Bring a Holy Soul to Work
It's the month of the Holy Souls. It's a special time the Church designates to remember those who've died, to pray especially for them during this month.
Hard as it might be to recollect yourself and pray during a busy day at work, it's time to step up and put in that extra effort. Do it for the Holy Souls. In fact, you may want to bring one of the Holy Souls to work with you. Who do you know who's died? A parent, relative, friend, neighbor? Everyone's got people they know who finished the race here on earth. How about one of them?
For example, both my parents are deceased. I could bring them with me. Maybe one day my Mom, one day my Dad. I could keep them in my heart and in my mind in some special way. Then, at times during my busy day, just remember them and say a short prayer for them.
Maybe the day I take Mom to work, I could remember how she used to make breakfast for me. Until college, she used to get breakfast ready for me and my Dad early every morning and we'd get to have breakfast together.
So maybe I'll pick one small slice of time to remember when I think of her: high school. Since I commuted from Jersey City to a high school in New York City, I used to have to get up really early, compared to my friends who went to local schools. For some of those high school years both my Dad and I would eat breakfast, then leave together - he for work, me for school. He had to go to New York City for work and I did for school. It was kind of neat going in together.
There's lots of other stuff Mom did, of course. But getting me out the door to my work at the time - high school - with a good breakfast under my belt really helped me do my best each day. So I could bring Mom to work one day and remember - at least - how Mom used to help me do my best work. And then, of course, go right ahead and do my best work.
Then there was Dad. As I said we used to leave together in the morning for a period of time in our lives. We took the bus to Journal Square in Jersey City, then the Path train together into Manhattan, where he took one subway, I another. Once he got me a job at his company during one of my breaks for a few weeks so I could earn extra money. At the end of the day, he'd sometimes talk about work that day while we were eating dinner at home.
I learned stuff about working from him, about getting up early, getting to work on time, and then lots of stuff about working at a job. I could bring him to work and think about some of those things from time to time. A lot of what he said has been helpful to me. He had great common sense and knew how to cut right to the point of a matter - whereas I sometimes tend to over-analyze things and never quite get to the bottom line.
There are other Holy Souls I could bring to work. Like I said, I suspect you've got some folks you could bring with you. Maybe you can't figure out their relationship to your work, like I just did with my Mom and Dad, but you could pray especially for them anyway, right?
Now imagine if they're in Purgatory right now. (We don't really know one way or the other of course.) They'd really appreciate your sending a special thought and prayer their way. Every prayer we say for the Holy Souls helps them during their time of purification. It might even shorten the time they've got to spend in Purgatory and help get them to Heaven sooner. Hey, you'll have a real ally praying for you some day if you happen to wind up in Purgatory.
Or maybe they're in Heaven. You can ask for their intercession, just like you would for any saint you know of. That's one of the things saint do: they intercede for us. They bring our prayer to God in a special way, whether it's a prayer of praise, thanksgiving, reparation or petition. Besides, they're already in position to pray for you. After all, they know you, right? So why wouldn't they pray for you, so you'll get to Heaven and be with them some day?
As for me, I'll start out by bringing my Mom and Dad to work. And no matter how busy I get that day, I could pray for my Mom and my Dad in a special way during my work days this month, and maybe ask them to pray for me too, to help me so that I do really good work. I could remember just how much they sacrificed for me and helped me in so many ways while they were here on earth. And then I could remind myself that, if they're in Purgatory, they can really benefit from my prayers (not that I don't pray for them all the time). If they're in Heaven, they'll be praying for me (I hope!). And wouldn't that be a comforting thought in the midst of one of those busy days at work?
So no matter how busy you are at your work, try bringing a Holy Soul to work with you one of these November days. I just know it'll be good for you and for them.
Hard as it might be to recollect yourself and pray during a busy day at work, it's time to step up and put in that extra effort. Do it for the Holy Souls. In fact, you may want to bring one of the Holy Souls to work with you. Who do you know who's died? A parent, relative, friend, neighbor? Everyone's got people they know who finished the race here on earth. How about one of them?
For example, both my parents are deceased. I could bring them with me. Maybe one day my Mom, one day my Dad. I could keep them in my heart and in my mind in some special way. Then, at times during my busy day, just remember them and say a short prayer for them.
Maybe the day I take Mom to work, I could remember how she used to make breakfast for me. Until college, she used to get breakfast ready for me and my Dad early every morning and we'd get to have breakfast together.
So maybe I'll pick one small slice of time to remember when I think of her: high school. Since I commuted from Jersey City to a high school in New York City, I used to have to get up really early, compared to my friends who went to local schools. For some of those high school years both my Dad and I would eat breakfast, then leave together - he for work, me for school. He had to go to New York City for work and I did for school. It was kind of neat going in together.
There's lots of other stuff Mom did, of course. But getting me out the door to my work at the time - high school - with a good breakfast under my belt really helped me do my best each day. So I could bring Mom to work one day and remember - at least - how Mom used to help me do my best work. And then, of course, go right ahead and do my best work.
Then there was Dad. As I said we used to leave together in the morning for a period of time in our lives. We took the bus to Journal Square in Jersey City, then the Path train together into Manhattan, where he took one subway, I another. Once he got me a job at his company during one of my breaks for a few weeks so I could earn extra money. At the end of the day, he'd sometimes talk about work that day while we were eating dinner at home.
I learned stuff about working from him, about getting up early, getting to work on time, and then lots of stuff about working at a job. I could bring him to work and think about some of those things from time to time. A lot of what he said has been helpful to me. He had great common sense and knew how to cut right to the point of a matter - whereas I sometimes tend to over-analyze things and never quite get to the bottom line.
There are other Holy Souls I could bring to work. Like I said, I suspect you've got some folks you could bring with you. Maybe you can't figure out their relationship to your work, like I just did with my Mom and Dad, but you could pray especially for them anyway, right?
Now imagine if they're in Purgatory right now. (We don't really know one way or the other of course.) They'd really appreciate your sending a special thought and prayer their way. Every prayer we say for the Holy Souls helps them during their time of purification. It might even shorten the time they've got to spend in Purgatory and help get them to Heaven sooner. Hey, you'll have a real ally praying for you some day if you happen to wind up in Purgatory.
Or maybe they're in Heaven. You can ask for their intercession, just like you would for any saint you know of. That's one of the things saint do: they intercede for us. They bring our prayer to God in a special way, whether it's a prayer of praise, thanksgiving, reparation or petition. Besides, they're already in position to pray for you. After all, they know you, right? So why wouldn't they pray for you, so you'll get to Heaven and be with them some day?
As for me, I'll start out by bringing my Mom and Dad to work. And no matter how busy I get that day, I could pray for my Mom and my Dad in a special way during my work days this month, and maybe ask them to pray for me too, to help me so that I do really good work. I could remember just how much they sacrificed for me and helped me in so many ways while they were here on earth. And then I could remind myself that, if they're in Purgatory, they can really benefit from my prayers (not that I don't pray for them all the time). If they're in Heaven, they'll be praying for me (I hope!). And wouldn't that be a comforting thought in the midst of one of those busy days at work?
So no matter how busy you are at your work, try bringing a Holy Soul to work with you one of these November days. I just know it'll be good for you and for them.
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