Saying the "Our Father" Before, During and After Work
We started the year with simple suggestions to improve your work life. You don't need any special skills or talents to benefit from these. All were simple and direct.
Since then, sticking with the simple and direct, we've focused on the words of our Blessed Lord Himself to help us to sanctify our work each day. And despite the fact that neither I nor probably most of you lack formal training in Scripture scholarship or theology, the Gospels are laden with a bounty of wisdom directly from Our Lord's mouth that even the "unschooled" among us Catholic men at work can easily access simply by reading Scripture each day. And along those lines, what could be more easily accessed than the Our Father?
I certainly hope that you pray the Our Father at least once each day. But perhaps you've forgotten that it is a prayer taught directly to us by Our Lord Himself. Okay, so maybe you do know that, but just think about it for a moment: Our Blessed Lord, when He walked this earth among us, His creatures, over two millennia ago, instructed us to pray this prayer to Our Father in Heaven. I don't know about you, but wouldn't a few minutes of meditation on this absolutely astounding fact be worth your while?
This prayer that we say probably more than once each day directly instructs us as we head off to work each day. And so it's appropriate that we say it each morning in a particularly attentive and thoughtful manner, don't you think? Come to think of it, how about during the work day? And why stop there? After work makes a lot of sense too.
Of course, given the fact that we probably do say this prayer often, it may just be that we've slipped into a habit of just "mouthing" the words, and perhaps haven't let the awesome meaning of Our Lords own words sink deep into our souls and move us to live a better, more meaningful and, yes, more productive life. So how about we all just pause, take a deep breath, turn off the world around us for just a few moments, and linger on these words of Jesus Christ. I'm sure you won't need any specific suggestions or instructions from me about how the Our Father impacts how you will approach your work this day, and how - if you really pray this prayer thoughtfully each day - it will shape your work each and every day for the rest of your life. Here the words the Our Father as recorded by St Matthew:
Since then, sticking with the simple and direct, we've focused on the words of our Blessed Lord Himself to help us to sanctify our work each day. And despite the fact that neither I nor probably most of you lack formal training in Scripture scholarship or theology, the Gospels are laden with a bounty of wisdom directly from Our Lord's mouth that even the "unschooled" among us Catholic men at work can easily access simply by reading Scripture each day. And along those lines, what could be more easily accessed than the Our Father?
I certainly hope that you pray the Our Father at least once each day. But perhaps you've forgotten that it is a prayer taught directly to us by Our Lord Himself. Okay, so maybe you do know that, but just think about it for a moment: Our Blessed Lord, when He walked this earth among us, His creatures, over two millennia ago, instructed us to pray this prayer to Our Father in Heaven. I don't know about you, but wouldn't a few minutes of meditation on this absolutely astounding fact be worth your while?
This prayer that we say probably more than once each day directly instructs us as we head off to work each day. And so it's appropriate that we say it each morning in a particularly attentive and thoughtful manner, don't you think? Come to think of it, how about during the work day? And why stop there? After work makes a lot of sense too.
Of course, given the fact that we probably do say this prayer often, it may just be that we've slipped into a habit of just "mouthing" the words, and perhaps haven't let the awesome meaning of Our Lords own words sink deep into our souls and move us to live a better, more meaningful and, yes, more productive life. So how about we all just pause, take a deep breath, turn off the world around us for just a few moments, and linger on these words of Jesus Christ. I'm sure you won't need any specific suggestions or instructions from me about how the Our Father impacts how you will approach your work this day, and how - if you really pray this prayer thoughtfully each day - it will shape your work each and every day for the rest of your life. Here the words the Our Father as recorded by St Matthew:
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
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