How Monks Can Help Us Get Results At Work
Catholic men at work aren't monks. We live "in the world." Monks live in monasteries - apart from the world. What could be more different than a monk at prayer and us Catholic men at work? At least it seems that way.
In fact, monks do work. Their lives are centered on "ora et labora": prayer and work. So they don't just "sit around" and pray all day. Many monasteries even run businesses, as you probably know. They make stuff to eat, drink (like wine), etc. We get delicious fudge and the best fruit cake every Christmas from a Benedictine monastery.
If you read the Rule of St Benedict, the chapters toward the beginning speak of the "obedience" that's so crucial in monastic life. A monastery's organization is headed by the Abbot. The monk should "obey" the abbot without pause - and obey cheerfully. What about us? We don't work under Abbots. But we have bosses. Do we owe our boss the same cheerful "obedience? Not in the same way. But we should respond to our daily work with the same cheerful attitude. In that sense we can learn from monks.
Some of us don't really "take orders" from our bosses on a regular basis. Some of us maybe work for ourselves, so we're the boss. Then again, all of us work for some sort of customer. So really, the customer's really the ultimate boss. So we all have a boss somehow, someway.
When we come to work, not everything we do is "fun." As a matter of fact, lots of work can be drudgery. But that's when our cheerfulness should really kick in.
Do you think a monk's work is all fun, interesting? Or do you think they've got an easy life? Far from it. They're praying and working for the salvation of mankind. They're in the monastery for us, in a sense. They're not escaping from the world. In fact, if you go to join a monastery and they suspect you're escaping from the world, you're out. They won't let you in.
We're all in this world together, just doing different things - all for the greater glory of God. That's what unites us with monks. We all work for Him.
If we're not working everyday for Him - conscious of working for His greater glory - something's wrong. Our lives are not "ordered" toward their proper "end." We're kind of scurrying around aimlessly, not accomplishing anything.
And it doesn't matter if our "results" on the job seem first-rate. For example, if you're a salesman and you meet your quotas consistently every quarter and make your bonus and/or commission goals and all that, but you're not working in any way for God's greater glory, you're wasting your time. Worse, you may be wasting your life.
You work for Him. That's that only way to work. It's the only approach to our daily work that makes any sense, that has any merit, that could possibly lead to any real, lasting reward.
That's the way of the Catholic man at work. Our path leads to Heaven. Sure, it's supporting our families, giving our surplus to charity, etc. But that's the point. The end, our goal, is Heaven, always Heaven. If we lose sight of that, we lose our way. We're wandering aimlessly in the desert. We're like the Jews spending those forty years wandering in the Sinai before they get to the Promised Land.
Results for us Catholic men - real results - don't start and end with money, or promotions, or power. They don't start and end with buying a nice house, putting our kids through college, retiring early, or any of that. Results start and end with how we give glory to God each day. Anything short of that is second-rate work.
In fact, monks do work. Their lives are centered on "ora et labora": prayer and work. So they don't just "sit around" and pray all day. Many monasteries even run businesses, as you probably know. They make stuff to eat, drink (like wine), etc. We get delicious fudge and the best fruit cake every Christmas from a Benedictine monastery.
If you read the Rule of St Benedict, the chapters toward the beginning speak of the "obedience" that's so crucial in monastic life. A monastery's organization is headed by the Abbot. The monk should "obey" the abbot without pause - and obey cheerfully. What about us? We don't work under Abbots. But we have bosses. Do we owe our boss the same cheerful "obedience? Not in the same way. But we should respond to our daily work with the same cheerful attitude. In that sense we can learn from monks.
Some of us don't really "take orders" from our bosses on a regular basis. Some of us maybe work for ourselves, so we're the boss. Then again, all of us work for some sort of customer. So really, the customer's really the ultimate boss. So we all have a boss somehow, someway.
When we come to work, not everything we do is "fun." As a matter of fact, lots of work can be drudgery. But that's when our cheerfulness should really kick in.
Do you think a monk's work is all fun, interesting? Or do you think they've got an easy life? Far from it. They're praying and working for the salvation of mankind. They're in the monastery for us, in a sense. They're not escaping from the world. In fact, if you go to join a monastery and they suspect you're escaping from the world, you're out. They won't let you in.
We're all in this world together, just doing different things - all for the greater glory of God. That's what unites us with monks. We all work for Him.
If we're not working everyday for Him - conscious of working for His greater glory - something's wrong. Our lives are not "ordered" toward their proper "end." We're kind of scurrying around aimlessly, not accomplishing anything.
And it doesn't matter if our "results" on the job seem first-rate. For example, if you're a salesman and you meet your quotas consistently every quarter and make your bonus and/or commission goals and all that, but you're not working in any way for God's greater glory, you're wasting your time. Worse, you may be wasting your life.
You work for Him. That's that only way to work. It's the only approach to our daily work that makes any sense, that has any merit, that could possibly lead to any real, lasting reward.
That's the way of the Catholic man at work. Our path leads to Heaven. Sure, it's supporting our families, giving our surplus to charity, etc. But that's the point. The end, our goal, is Heaven, always Heaven. If we lose sight of that, we lose our way. We're wandering aimlessly in the desert. We're like the Jews spending those forty years wandering in the Sinai before they get to the Promised Land.
Results for us Catholic men - real results - don't start and end with money, or promotions, or power. They don't start and end with buying a nice house, putting our kids through college, retiring early, or any of that. Results start and end with how we give glory to God each day. Anything short of that is second-rate work.
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