Bring This Spirit of Penance to Work During Advent
Here's a special spirit of penance to bring to work with you during this Holy Season of Advent.
You know that Advent is a penitential season, right? You may not know it from what's going on in the world around you. Sadly, you may not know it even from your own church, since priests have tried to go easy on us for years now; they don't want to scare us off, I suppose.
On the other hand, in our parish, I've noticed more talk of the importance of confession. Indeed, our new young priest made the point that confession should be one of the things you make sure you do during Advent, in preparing for Christmas. So maybe the tide has reversed. Maybe we'll hear more about how we're all sinners and need confession. We'll see.
Meanwhile, we Catholic lay people can just go about our spiritual lives in spite of the lack of direction or seriousness on the part of some priests. That's OK. They're only human, and most of them are just following the sort of training they received in the seminary. I guess that's why any serious talk of a New Evangelization on the part of the Pope or the good Bishops out there always mentions that it's going to be up to us lay people to re-energize the Church in the coming years.
Anyway, as we've talked about so many times before, our spiritual lives don't shut off when we arrive at work in the morning. We never want to leave Jesus at the door of the workplace, waiting for us outside until we're done for the day. Our spiritual life informs every part of us, all we think and say and do every day, even when we're at work. And that's where this special spirit of penance I mentioned comes in.
If you read this week's Sunday thoughts to get the week off to a good start, you may remember that I brought up the idea of "passive" penance in a prayer that I shared with you:
But sometimes a really difficult penance just kind of "appears" during the course of the day during work. Maybe you're not going to get the bonus you think you deserve, worse, maybe that smaller bonus is going to cause some material hardship for you and your family. So instead of complaining, you just quietly accept the suffering involved and offer it up.
Maybe you're unemployed and you've been out of work far too long and it's really hurting you not just materially but psychologically. If you've even been in this position, you know that's a real form of suffering. So instead of taking a few drinks (or whatever other comfort you tend to seek when you're anxious and worried), you just bear with the suffering. It'll hurt, but that's passive suffering.
None of this means you don't try to deal constructively with any difficulties that arise. The idea isn't to lay back and get lazy or feel sorry for yourself. The idea is to face the suffering square on, offer it up, and not seek comfort in distraction, self-pity, alcohol, etc.
With penances you decide to do, you control when you're going to do them. With passive suffering, you usually have no control. One way we Catholic men at work might think about it is that it's one of those times when you just have to face it like a man.
So with Advent being a season of penance, I hope this suggestion helps you to bring some of that spirit of penance to work. If you're like me, I'm sure you'll find lots of "penance opportunities" during a typical day.
Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts.
You know that Advent is a penitential season, right? You may not know it from what's going on in the world around you. Sadly, you may not know it even from your own church, since priests have tried to go easy on us for years now; they don't want to scare us off, I suppose.
On the other hand, in our parish, I've noticed more talk of the importance of confession. Indeed, our new young priest made the point that confession should be one of the things you make sure you do during Advent, in preparing for Christmas. So maybe the tide has reversed. Maybe we'll hear more about how we're all sinners and need confession. We'll see.
Meanwhile, we Catholic lay people can just go about our spiritual lives in spite of the lack of direction or seriousness on the part of some priests. That's OK. They're only human, and most of them are just following the sort of training they received in the seminary. I guess that's why any serious talk of a New Evangelization on the part of the Pope or the good Bishops out there always mentions that it's going to be up to us lay people to re-energize the Church in the coming years.
Anyway, as we've talked about so many times before, our spiritual lives don't shut off when we arrive at work in the morning. We never want to leave Jesus at the door of the workplace, waiting for us outside until we're done for the day. Our spiritual life informs every part of us, all we think and say and do every day, even when we're at work. And that's where this special spirit of penance I mentioned comes in.
If you read this week's Sunday thoughts to get the week off to a good start, you may remember that I brought up the idea of "passive" penance in a prayer that I shared with you:
...help me to to passively and patiently endure suffering and discomfort that comes my way, knowing how hard this might be when compared to voluntary penances I might initiate.You see, it's all well and good to decide to do something penitential on your own during Advent, something like what you might do during Lent (although Advent isn't penitential to the same degree that Lent should be). So maybe you fast from time to time, or avoid dessert once in a while, or delay eating your lunch a few minutes after you say grace (a neat little mortification). Nothing wrong with that.
But sometimes a really difficult penance just kind of "appears" during the course of the day during work. Maybe you're not going to get the bonus you think you deserve, worse, maybe that smaller bonus is going to cause some material hardship for you and your family. So instead of complaining, you just quietly accept the suffering involved and offer it up.
Maybe you're unemployed and you've been out of work far too long and it's really hurting you not just materially but psychologically. If you've even been in this position, you know that's a real form of suffering. So instead of taking a few drinks (or whatever other comfort you tend to seek when you're anxious and worried), you just bear with the suffering. It'll hurt, but that's passive suffering.
None of this means you don't try to deal constructively with any difficulties that arise. The idea isn't to lay back and get lazy or feel sorry for yourself. The idea is to face the suffering square on, offer it up, and not seek comfort in distraction, self-pity, alcohol, etc.
With penances you decide to do, you control when you're going to do them. With passive suffering, you usually have no control. One way we Catholic men at work might think about it is that it's one of those times when you just have to face it like a man.
So with Advent being a season of penance, I hope this suggestion helps you to bring some of that spirit of penance to work. If you're like me, I'm sure you'll find lots of "penance opportunities" during a typical day.
Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts.
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