Starting a New Job During the Easter Season, Final Chapter
We're going to finish up my story of starting a new job during the Easter Season. Last time we ended with this:
The "culture" of the place changed dramatically too, naturally. Now we would be more "corporate." Makes sense when a big corporation takes over, doesn't it? Of course, I had just gotten away from "big" and was just settling into the new "small" environment and kind of liking it. But, oh well, it would be back to "big" again.
All of that mixed with the challenges of the new position, as I already described. As most of my colleagues had been with the company for many years when it was private, they kind of pulled together as the new management made its presence felt. So getting to know folks, while certainly not impossible, was especially challenging, me being the new guy. Sometimes their heads were in the game; sometimes they weren't.
So each day, I trudged to the little church near the office, with the heterodox pastor and the occasional visiting assistants - most of whom brought their off-kilter ideas to their daily sermons. While I was aware that Our Lord was surely helping me to develop the humility I lacked and sorely needed, one thing I wish I had understood at the time is the purpose of "little crosses" - something we talked about last time. Those days would have been an even more profound source of spiritual growth. (This is a great reminder of why it's so important to continually learn about our Faith by carving out time for study each day. And in this case, as you probably see, there would have been an immediate benefit had I embraced that series of little crosses.)
Well, if you remember, all this took place in 2001. So you may have guessed that the "dramatic" challenge was, of course, the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th. I won't go into the details of that day now. But just as I had started getting my hands around my new situation, everything was turned upside down - to put it mildly. Being within blocks of the planes crashing into the Towers, and experiencing the deadly fear of that day is, of course, something I'll never forget.
All I can say about it now is that my new job combined with my attendance at daily Mass, specifically under the circumstances I've tried to describe, were a good preparation for that day and the days following. I knew, with certainty, that any strength I had to deal with the events of the day and the daunting days to follow all came from God. I don't know if I would have had that certainty before starting this new job, and facing the specific challenges I described of learning the new job and attending Mass at this new church. But there it is: God's hand in my life at work in 2001. Unmistakable.
Every once in a while, when work takes one of those difficult turns that work does from time to time, I think of 2001. What made the year unique was the combination of little and occasional big crosses, packed together so tightly. I'm convinced that if this had happened to me ten years before, I would not have reacted well, or at least not been open to the graces God sent me during those trying times. And I'm convinced that the reason I was open to His grace was the days, weeks and years of studying my Faith, reading spiritual works, reading Scripture, regular confession, daily Mass, etc. If there's one lesson I can pass on to you from my experiences on that new job that I started the day after Easter, 2001, it's that we all need to make that time for God everyday if you don't already do so. I assure you it will come in handy someday.
Of course, even with all that, things didn't go all that smoothly. And - guess what? - they still don't always go all that smoothly. I figure that pattern will continue for as long as I'm here on this earth.
...the "forced" mental and spiritual discipline these days imposed would prove to be preparation for a much greater and, certainly much more dramatic, challenge that would soon descend on my little corner of Manhattan Island.Before that "dramatic" challenge came about, a build-up of little challenges gathered steam. The firm, originally privately owned, was sold shortly after I arrived. The principals would be leaving to be replaced by a corporate team from a foreign company. That was pretty dramatic. The usual stuff flew around the office: would I have my job as a result of take-over by new management?
The "culture" of the place changed dramatically too, naturally. Now we would be more "corporate." Makes sense when a big corporation takes over, doesn't it? Of course, I had just gotten away from "big" and was just settling into the new "small" environment and kind of liking it. But, oh well, it would be back to "big" again.
All of that mixed with the challenges of the new position, as I already described. As most of my colleagues had been with the company for many years when it was private, they kind of pulled together as the new management made its presence felt. So getting to know folks, while certainly not impossible, was especially challenging, me being the new guy. Sometimes their heads were in the game; sometimes they weren't.
So each day, I trudged to the little church near the office, with the heterodox pastor and the occasional visiting assistants - most of whom brought their off-kilter ideas to their daily sermons. While I was aware that Our Lord was surely helping me to develop the humility I lacked and sorely needed, one thing I wish I had understood at the time is the purpose of "little crosses" - something we talked about last time. Those days would have been an even more profound source of spiritual growth. (This is a great reminder of why it's so important to continually learn about our Faith by carving out time for study each day. And in this case, as you probably see, there would have been an immediate benefit had I embraced that series of little crosses.)
Well, if you remember, all this took place in 2001. So you may have guessed that the "dramatic" challenge was, of course, the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th. I won't go into the details of that day now. But just as I had started getting my hands around my new situation, everything was turned upside down - to put it mildly. Being within blocks of the planes crashing into the Towers, and experiencing the deadly fear of that day is, of course, something I'll never forget.
All I can say about it now is that my new job combined with my attendance at daily Mass, specifically under the circumstances I've tried to describe, were a good preparation for that day and the days following. I knew, with certainty, that any strength I had to deal with the events of the day and the daunting days to follow all came from God. I don't know if I would have had that certainty before starting this new job, and facing the specific challenges I described of learning the new job and attending Mass at this new church. But there it is: God's hand in my life at work in 2001. Unmistakable.
Every once in a while, when work takes one of those difficult turns that work does from time to time, I think of 2001. What made the year unique was the combination of little and occasional big crosses, packed together so tightly. I'm convinced that if this had happened to me ten years before, I would not have reacted well, or at least not been open to the graces God sent me during those trying times. And I'm convinced that the reason I was open to His grace was the days, weeks and years of studying my Faith, reading spiritual works, reading Scripture, regular confession, daily Mass, etc. If there's one lesson I can pass on to you from my experiences on that new job that I started the day after Easter, 2001, it's that we all need to make that time for God everyday if you don't already do so. I assure you it will come in handy someday.
Of course, even with all that, things didn't go all that smoothly. And - guess what? - they still don't always go all that smoothly. I figure that pattern will continue for as long as I'm here on this earth.
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