Why Work and Our Spiritual Life Don't Seem to Mix Well Sometimes, Part III
Maybe one reason work and our spiritual lives don't seem to mix well sometimes has to do wtih war. We get up each day and the battle begins. Doesn't it feel that way sometimes? We get ready to rumble. We're going to conquer the world today. Work is war!
I knew a tough, nasty executive who really approached his job as war: him against the world. He said he walked into the office each day knowing there was a bullet with his name on it. No exaggeration; he really said that. But I'm not talking about that sort of attitude. That's an ego thing. He saw himself as the center of the world. But we Catholic men know that God is the center of our world - or at least He's supposed to be.
What we're talking about here is the daily struggle that can sometimes look and feel like a war.
The day begins and we're sucked into the daily struggle. We're fighting with both hands, some days with hands and feet flailing. Sometimes we like the battle - it leads to a victory and everyone celebrates. Sometimes we're fighting for our lives and it's not so much fun. But we fight on nonetheless.
If you love your job, you love the fight. You're the conquering hero. If you hate your job, you still have to fight, love it or not. You want to live. For what? To fight another day!
When we're in war mode, all those bullets flying by don't allow us to think for a minute about the spiritual life.
But, the spiritual life is a battle too. The day begins, the battle begins. We either grow closer to God or we slip farther away. From the moment we open our eyes and say a "Morning Offering" to the moment we close our eyes at the end of the day after saying our evening prayers, we fight.
But just like the ebb and flow of a long battle we're not assured of the outcome. And, ah, how often we fall. We didn't spend any time in prayer and meditation this morning. Why? We got up a little later, because the previous day's work wiped us out. Or we have to get in to work earlier today.
Temptation broadsided us. Maybe it was impure thoughts that hadn't bothered us for a while. Now they're back. It feels like we're being bombarded with them. It could come from the outside or just inside our minds.
So the battle rages each day - at work and in our spiritual lives. And that's why work and our spiritual lives should in fact mix just fine. Both call us to battle, each and every day - from the moment we wake up. Both require effort, sacrifice, the ability to react to whatever our work or the world dishes up each moment of every day.
Maybe here's a way to bring our work and our spiritual life together - a surprisingly simple way: just say the words of the Morning Offering carefully and thoughtfully when we wake up:
I knew a tough, nasty executive who really approached his job as war: him against the world. He said he walked into the office each day knowing there was a bullet with his name on it. No exaggeration; he really said that. But I'm not talking about that sort of attitude. That's an ego thing. He saw himself as the center of the world. But we Catholic men know that God is the center of our world - or at least He's supposed to be.
What we're talking about here is the daily struggle that can sometimes look and feel like a war.
The day begins and we're sucked into the daily struggle. We're fighting with both hands, some days with hands and feet flailing. Sometimes we like the battle - it leads to a victory and everyone celebrates. Sometimes we're fighting for our lives and it's not so much fun. But we fight on nonetheless.
If you love your job, you love the fight. You're the conquering hero. If you hate your job, you still have to fight, love it or not. You want to live. For what? To fight another day!
When we're in war mode, all those bullets flying by don't allow us to think for a minute about the spiritual life.
But, the spiritual life is a battle too. The day begins, the battle begins. We either grow closer to God or we slip farther away. From the moment we open our eyes and say a "Morning Offering" to the moment we close our eyes at the end of the day after saying our evening prayers, we fight.
But just like the ebb and flow of a long battle we're not assured of the outcome. And, ah, how often we fall. We didn't spend any time in prayer and meditation this morning. Why? We got up a little later, because the previous day's work wiped us out. Or we have to get in to work earlier today.
Temptation broadsided us. Maybe it was impure thoughts that hadn't bothered us for a while. Now they're back. It feels like we're being bombarded with them. It could come from the outside or just inside our minds.
So the battle rages each day - at work and in our spiritual lives. And that's why work and our spiritual lives should in fact mix just fine. Both call us to battle, each and every day - from the moment we wake up. Both require effort, sacrifice, the ability to react to whatever our work or the world dishes up each moment of every day.
Maybe here's a way to bring our work and our spiritual life together - a surprisingly simple way: just say the words of the Morning Offering carefully and thoughtfully when we wake up:
"O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day..."
I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day..."
Then start the day. God knows your intention. If the day gets away from you, He understands. This doesn't mean you can't try to develop the habit of recollecting yourself in His presence from time to time during the work day. But if you start out offering up your work, that's half the battle.
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