How Work Tempers the Will for the Good - Part 2
Tempering our will isn't something that's just good to do: it's critical to our salvation. I'm not exaggerating here.
Last time, we looked at this idea and used a simple example of tackling an unpleasant task despite our inclination to put it off. Today, we look to the Rule of St Benedict and dig a little deeper. In Chapter 7 of the Rule, we find these clear, stark words (footnotes in parentheses):
(Compare this to today, when we hardly ever hear the word "sin" mentioned anymore, even during sermons at Holy Mass. I suspect many priests believe they ought not "scare" us, but if you read the Rule carefully, you won't be scared in any way. Indeed, as a Catholic, you'll understand that strong words of warning are, instead, an act of charity. At least I hope you'll understand this.)
Can you see how the workplace provides us with an opportunity to temper our will, and that in doing so we both avoid the condemnation that arises from a will out of control, a will that indulges tendencies in us that can easily become "corrupt and have become abominable in their pleasures"? We are after all, always in a life and death struggle with the tendency to sin.
I hope you don't think that calling this a "life and death" struggle exaggerates the gravity of our situation in this world. Yes, I know that, because we hardly ever talk about sin, we all walk around thinking we hardly ever (if at all) sin and that if we do, our sins are not that big a deal. (We could never, of course, commit mortal sins. Not us. After all, if I haven't murdered anyone, what could I possibly have done that's all that bad?) While many Catholics have been lulled into this sort of superficial thinking, I hope you're not one of them.
But let's not get too far off track here. Our point today has to do with the importance of tempering our will, with the workplace being the ideal place to accomplish this. We look at the Rule even though St Benedict's instructions are directed at monks who pray and work in a monastery. But the fact that he's speaking to monks ought not deflect our applying his words to our own workplace. While most of us don't work in monasteries, nevertheless the workplace is a place where we work out our salvation. We need to understand this; we need to keep this truth in the forefront of our efforts at work each and every day. In this sense, there is no difference between us and the monks who ply their "trade" in monasteries.
Next time, we'll look again to the Rule of St Benedict for some more advice on how the workplace provides the perfect place to temper the will for the Good.
Last time, we looked at this idea and used a simple example of tackling an unpleasant task despite our inclination to put it off. Today, we look to the Rule of St Benedict and dig a little deeper. In Chapter 7 of the Rule, we find these clear, stark words (footnotes in parentheses):
We are, indeed, forbidden to our own will by Scripture, which saith to us: Turn away from thine own will. (Ecclus. xviii. 30) Moreover, we ask God in prayer that his will be done in us. ("Our Father...").So this tempering of our will, which we can accomplish at work by attending to the task at hand promptly, turns out to be something that's essential, we could even it's critical to our salvation. St Benedict understood human nature so well. And even though his Rule frequently calls on the virtue of moderation in applying the various precepts laid out in it, he's never afraid to speak to us in a serious, even grave tone. When it comes to the salvation of souls, this great saint pulls no punches!
And rightly we are taught no to do our own will, since we dread that sentence of Scripture: There are ways which to men seem right, but the ends thereof lead to the depths of hell (Prov. xvi. 25); and since we fear also what is said of the careless: They are corrupt and have become abominable in their pleasures. (Ps. xiii. 1) And in regard to the desire of the flesh, let us believe that God is always present to us, since the prophet says to the Lord: All my desire is before thee. (Ps xlix. 21)
(Compare this to today, when we hardly ever hear the word "sin" mentioned anymore, even during sermons at Holy Mass. I suspect many priests believe they ought not "scare" us, but if you read the Rule carefully, you won't be scared in any way. Indeed, as a Catholic, you'll understand that strong words of warning are, instead, an act of charity. At least I hope you'll understand this.)
Can you see how the workplace provides us with an opportunity to temper our will, and that in doing so we both avoid the condemnation that arises from a will out of control, a will that indulges tendencies in us that can easily become "corrupt and have become abominable in their pleasures"? We are after all, always in a life and death struggle with the tendency to sin.
I hope you don't think that calling this a "life and death" struggle exaggerates the gravity of our situation in this world. Yes, I know that, because we hardly ever talk about sin, we all walk around thinking we hardly ever (if at all) sin and that if we do, our sins are not that big a deal. (We could never, of course, commit mortal sins. Not us. After all, if I haven't murdered anyone, what could I possibly have done that's all that bad?) While many Catholics have been lulled into this sort of superficial thinking, I hope you're not one of them.
But let's not get too far off track here. Our point today has to do with the importance of tempering our will, with the workplace being the ideal place to accomplish this. We look at the Rule even though St Benedict's instructions are directed at monks who pray and work in a monastery. But the fact that he's speaking to monks ought not deflect our applying his words to our own workplace. While most of us don't work in monasteries, nevertheless the workplace is a place where we work out our salvation. We need to understand this; we need to keep this truth in the forefront of our efforts at work each and every day. In this sense, there is no difference between us and the monks who ply their "trade" in monasteries.
Next time, we'll look again to the Rule of St Benedict for some more advice on how the workplace provides the perfect place to temper the will for the Good.
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