The Nine S': Simplicity

Simplicity is rooted from simplicitas.  We are referred to simplex, which at root means single.  Simplicity encompasses what a single unit is or can do, which makes understanding or action easy, natural, uncomplicated.  Ponder simplicity. The aspect of the single unit assists in relating simplicity to forming our souls.

We have but one soul, one life, one mom, one dad, one body, one brain, one heart, one childhood, one adulthood, one birth, one death, one judgment.  We have one God in Three Persons, one Father, one Son, one Holy Spirit.  We have one Blessed Virgin Mary, one guardian angel, one Bible, one Body of Christ, one Church. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all. We have one actual moment as we live, now, moment by moment.

When these single units are considered, simplicity takes a turn, for society says there is safety in numbers.  We tend to feel secure with more, not less.  However, we cherish most that which is single, rare, irreplaceable.  So in our spiritual lives, we must learn to cherish simplicity, that which is least is greatest.  Love the one-of-a-kind.


In the secular world, it is said that one who is a "specialist" is more successful than one who is a "generalist".  It has to do with focus as well as specific knowledge and ability in one area of knowledge or expertise. So it is in the spiritual life.  How much more do we desire spiritual success, oneness in Christ?

If we strive to live in Christ in the present moment, to seek, find, and climb the stairway to heaven, we certainly need a strong focus as well as specific knowledge and ability in the spiritual life.  We must simplify our desires and distractions, as tending a  garden, removing that which hinders while providing all that ensures healthy growth. What do we desire for our one life in all eternity? 

So we assess and remove that which hinders us from our sole desire: union with Christ.  We then assess, learn and enact that which assists our desire to be one in Christ.  We may find that simplicity is learned and enacted in correlation with our awareness of that which complicates our temporal and spiritual lives.  A short-cut is to go directly to the interior to ponder, pray, and perceive.  Ask Jesus to help us come to simplicity.  

Soon we will know not so much what to eliminate from our inner and outer lives, but more what spiritual goods He wants us to focus upon.  When we focus upon the spiritual, such as to remain in His love, the interior and exterior distractions easily, naturally, understandably fall by the wayside. Previous strong desires will not hold us hostage, for we will find we lose interest in that which is not Christ.

For most of us, simplicity takes root gradually.  The process may be subtle, with only occasional bursts of visible or known simplification.  But by focusing on Christ, desiring to remain in His love in every present moment, the losses of temporal items, traits, habits, attachments and dislikes most readily fall by the wayside, according to His will and pleasure.  

For it is His pleasure that becomes our pleasure, to come to simplicity through various means both temporal and spiritual.  Whether we first detect the detachment from earthly things, or begin to comprehend the unfolding of a holy indifference, does not matter.  What is key in the standard of simplicity is that our lives become focused on Christ: His love, His will, His Church.  Within Christ, all else will be given us when, how, and where for we have need.

Just as St. Paul lists all the virtues, he says the greatest of these is love.  Jesus tells us to remain in His love by believing in Him and obeying His command to love one another as He loves us.  Perhaps we are seeing the ultimate simplicity is God.  Since God is love, love God.


Simplicity at its single-most valued, rare, holy, ultimate unit is God's love, love of God.  From this point, consider branches emanating from love of the Trinity to love of Mary, angels and saints in heaven, love of souls in purgatory, love of the living Body of Christ, love of Scripture, love of the Sacraments, love of the Church, love of family, love of friends, love of enemies, love of truth, beauty, goodness.  

 Love remaining in Christ's love, love virtues, love creatures in God's creation, love salvation of souls, love salvific suffering, love union with Christ in His life, suffering, passion and resurrection.  Love simplicity of life with, through and in Christ.  Simplicity flows naturally when one remains in His omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent love.