Don't Forget the World When You're Working
Don't forget the rest of the world while you're at work. Don't forget that everything you do during work will effect the world "out there."
Think I'm exaggerating? Let's take the example of "cutting corners" at work.
I've cut corners at work from time to time. It's not something I want to do; it just seems that sometimes I don't have a choice. There's the deadline and here's me needing to produce my completed work. And so at times I've produced "second best" efforts.
Sometimes it just seems like that's the nature of work: the demands on us at work sometimes lead us to settle for second best in our efforts.
But, really it's never a good idea to cut corners, to settle for second best. And it's so easy to slip into a habit of cutting corners and settling for second best when our boss or our customers don't complain - when they don't know the difference between the second-best effort you produce and your best work.
The thing is, our souls suffer for it. And I think the world suffers to.
Our souls become used to half-hearted efforts. We get soft, even lazy. And the world eventually reflects our half-hearted, lazy efforts. In fact, I think that's a lot of what's wrong with the world - we're not producing our best and the world shows it.
But there's even more to this. We Catholics not only ought to do our best at the particular tasks we perform at work, but we need to "do good" every day as well. We can't just show up and "get the work done" one way or another each day. We've got to provide the example of charity in all our thoughts, words and actions that will lead others to Christ. Yes, even at work.
Our Holy Father, speaking of what he calls the "somnolence" of the apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper, describes our tendency to become numb to the evil in the world:
“I would say that the disciples’ somnolence in the course of history is a certain insensitivity of soul to the power of evil, an insensitivity to all the evil of the world. We do not want to let ourselves be too disturbed by these things, we want to forget them: We think that perhaps it is not so grave, and we forget. And it is not only insensitivity to evil; instead, we should be watching to do good, to struggle for the force of good. It is insensitivity to God — this is our real somnolence: this insensitivity to the presence of God that makes us insensitive also to evil. We do not listen to God — it would bother us — and so we do not listen, of course, to the force of evil either, and we stay on the path of our comfort.”
Work can become the ideal place to "forget." While work can be an unhappy or difficult place for some of us, for others it can be a place to escape the unpleasantness of life. But here Pope Benedict is speaking of a desire to deny the evil in the world by just ignoring or growing somehow numb to it. And the practical, brass tacks nature of the workplace - a place where our only concern is to "get things done" can provide cover for a lack of concern for the evil in the world. And when we grow numb to evil, we can easily become unconcerned with the critical importance that we do good each and every day - even during our busy working hours.
We can forget that our time at work can't just be a time of efficient production. The product or service that our company sells can't be our only concern while we work. Being and doing good can't be something secondary. But if we're numb to evil, doing good may not seem as important to us as it really is.
And if we Catholics don't put our attention and effort into doing good - being charitable - during our busy days, even during our busiest times at work, the inevitable result is that evil will triumph. Evil will spread like a weed unattended that eventually takes over the whole garden. Without charity, only evil thrives in this world. That's just the way of the world; it's just the result of Original Sin.
Imagine that evil spreads and overtakes the world just because we cut corners at work from time to time. Does this sound exaggerated to you? If it does, think about it.
Maybe this all sounds daunting, a kind of unreasonable demand, especially if our jobs are unusually pressure-filled or if we're struggling just to make ends meet. But please take a moment to consider that we Catholics are really the best hope for our world. And if we don't acknowledge the presence of God, and act in a charitable way to everyone, who's going to do that?
Just imagine the world with everyone too busy to be charitable. Imagine a world where no one acknowledges the presence of almighty God in their lives. Now you've imagined hell - hell on earth.
And it can all start with cutting corners.
Don't forget the rest of the world when you're working today.
Think I'm exaggerating? Let's take the example of "cutting corners" at work.
I've cut corners at work from time to time. It's not something I want to do; it just seems that sometimes I don't have a choice. There's the deadline and here's me needing to produce my completed work. And so at times I've produced "second best" efforts.
Sometimes it just seems like that's the nature of work: the demands on us at work sometimes lead us to settle for second best in our efforts.
But, really it's never a good idea to cut corners, to settle for second best. And it's so easy to slip into a habit of cutting corners and settling for second best when our boss or our customers don't complain - when they don't know the difference between the second-best effort you produce and your best work.
The thing is, our souls suffer for it. And I think the world suffers to.
Our souls become used to half-hearted efforts. We get soft, even lazy. And the world eventually reflects our half-hearted, lazy efforts. In fact, I think that's a lot of what's wrong with the world - we're not producing our best and the world shows it.
But there's even more to this. We Catholics not only ought to do our best at the particular tasks we perform at work, but we need to "do good" every day as well. We can't just show up and "get the work done" one way or another each day. We've got to provide the example of charity in all our thoughts, words and actions that will lead others to Christ. Yes, even at work.
Our Holy Father, speaking of what he calls the "somnolence" of the apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper, describes our tendency to become numb to the evil in the world:
“I would say that the disciples’ somnolence in the course of history is a certain insensitivity of soul to the power of evil, an insensitivity to all the evil of the world. We do not want to let ourselves be too disturbed by these things, we want to forget them: We think that perhaps it is not so grave, and we forget. And it is not only insensitivity to evil; instead, we should be watching to do good, to struggle for the force of good. It is insensitivity to God — this is our real somnolence: this insensitivity to the presence of God that makes us insensitive also to evil. We do not listen to God — it would bother us — and so we do not listen, of course, to the force of evil either, and we stay on the path of our comfort.”
Work can become the ideal place to "forget." While work can be an unhappy or difficult place for some of us, for others it can be a place to escape the unpleasantness of life. But here Pope Benedict is speaking of a desire to deny the evil in the world by just ignoring or growing somehow numb to it. And the practical, brass tacks nature of the workplace - a place where our only concern is to "get things done" can provide cover for a lack of concern for the evil in the world. And when we grow numb to evil, we can easily become unconcerned with the critical importance that we do good each and every day - even during our busy working hours.
We can forget that our time at work can't just be a time of efficient production. The product or service that our company sells can't be our only concern while we work. Being and doing good can't be something secondary. But if we're numb to evil, doing good may not seem as important to us as it really is.
And if we Catholics don't put our attention and effort into doing good - being charitable - during our busy days, even during our busiest times at work, the inevitable result is that evil will triumph. Evil will spread like a weed unattended that eventually takes over the whole garden. Without charity, only evil thrives in this world. That's just the way of the world; it's just the result of Original Sin.
Imagine that evil spreads and overtakes the world just because we cut corners at work from time to time. Does this sound exaggerated to you? If it does, think about it.
Maybe this all sounds daunting, a kind of unreasonable demand, especially if our jobs are unusually pressure-filled or if we're struggling just to make ends meet. But please take a moment to consider that we Catholics are really the best hope for our world. And if we don't acknowledge the presence of God, and act in a charitable way to everyone, who's going to do that?
Just imagine the world with everyone too busy to be charitable. Imagine a world where no one acknowledges the presence of almighty God in their lives. Now you've imagined hell - hell on earth.
And it can all start with cutting corners.
Don't forget the rest of the world when you're working today.
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