Pope Francis on Work...continued
Last time we posted the full text of Our Holy Father's comments about work, delivered on the feast of St Joseph the Worker. Let's spend a little time understanding Pope Francis's teachings on work. He begins by talking about how Our Lord learned about work as an apprentice to St Joseph:
"Jesus was born and lived in a family, in the Holy Family, learning from St. Joseph the carpenter’s trade, in the workshop of Nazareth, sharing with him his commitment, hard work, and satisfaction, as well as each day’s difficulties."
Commitment
The confluence of "commitment, hard work, and satisfaction, as well as each day's difficulties" summarizes well the typical day at work. Our commitment to our work begins with the knowledge that any job worth doing is worth doing well. Do you tackle your daily work with a commitment to doing your job well? Doing your work well includes the quality and timeliness of your work. Not only do you do your best work, but, whether it's your boss or a customer, you're expected to provide the product of your labors by some point in time. Doing the best you can in a limited amount of time will frequently, if not always, present a challenge. Your commitment helps you meet that challenge.
Hard Work
As for "hard work" some work, by it's very nature, is harder than others in some ways. But, really, any time you strive to do your best work, within time constraints, you're probably going to find that work hard at the end of the day. Curiously, some people seem to shirk from work that's hard. I've never quite understood that, except in cases where a person might genuinely be lazy. My father spent some time doing bench machine assembly many years ago, and I remember him being annoyed when his union rep occasionally had to tell him to ease up on his work. Apparently there were certain quotas the union had negotiated with management, and my father's diligence exceeded those quotas. Rather than giving him a pat on the back, they criticized his diligence and forced him to slow down. He'd occasionally become so annoyed with this, he'd punch out (on what was then a "time clock") and suffer the consequences of being paid for fewer hours rather than be subjected to enforced laziness.
Satisfaction
But when we work hard - at least I find this to be the case - the end of the day brings a certain sense of satisfaction. There's nothing quite like a hard day's work and the tired mind and body that results, don't you think? All those people whom I hear complain about having no "job satisfaction" might try working hard. I think hard work would solve the "job satisfaction" problem for many of them.
Each Day's Difficulties
That's not to say that a day's work doesn't sometimes, or many times, entail facing various difficulties throughout the course of the day. These could be problems with the actual task at hand: maybe you're asked to solve a problem whose solution keeps eluding you, no matter what you try; or, your customer calls and changes his mind just as you've completed the job and wants something different (why couldn't he tell you this before you were just about finished?); or, the people you work with haven't been pulling their weight and you seem to have shouldered virtually the whole burden of the day's work, even as they will no doubt share in the rewards of the completed project.
Our Lord learned all this from St Joseph. Sometimes - especially when I've had particularly difficult work situations, I've wondered what it must have been like in that little shop with St Joseph. I'll bet he wasn't at all like some of the overbearing people I've worked under in the past! But, of course, the work itself couldn't have been any easier than work I've had to do. Doing a good job is never easy.
More next time...
"Jesus was born and lived in a family, in the Holy Family, learning from St. Joseph the carpenter’s trade, in the workshop of Nazareth, sharing with him his commitment, hard work, and satisfaction, as well as each day’s difficulties."
Commitment
The confluence of "commitment, hard work, and satisfaction, as well as each day's difficulties" summarizes well the typical day at work. Our commitment to our work begins with the knowledge that any job worth doing is worth doing well. Do you tackle your daily work with a commitment to doing your job well? Doing your work well includes the quality and timeliness of your work. Not only do you do your best work, but, whether it's your boss or a customer, you're expected to provide the product of your labors by some point in time. Doing the best you can in a limited amount of time will frequently, if not always, present a challenge. Your commitment helps you meet that challenge.
Hard Work
As for "hard work" some work, by it's very nature, is harder than others in some ways. But, really, any time you strive to do your best work, within time constraints, you're probably going to find that work hard at the end of the day. Curiously, some people seem to shirk from work that's hard. I've never quite understood that, except in cases where a person might genuinely be lazy. My father spent some time doing bench machine assembly many years ago, and I remember him being annoyed when his union rep occasionally had to tell him to ease up on his work. Apparently there were certain quotas the union had negotiated with management, and my father's diligence exceeded those quotas. Rather than giving him a pat on the back, they criticized his diligence and forced him to slow down. He'd occasionally become so annoyed with this, he'd punch out (on what was then a "time clock") and suffer the consequences of being paid for fewer hours rather than be subjected to enforced laziness.
Satisfaction
But when we work hard - at least I find this to be the case - the end of the day brings a certain sense of satisfaction. There's nothing quite like a hard day's work and the tired mind and body that results, don't you think? All those people whom I hear complain about having no "job satisfaction" might try working hard. I think hard work would solve the "job satisfaction" problem for many of them.
Each Day's Difficulties
That's not to say that a day's work doesn't sometimes, or many times, entail facing various difficulties throughout the course of the day. These could be problems with the actual task at hand: maybe you're asked to solve a problem whose solution keeps eluding you, no matter what you try; or, your customer calls and changes his mind just as you've completed the job and wants something different (why couldn't he tell you this before you were just about finished?); or, the people you work with haven't been pulling their weight and you seem to have shouldered virtually the whole burden of the day's work, even as they will no doubt share in the rewards of the completed project.
Our Lord learned all this from St Joseph. Sometimes - especially when I've had particularly difficult work situations, I've wondered what it must have been like in that little shop with St Joseph. I'll bet he wasn't at all like some of the overbearing people I've worked under in the past! But, of course, the work itself couldn't have been any easier than work I've had to do. Doing a good job is never easy.
More next time...
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