On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2025 after all masses at OMC, the Knights of our parish distributed gifts in the form of a book “Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy,” written by Matthew Kelly. I’ve spent the last several weeks slowly reading through this small paperback and I wanted to share my thoughts with you on this gift.
First, as Maureen observed when I mentioned the author’s name “Oh good, he’s an easy read.” And indeed he is. But what Mr. Kelly takes a mere one hundred and fifty pages to say is both thought-provoking and insightful. Let me reflect on four words that characterized his book for me: busy, margin, leisure and contentment.
Busy
Kelly defined our hectic lives and constant business as enemies of virtue, health and self-esteem. Our purpose in life is to love God and love one another. “Love cannot be rushed,” Kelly stated. Our society, the media and our business culture drive us to an unsustainable pace where every moment is double-booked and our lives are dominated by the pressure and demands of being productive. As Kelly noted “Busy is not your friend. It makes you feel overwhelmed, tired and inadequate.”
Further, he observed that “Busy prevents us from flourishing.” What does it mean as a human to flourish? Kelly defined it as a state where “we have abundant energy and enthusiasm for all that matters most.” I believe God intended us to flourish, to share our love abundantly. Mr. Kelly emphasized the need to banish busy from our lives in order to flourish.
Margin
Another key concept that Matthew Kelly introduced was the need for margins. “Margin is the difference between load and limit…Margin removes the need to be in a hurry. Margin allows us to handle interruptions masterfully like Jesus.” Kelly made a direct link between margins and our health, both physical and spiritual. “You need margins and boundaries to flourish.”
When the unexpected or random event happens in our lives, we want to respond thoughtfully and compasionately. If we are maxxed out in terms of our capacity to respond to interruptions, delays and roadblocks, we won’t handle our days and our lives with equanimity and grace. “We need margin so that when life surprises us we can respond gracefully.”
Leisure
The third key idea Matthew Kelly introduced was the need for leisure. He quotes Seneca “Without leisure, life is not living, it is merely existing.” We need time for reflection, for prayer, for ideation and daydreaming. Culture, Kelly argued, is the product of leisure. In my own life, the leisure of retirement has afforded me the time to pursue creativity. “Leisure is the opposite of the modern demand of constant activity. It is the authentic opposite of busy.”
I am grateful for the time to realize that part of me that is not work, but play. “Leisure brings us into harmony with ourselves.”
Contentment
Finally, Kelly urged us to be content. “Live in the wisdom of enough.” Happiness is an earthly path, contentment an avenue to the eternal. Recognizing you have enough coupled with gratitude for your many blessings results in contentment.
As part of my personal attempt to slow down and create a margin for reflection and thought, I took my time reading Matthew Kelly’s book, to savor and pray about his words. For me, these insights capture the essence of Kelly’s book and the Christmas gift the Knights gave to their fellow parishioners.
