A few years back, a friend was talking to me and used the phrase, "Middle-aged people like us." It was one of those phrases that made me stop listening to whatever else he was talking about. I looked around and noted that only the two of us were present. I realized with shock that my friend thought that I was middle-aged. I received a second shock when it occurred to me that my friend was right.
I suppose another indicator that I am aging happens when I'm around teenagers or folks in their twenties and even though I know they are speaking English, I struggle to understand the words that they are using. It is also telling that when I attempt to implement their vernacular, they find it amusing and laugh at me.
It is with this knowledge that I'd like to look at a word that is not even new anymore. It's been around for years, so hopefully I have the 'riz' to talk about it without sounding too 'sus' or 'cringe.' I mean, I know I'm not 'fire' or 'extra,' but hopefully there's not '6-7' things wrong with what I just said. If those sentences are meaningless to you, then maybe you're old like me.
The word in question today is 'FOMO' which is an acronym for "fear of missing out." As I said, this phrase is not new, but it highlights a good desire, which is to get the most out of life. It refers to not wanting to miss awesome things. Everyone has FOMO sometimes because we do not want to miss out on goodness, beauty, and joy in life.
In considering FOMO in our lives, I would like to invite young people and all of us to look back to the late 19th century to meet the beloved Roman Catholic Nun, St. Therese of Lisieux. She is one of the most cherished modern saints in the west, yet she died at the age of 24 from tuberculosis. From a worldly perspective, it would seem that her life was snuffed out too soon. She missed out on so much, and she could have had a more meaningful and purposeful life if she'd lived to old age.
But St. Therese did not see her life that way. She did not see her life as 'missing out' and 'lacking meaning and purpose.' From the age of nine she desired to be a nun, and through much persistence, she was admitted to the convent at the age of fifteen. Here are some words from her journal which was published after her death:
Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be... It pleases Him to create great Saints, who may be compared with the lilies or the rose; but He has also created little ones, who must be content to be daisies or violets, nestling at His feet to delight His eyes when He should choose to look at them. The happier they are to be as He wills, the more perfect they are.
She saw herself as one of the little flowers in the Lord's garden, and "The Little Flower" has become her nickname. She encourages all of us to know that whether we are a large beautiful rose or a precious little violet, we are beautiful to Jesus and our joy will be found in living out His will.
She also wrote, "Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to the Divine Furnace of love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in its father's arms."
Can you imagine living your life like a little child, secure in the arms of Jesus?
Like all the saints, whether they are large flowers or little flowers, St. Therese did not have FOMO. Actually, I am sure they all had it at one time or another, but they all shifted from FOMO to FOMOOJ. I doubt my new and improved acronym will catch on, but FOMOOJ stands for 'Fear of Missing Out on Jesus.'
Whether we are learning from St. Therese in the 19th century, St. Ignatius in the 1st century, St. Porphyrios in the 20th century, or any other Saint, we will find in them a fervent desire to be with Jesus more and more each day.
As we approach the celebration of Christmas, we have many opportunities for FOMO. I'd invite us all to seek and pray to shift that to FOMOOJ instead. Jesus offers you the Christmas gift of himself, and you can offer him yourself as a gift back. This is what Christmas is all about, and I pray we all journey deeper into the joy of knowing Jesus.
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Originally published in the Holy Apostles E-bulletin. Subscribe here.
