Working Like St John the Baptist During Advent
St John the Baptist worked hard at the Jordan. Here are three "work" themes that strike me this Advent as we hear the gospels that talk about this work: preparation, waiting and penance. He prepares us for the Lord, waits patiently as he works until the Lord comes to him at the Jordan, preaches, but most importantly, practices penance. (Just think about how he lived and worked to know how he lived a life of penance.) We can apply these to our work in a special way this Advent Season. Here's how.
I don't know about you, but I do make the attempt - all the time - to be as prepared as possible at work. Preparation begins with a daily plan each day - what I want to and need to accomplish this day. Whenever I start a day without my plan (and it happens from time to time), I feel unsure of myself, fuzzy, almost wobbly. I need that plan first thing to get my mind focused where it should be.
There are many other areas of preparation that apply to work. The first one that springs to mind is when you have to present your ideas to another person or persons. Here's one example.
Someone I had lunch with last week was going to present ideas about his new business venture to a Chamber of Commerce. About 100 people were expected to attend. This man always prepares. At lunch, he told me he had just visited the venue where he would talk the next morning. He did that because he wasn't familiar with it and wanted to see what it looked and "felt" like so he would be more relaxed when he gave his presentation. As it turned out, the address on the e-mail invitation (not sent by him, but sent by another party) was incorrect. He only knew this because he took the trouble to go to this unfamiliar venue ahead of time. Preparation.
If you're not as good as this gentleman at preparation on the job, maybe you can ask for the intercession of St John the Baptist, he who prepared the way for the Lord. You can work on this important aspect of your everyday work. And while you work to improve yourself this Advent, you can unite your efforts at improved preparation at work with your efforts to prepare your soul for Our Lord.
As for waiting, we've talked about this. You do all you can to accomplish your goals and objectives at work, but sometimes you have to wait for others to chip in. Waiting can summon up a dose of anxiety if a deadline approaches and you have to wait for someone to come through with an aspect of your project that you simply don't have the opportunity or competence to complete yourself. But if you say "A Morning Resolve" each morning, as we've talked about before, remember that you have told Our Lord that you will repel promptly "every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement..." So while you wait, use that as an opportunity to elevate your waiting to a supernatural level. St John the Baptist will help, by his intercession. Remember that his waiting was rewarded when Our Lord came to him to be baptized in the Jordan.
Finally, we turn to penance. Oh, how many opportunities work presents for us to offer up annoyances, frustrations, disappointments, failures, humiliations, etc.! Don't let these slip through your hands if and when they occur. Offer them all up in reparation for sins - your own and those sins of others that deeply offend He whose coming we anticipate this Advent. Yes, work hard to turn your disappointments and failures into successes. But we all know that sometimes even our best efforts end in failure. If so, you may also want to remember that as successful as St John the Baptist was in preparing the people of Israel, and us, for the coming of Christ, the reward for his success was prison and death.
Success isn't all it's cracked up to be.
So the days of our Lord's coming grow shorter. The Christmas Novena began this past Sunday (a wonderful devotion to share with your family, if you're not already praying it). And, like St John the Baptist, we continue to prepare, and wait, and do penance.
I don't know about you, but I do make the attempt - all the time - to be as prepared as possible at work. Preparation begins with a daily plan each day - what I want to and need to accomplish this day. Whenever I start a day without my plan (and it happens from time to time), I feel unsure of myself, fuzzy, almost wobbly. I need that plan first thing to get my mind focused where it should be.
There are many other areas of preparation that apply to work. The first one that springs to mind is when you have to present your ideas to another person or persons. Here's one example.
Someone I had lunch with last week was going to present ideas about his new business venture to a Chamber of Commerce. About 100 people were expected to attend. This man always prepares. At lunch, he told me he had just visited the venue where he would talk the next morning. He did that because he wasn't familiar with it and wanted to see what it looked and "felt" like so he would be more relaxed when he gave his presentation. As it turned out, the address on the e-mail invitation (not sent by him, but sent by another party) was incorrect. He only knew this because he took the trouble to go to this unfamiliar venue ahead of time. Preparation.
If you're not as good as this gentleman at preparation on the job, maybe you can ask for the intercession of St John the Baptist, he who prepared the way for the Lord. You can work on this important aspect of your everyday work. And while you work to improve yourself this Advent, you can unite your efforts at improved preparation at work with your efforts to prepare your soul for Our Lord.
As for waiting, we've talked about this. You do all you can to accomplish your goals and objectives at work, but sometimes you have to wait for others to chip in. Waiting can summon up a dose of anxiety if a deadline approaches and you have to wait for someone to come through with an aspect of your project that you simply don't have the opportunity or competence to complete yourself. But if you say "A Morning Resolve" each morning, as we've talked about before, remember that you have told Our Lord that you will repel promptly "every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement..." So while you wait, use that as an opportunity to elevate your waiting to a supernatural level. St John the Baptist will help, by his intercession. Remember that his waiting was rewarded when Our Lord came to him to be baptized in the Jordan.
Finally, we turn to penance. Oh, how many opportunities work presents for us to offer up annoyances, frustrations, disappointments, failures, humiliations, etc.! Don't let these slip through your hands if and when they occur. Offer them all up in reparation for sins - your own and those sins of others that deeply offend He whose coming we anticipate this Advent. Yes, work hard to turn your disappointments and failures into successes. But we all know that sometimes even our best efforts end in failure. If so, you may also want to remember that as successful as St John the Baptist was in preparing the people of Israel, and us, for the coming of Christ, the reward for his success was prison and death.
Success isn't all it's cracked up to be.
So the days of our Lord's coming grow shorter. The Christmas Novena began this past Sunday (a wonderful devotion to share with your family, if you're not already praying it). And, like St John the Baptist, we continue to prepare, and wait, and do penance.
Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts.
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