A Thoughtful Start to the Work Day
Starting the work day right today.
Thanks be to God that a good priest taught me the importance of having what he called a "Plan for the Day" years ago. I think he based many of his instructions to me on St Josemaria Escriva's writings. (We celebrated St Josemaria's feast day last week.) The priest wasn't Opus Dei, but no matter. He was influenced by St Josemaria.
Thanks be to God for bringing this priest into my life then. Thanks be to God that, by His grace, I developed the habit of practicing "norms of piety" as part of my morning routine. Norms of piety consist of many practices, but each morning I do spend a few minutes reading Sacred Scripture, some selections of spiritual reading, maybe 10 - 15 minutes in doctrinal study (learning the teachings of Holy Mother Church). It takes getting up a bit earlier than you otherwise would, but oh, it's so worth pushing yourself out of bed and spending time with Our Lord before the day gets busy at work.
Lately I've been better at spending some few minutes in meditation, in addition to my reading. I ask Our Lord for some favor as part of my meditation. Mostly I want to do His Will, but I do know a few areas of improvement that He could help me with. So I ask for that help. It's not a long drawn out sort of thing - maybe 10 minutes or so. But it's a few more minutes alone with Him.
I wonder now how I ever managed to get through a work day in the years before I developed the habit of prayer, study and meditation in the morning. Actually, I wonder how I lived then. Not that it's worth spending a lot of time wondering about such things, but just what did I do? Did I just roll out of bed, groom and fly out the door? Well, no matter. I'd rather just thank God for His blessing of a good priest (I've known a few actually, truth be told) who taught me how to start my day right.
One thing you find is that your mind works a lot better when you perform those wonderful "norms" in the morning. My brain just seems to start up like my car does on good mornings, when its tuned up properly. The electronic fuel injection system fires up the engine with the simple turn of a key. (I think that's how it works.) That's what happens when I start my day right (which, thanks be to God, is just about every day now). Without starting my day this way, I can't imagine what my head would be full of. I think I would just stall out, like your car might if its not tuned up right.
But, thanks be to God, I don't stall (at least most days!) because I start my day right.
If you don't start your day this way, you should. The best way would be to work with a good spiritual director - a priest, of course. But just do it.
This morning, I actually had the following thought. There's no way I could have thought this without the time I spend exercising my norms of piety in the morning. It came to me because, in the course of my reading and study, I check to see what saint's feast day it is. Here goes:
Lord, grant me wisdom, the wisdom of the saints: to use this world as You desire it to be used; to act and react to life’s circumstances in such a way that my soul grows ever closer to You in loving intimacy. Help me in my prayer and work this day to a deeper understanding of your ways, to bring me closer to you.
There's no way my poor, world-soaked brain could have thought this wonderful thought on its own. Without starting my day right, who knows what random nonsense would have been floating around in my brain as I got ready for work.
And, take my word for it, I'm no holy person. I don't walk around inspiring others to follow Christ by my friendliness, kindness or charitable works or anything. (Now that I think of it, I really should get working on that, shouldn't I?)
I'm just a regular guy, with all the faults and bad habits that us creatures with fallen human natures wind up with in this valley of tears. I'm always getting sucked into the ways of the world. Temptations of the flesh aren't far from my door each day. Spiritual temptations to pride, lust, envy - you name it - they're never too far from my soul, a soul weakened by years of a self-centered life.
What I mean, I guess, is I'm no saint. Being "holy" doesn't just come naturally to me. Left on my own, who knows where and what I'd be. The thought is, frankly, too awful to contemplate.
But I'm not on my own. Thanks be to God our Father that He sent His Son to save us and that somehow, someway He gave me the grace to understand this and realize that my life had to change because of it. Thanks be to God our Father that He gives us His Holy Spirit to dwell in us and that our thoughts and prayers can be shaped by the Love the Spirit brings us - love that I, for one, would never ever be able to fathom on my own.
And thanks be to God that He sent me that good priest so long ago, that He gives me the actual grace each day to practice my norms of piety. Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God!
Thanks be to God that a good priest taught me the importance of having what he called a "Plan for the Day" years ago. I think he based many of his instructions to me on St Josemaria Escriva's writings. (We celebrated St Josemaria's feast day last week.) The priest wasn't Opus Dei, but no matter. He was influenced by St Josemaria.
Thanks be to God for bringing this priest into my life then. Thanks be to God that, by His grace, I developed the habit of practicing "norms of piety" as part of my morning routine. Norms of piety consist of many practices, but each morning I do spend a few minutes reading Sacred Scripture, some selections of spiritual reading, maybe 10 - 15 minutes in doctrinal study (learning the teachings of Holy Mother Church). It takes getting up a bit earlier than you otherwise would, but oh, it's so worth pushing yourself out of bed and spending time with Our Lord before the day gets busy at work.
Lately I've been better at spending some few minutes in meditation, in addition to my reading. I ask Our Lord for some favor as part of my meditation. Mostly I want to do His Will, but I do know a few areas of improvement that He could help me with. So I ask for that help. It's not a long drawn out sort of thing - maybe 10 minutes or so. But it's a few more minutes alone with Him.
I wonder now how I ever managed to get through a work day in the years before I developed the habit of prayer, study and meditation in the morning. Actually, I wonder how I lived then. Not that it's worth spending a lot of time wondering about such things, but just what did I do? Did I just roll out of bed, groom and fly out the door? Well, no matter. I'd rather just thank God for His blessing of a good priest (I've known a few actually, truth be told) who taught me how to start my day right.
One thing you find is that your mind works a lot better when you perform those wonderful "norms" in the morning. My brain just seems to start up like my car does on good mornings, when its tuned up properly. The electronic fuel injection system fires up the engine with the simple turn of a key. (I think that's how it works.) That's what happens when I start my day right (which, thanks be to God, is just about every day now). Without starting my day this way, I can't imagine what my head would be full of. I think I would just stall out, like your car might if its not tuned up right.
But, thanks be to God, I don't stall (at least most days!) because I start my day right.
If you don't start your day this way, you should. The best way would be to work with a good spiritual director - a priest, of course. But just do it.
This morning, I actually had the following thought. There's no way I could have thought this without the time I spend exercising my norms of piety in the morning. It came to me because, in the course of my reading and study, I check to see what saint's feast day it is. Here goes:
Lord, grant me wisdom, the wisdom of the saints: to use this world as You desire it to be used; to act and react to life’s circumstances in such a way that my soul grows ever closer to You in loving intimacy. Help me in my prayer and work this day to a deeper understanding of your ways, to bring me closer to you.
There's no way my poor, world-soaked brain could have thought this wonderful thought on its own. Without starting my day right, who knows what random nonsense would have been floating around in my brain as I got ready for work.
And, take my word for it, I'm no holy person. I don't walk around inspiring others to follow Christ by my friendliness, kindness or charitable works or anything. (Now that I think of it, I really should get working on that, shouldn't I?)
I'm just a regular guy, with all the faults and bad habits that us creatures with fallen human natures wind up with in this valley of tears. I'm always getting sucked into the ways of the world. Temptations of the flesh aren't far from my door each day. Spiritual temptations to pride, lust, envy - you name it - they're never too far from my soul, a soul weakened by years of a self-centered life.
What I mean, I guess, is I'm no saint. Being "holy" doesn't just come naturally to me. Left on my own, who knows where and what I'd be. The thought is, frankly, too awful to contemplate.
But I'm not on my own. Thanks be to God our Father that He sent His Son to save us and that somehow, someway He gave me the grace to understand this and realize that my life had to change because of it. Thanks be to God our Father that He gives us His Holy Spirit to dwell in us and that our thoughts and prayers can be shaped by the Love the Spirit brings us - love that I, for one, would never ever be able to fathom on my own.
And thanks be to God that He sent me that good priest so long ago, that He gives me the actual grace each day to practice my norms of piety. Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God!
Comments