Sanctifying Our Work

 

 There is a beautiful story that a cardinal tells about his time in Rome. He was walking down the street toward the Vatican when he saw a man sweeping the street. After greeting him, the man said, “Your Eminence, you are going to the Vatican to do important work. But, if I sweep this street with more love, then my work is even more valuable in the eyes of God than yours.” The cardinal told him that he was absolutely correct, because love is what gives value to human work.

That is something that all of us should remember. As Pope Saint John Paul II put it, “It is the human person who gives dignity to the work, not work that gives dignity to the person.” Whatever our work may be, if we are doing our best and serving others out of love, then we can hold our heads up high and do it proudly. At the same time, we should never look down on others because of how they earn a living.

 Now matter how much love we put into our work, however, it will still be difficult. All work involves some kind of suffering whether it is physical or emotional. As Christians, we have a way of dealing with suffering- by uniting it with the suffering of Jesus on the cross. So, when I am straining every muscle to do my work, I can call to mind how Jesus struggled to carry the cross. If I am not being appreciated for what I do, I can remember how Jesus was looked down on and ridiculed as He hung on the cross. By uniting our suffering with that of Jesus, we find strength to carry on and we are transformed in the process. 

 One thing many people do is offer the suffering of their work for a specific intention. For instance, we could offer the pain involved in a particularly challenging project for those who are not able to find a job. Or, we could offer the anxiety and nervousness we might be feeling for those who are poor and do not know where their next meal will come from. By doing that, we take the focus off ourselves and what we are experiencing and remembering those who have less than we do. Whenever we do that, we grow in appreciation for what we have and in love for others.

Work is meant to be a blessing for us. It is a way that we can develop our talents and serve others out of love. It is also a way that we can share in Jesus’ cross. So we gather here on this day of rest to thank God for the gift of work and also to pray for those who are unemployed or who are being exploited in their work. May our work help build a world marked with God’s justice

Getting Off The Treadmill

 

 Many people compare their everyday lives to running on a treadmill. They are always busy, always on the go, but never getting anywhere. Such people find themselves getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home to take their children to whatever after-school activities they may have, grabbing supper on the road, and then going to bed only to start the cycle over again the next morning. Others have unfulfilling jobs that leave them drained at the end of the day. The only thing they have to look forward to is the weekend or their next vacation. After years of living on this "treadmill", people begin to question the meaning of their lives and wonder if all the activity is worth it. 

 In this Sunday's first reading, Job expresses some of the same sentiments. As he puts it, "Life on earth is drudgery." Remember that Job, in a series of tragedies, lost his wife, his children and all his possessions. In his grief, he couldn't find the strength to pick himself up from the ground. In a near state of shock, he compares his life to that of a slave or hireling who has no share in the profits of his work. These are sentiments we can very easily share, especially during these dark and cold February days. 

 While Job poses the problem, Jesus provides the solution. In today's gospel, Jesus has had a very long day. The people of Capernaum, hearing that he had the power to heal and cast out demons, were bringing the sick to him while he stayed at the house of Peter's mother-in-law. When everyone had finally left, Jesus slips away by himself to a deserted place to pray. He needed time away from the crowds and the demands of the people to spend time alone with his father. 

 For Jesus, prayer was a source of strength. All the power to preach the good news, to heal and to cast out demons came from the time he spent praising and adoring his Father in secret. Like all of us, Jesus needed to step aside from his busy, demanding life to take stock of his Father's presence and love.

If we are going to live lives marked by peace and joy, prayer is vitally important to us. It will bring clarity to our minds when we are confused and calm to our spirits when we are anxious. Prayer is like an incubator cultivating faith, hope and love within our spirit.

 Every Sunday, we give God an hour out of our week because we believe something important happens at Mass. We believe that Jesus is speaking to us through the Scriptures we proclaim and giving his very life to us through the gift of his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We go to church because we believe that our lives are about much more than what we do day in and day out. Our lives are rather about who we are- children of God made in his image and likeness. By making daily prayer along with Sunday Mass the foundation of our lives, we see ourselves being renewed and transformed daily by God's presence and power. Our lives are marked, not with monotony or drudgery, but with the joy and peace which come from the Holy Spirit.

Spirituality Of Work

Jesus knew what hard work was all about. For most of his life, he toiled as a carpenter building  and making repairs to homes. When there was not enough carpentry work, he would have hired himself out as a day laborer in the fields harvesting grain and olives. He knew what it was like to have to work under the hot sun. He knew what it was like to have a bad day, to have someone yell at him because they were not happy with his work or to have someone refuse to pay him. There were probably many nights when he came home and wanted to just go straight to bed.

The hard work did not end, however, when he decided to hang up his carpentry belt to preach the Kingdom of God. There were many long days traveling from town to town, preaching to crowds and healing the sick. People were always pressing in on him from all sides sometimes just to get a look at the wonder worker from Galilee and other times to hopefully be cured. As we see in today’s gospel, Jesus got little rest. But he kept pressing forward, despite the difficulties, to do the will of his Heavenly Father.

Of course, his greatest work was that which he accomplished on the cross, dying to save us. It was obviously very difficult, but he endured it all out of love. And because of his great love, he turned what would otherwise have been a great tragedy into a source of salvation and hope for the whole world.

Work is an unavoidable part of the human condition, and all work involves some drudgery as Job tells us in the first reading. There are the sore muscles and fatigue that come from hard manual labor. There is the stress and anxiety of trying to meet deadlines. There is dealing with people who are often never happy no matter what we do. And there is the frustration and feelings of failure that come from looking for work in a challenging economy. Work whether it is in an office, in the home or in the classroom is never easy.

However, as Christians, we look at work as more than a way to earn a living. Through faith we understand that it is a way for us to cooperate with God in transforming the world. God wants to use us and our work to make the world a better place. So all of our work, no matter how menial or insignificant it may seem, is a way of helping to build the Kingdom of God.

Consider this. All of us are wearing clothes made by people we have never met. They got up early in the morning, took their places at their sewing machines and got to work. It may not have occurred to them that they were doing anything meaningful, but because of their work we have clothing to keep us warm. All thanks to people we have never met. The same is true of the cars we drive, the houses we live in and the food we eat. All of those things which are so necessary for our well-being are  the result of someone’s hard work.

The same is true for our work. Whatever we do, no matter how trivial it may seem, it is doing someone an immense amount of good. God is using it to make someone’s life better. We may never see it and we may never be thanked for it, but it is real and we should take pride in it.

In today’s society, it is common for us to separate our faith from our work. It is not always clear to us how our worship on Sunday should transform our work on Monday. However, for believers, all things are transformed by love. Just as by love Jesus transformed the cross into a means of salvation, just so through love we transform our work from mere drudgery into a means of holiness for us.

A cardinal tells the story of a time he was walking through the streets of Rome on his way to the Vatican. A street sweeper greeted him and asked, “Your Excellency, are you on your way to see the Pope?” The cardinal answered, “Yes.” The man then continued, “I’m sure you will be making many important decisions today. But if I sweep these streets with love, it will be equally important in the eyes of God.” And the cardinal replied, “It certainly will be.”

When our work is difficult, when it seems demeaning, when we feel as though we cannot go on, we should offer it all up to God in love. When we feel overwhelmed, when people are pressing us to do more and more, when we are too tired to even think straight, we can give it all to our Heavenly Father and ask Him to help us. By offering it all up for the love of God and for the conversion of sinners, we can transform our work into a means of salvation for ourselves and for the world.

When we bring our love for God into the workplace it will also have a transforming effect on the people we work with. They will notice how we complain less than others, how we avoid gossip and backstabbing and how peaceful we are even under stress. They will wonder what is different about us and ask us about the joy we have. Then we can witness to them about the love of God which changes all things.

Jesus promises that he will make all things work for good for those who will love and follow him. That means that he will use our work, no matter how tedious it may seem, to do good for the world. If we embrace it with love, it can transform us and our world. All we have to do is take our faith to work with us on Monday and let God take care of the rest. 

Living The Gospel At Work

Saint Josemaria Escriba had a radical idea. He would form an order not of priests or religious women but of lay people dedicated to living out their faith in the world.  Rather than serve the Church directly as catechists or administrators, they would live their faith out in their workplace. By witnessing to Christ in their schools, offices and factories, they would bring the light of the gospel out from the four walls of their churches into the wider world to touch people who otherwise would never go to Mass or have contact with a priest or religious. And so, he formed a group called Opus Dei, Latin for “work of God”, to form lay people in their faith so that they could go out and bring the teaching of Christ into the world.

When the Scriptures talk about God’s call, it is usually to individuals who are chosen for a great task whether it be to serve the people as a prophet as Amos was in today’s first reading or to follow Jesus as the disciples in the gospel.did This calling required that they leave their jobs. The prophet Amos had to leave his work as a shepherd and dresser of sycamores in Judah to speak God’s word at Bethel. The apostles left their jobs as fishermen to follow Jesus. The same is true today. Many are still called to serve God in a radical way by leaving their jobs to serve as priests and religious.  However, most of us are called to witness to Jesus at our places of work or in our schools. We are still called to follow Him, but to do it where we are, to bring Him to places where He would otherwise not be talked about and to people who otherwise would not be exposed to Christian love.

That means that it is not only the religious women and men, the priest or the deacons who have the responsibility of spreading the gospel. Through baptism, each one of us is responsible for bringing Christ to the world. Through confirmation, we are given the Holy Spirit who gifts us with courage to speak the truth, perseverance to remain faithful when we are tempted and love to see Christ in all people. God is calling us to bring His Kingdom into the lives of the people around us who might never otherwise hear the good news of His love.

It does not mean jumping up on our desks and preaching a fire and brimstone sermon. It does not mean interrupting a staff meeting to share a passage from the Bible. Rather it means living out the faith sometimes in quiet ways by not participating in gossip, always telling the truth and taking notice of those in our workplaces who have difficulty making friends or who may be struggling with their jobs. Other times it will mean standing up for those who are picked on, clarifying the Church’s teaching when someone misrepresents it or defending the faith in a gentle way when someone is ridiculing it. Living in such a way will not only make our offices, schools and factories more peaceful places but it will open hearts to the love of God manifest in Jesus and at work in a powerful way through the Catholic Church.

How can we begin to be a better witness to Jesus at our work? It all starts with prayer. We should all begin our work day by offering our efforts up to God. If we are facing a particularly challenging day, we can offer up that suffering in union with Jesus on the cross. In this way, we acknowledge that God is with us even in our work. Then we must pray for the grace to remain faithful to Him throughout the day. We should ask for whatever we need to meet the challenges of the day whether it be for patience to deal with an irritable co-worker or wisdom to answer the questions someone may have about our faith. We can be sure that God will answer those humble prayers and empower us to bring His light with us wherever we go.

When we live the gospel message, we also have to be prepared for rejection. Some people are so angry at the Church or so caught up in the pleasures of the world that they do not want to hear the good news or be associated with people of faith. They may try to insult us or take every opportunity to offend us. Jesus has some advice for us. He told His disciples that when they encounter such people they are to just shake the dust off their sandals. In other words, we should not take this rejection personally. They are not rejecting us but Jesus, so we should let it roll off us. And it could be that by our patience and prayers, they may one day open their hearts to the love of God.

In the past, the gospel message was spread by those who left their families, jobs and even their homeland to witness to Jesus. Now that the good news has been spread throughout the world, as a Church we must undertake a new missionary effort - not to foreign lands or to foreign people but to the many lost sheep we meet everyday in our schools, workplaces and families. In today’s world it is up to each of us no matter what we do to live the good news in such a way that it opens minds up to God and heals angry and bitter hearts. We can do that with confidence, for as Saint Josemaria Escriba teaches us, it is a work of God. He will accomplish it through us in mostly hidden ways if we offer ourselves humbly and confidently to Him.