Look on Jesus on Work
Here's something we can do at work every day, with only the tiniest effort: look on Jesus.
I don't mean look for Jesus. That's where in the midst of the day, you remember Him, say an aspiration like "I love you Jesus." Or maybe you even see Our Lord in a colleague - you know seeing Jesus in others.
And I don't mean look to Jesus. That's where when you're struggling with something, you ask for His help. Maybe you've got a particularly difficult project you're working on, the deadline's coming up, and you just don't know if you can provide your usual excellent work on time. So you ask for His help. Or maybe someone you work with is just a constant annoyance, and you ask His help in being charitable rather than letting them know what you really think.
When you look on Jesus, you see Him there, as He really is. Maybe you check Him out right there at work. What would He be like right now? How would He act?
Speaking of making progress in our spiritual lives, Father Rigoleuc, SJ wrote:
I like this because you just go straight to Christ, and skip yourself. Sure, it makes sense to know your strengths and weaknesses and improve yourself whether at work, or in your family life. But here you just think about Our Blessed Lord. It's more direct. Your don't get all tied up in your underwear - as the expression goes. You're not self-centered.
And we all know Our Lord worked just like we do. So we can picture Him, all His wonderful virtues, His wonderful personality, His wonderful example, as we're working.
Why not? Why not picture Him right here next to you working with you? Why not picture what it might be like to have Jesus as a colleague, or a boss? (The boss part may be wishful thinking if you've ever had some of the bosses I've worked for!)
And as you see Him there working, you can use Him as your example. With His example, you can go for perfection right here, right now. Why not?
Well, it's a happy thought, in any case, isn't it? But then again, that's really what we're supposed to be doing - you know, being perfect - isn't it? And this Easter Season is just about the best time I can think of for us to be doing just what we're supposed to be doing - especially after all that grace you got during Lent. You're positioned perfectly to be perfect!
So take a moment or two today at work and look on Jesus. That's what you want to be like one of these days.
I don't mean look for Jesus. That's where in the midst of the day, you remember Him, say an aspiration like "I love you Jesus." Or maybe you even see Our Lord in a colleague - you know seeing Jesus in others.
And I don't mean look to Jesus. That's where when you're struggling with something, you ask for His help. Maybe you've got a particularly difficult project you're working on, the deadline's coming up, and you just don't know if you can provide your usual excellent work on time. So you ask for His help. Or maybe someone you work with is just a constant annoyance, and you ask His help in being charitable rather than letting them know what you really think.
When you look on Jesus, you see Him there, as He really is. Maybe you check Him out right there at work. What would He be like right now? How would He act?
Speaking of making progress in our spiritual lives, Father Rigoleuc, SJ wrote:
“It is sufficient to look on Jesus, and to contemplate His perfections and His virtues. The very view is of itself capable of producing marvelous effects upon the soul, just as a simple look at the brazen serpent, which Moses reared in the wilderness, was enough to heal the bite of the serpents. For everything in Jesus is not only saintly, but sanctifying also, and imprints itself on the souls which apply themselves to the consideration of it, if they do so with good dispositions. His humility makes us humble; His purity purifies us; His poverty, His patience, His sweetness, and His other virtues imprint themselves on those who contemplate them. This may take place without our reflecting at all upon ourselves, but simply by our viewing these virtues in Jesus with esteem, admiration, respect, love, and complacency.”
I like this because you just go straight to Christ, and skip yourself. Sure, it makes sense to know your strengths and weaknesses and improve yourself whether at work, or in your family life. But here you just think about Our Blessed Lord. It's more direct. Your don't get all tied up in your underwear - as the expression goes. You're not self-centered.
And we all know Our Lord worked just like we do. So we can picture Him, all His wonderful virtues, His wonderful personality, His wonderful example, as we're working.
Why not? Why not picture Him right here next to you working with you? Why not picture what it might be like to have Jesus as a colleague, or a boss? (The boss part may be wishful thinking if you've ever had some of the bosses I've worked for!)
And as you see Him there working, you can use Him as your example. With His example, you can go for perfection right here, right now. Why not?
Well, it's a happy thought, in any case, isn't it? But then again, that's really what we're supposed to be doing - you know, being perfect - isn't it? And this Easter Season is just about the best time I can think of for us to be doing just what we're supposed to be doing - especially after all that grace you got during Lent. You're positioned perfectly to be perfect!
So take a moment or two today at work and look on Jesus. That's what you want to be like one of these days.
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