminds us that within the immanent or inner life of the Trinity, there is absolute complacency, joy, abundance and eventfulness. There is no lack, no restlessness, no need.

This absolute inner perfection freely, gratuitously extends itself exteriorly in creation and then  redemption in the sending of Jesus. Jesus himself is best understood, in his essence, as intimate with his Father in unbounded delight. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I delight." The very foundation and core of all being and Being is this mutuality in delight in the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus is best understood in two primal dimensions: his rest, his complacency in the Father; and his urgency to glorify the Father by doing the works as indicated by the Holy Spirit. Is Jesus first and foremost "a man for others?" Well no...not first and foremost. He is that tertiarily. First he rests in the Father. Second he moves out to glorify the Father. Thirdly, he does that by healing, teaching, saving and sanctifying us. 

Josef Pieper said something similar many years ago: Contentment is the most underappreciated virtue. He meant that the Catholic life of virtue and action flows from a deeper font of rest in prayer, serenity, contentment and complacency in God's love.

Properly practiced, however, this does not lead to passivity and quietism. Rather, the union with God in Christ overflows in fruitful, even miraculous action. Martinez is himself an exemplar. He writes like a scholastic theologian, but also like a mystic in the state of love. He is a poet. But he was also renown for his work with the poor of Mexico. He maintained a friendship with the president of Mexico, Cardenas, from childhood and despite differences they were able to bring peace to their people after the brutal persecution of the Church by the previous administration of Calles. 

Our modern, American culture is activist, restless, nervous, agitated, manic, noisy, and pragmatic. We systemically overrate achievement, success, effort, ambition, control, and activity. We systemically underrate rest, contemplation, beauty, serenity, silence and adoration.

The word complacent comes from the Latin word meaning "pleasing and pleased." it is the state of rest, fullness, peace. It is a foundational virtue for us all, but especially significant for the feminine spirit and body. The woman...as mother, lover, daughter, friend, care-giver, comforter...is the radiant source of peace, well-being, pleasure and comfort. As such, she requires an interior serenity. She must carry within her very person, independent of outside forces, an essential harmony and fullness. Even in the (God given) erotic dimension, the classic female nude is at rest, quiet, complacent. There is little sexual attraction to the woman who is nervous, anxious, shrill, or agitated. By comparison, a stronger element of restlessness is intrinsic to the more activist masculine psyche. However, the strong man also draws from an inner source of quiet that allows him to express his power as tenderness.

As we approach Pentecost, Come Holy Spirit, instill in us all that serenity, rest and complacency that we might delight in the love of the Father and Son and overflow it to all around us! Amen!