When Excellence Isn't Enough at Work - continued
Last time we read wise words from Abbot Marmion about why excellence isn't enough for us Catholics when it comes to our work. This time, we'll let God do the talking. But before we look at this brief, enlightening passage from Scripture, let's make sure we're clear on a few things.
First, we're all in this soup together, as we go to work each day to earn a living to support ourselves and our families. We bits and pieces who swim in this great pot need to remember that we're here, first and foremost, to know, love and serve God, and that that one way to do so is to sanctify our work.
Second, we know that one way to sanctify our work is to offer our sacrifices and struggles (and who of us doesn't struggle at work from time to time?) to God, even as we strive to do the best work we can. We do our best because we want to offer something good to the good Lord, not something shabby or second-rate. But, as we saw last time, we can easily become self-focused, self-centered, if all we do during our work day is strive for excellence. We can easily slip into pleasing ourselves, rather than pleasing God. And so our satisfaction at the end of a hard day's work well done becomes a source of self-satisfaction, which easily feeds our natural inclination to selfishness.
And so we know that it's critically important that our intention each day is not to satisfy ourselves, but - as we saw last time - to, in the words of Abbot Marmion, give pleasure to our Lord.
Now we turn to Jeremiah 9:23-24 and the words God Himself as given to us by one of His greatest prophets. As you read these, just think of how in these few words God gives us the specific guidance we need to keep us on the straight and narrow path each day at work. Indeed, He covers three main areas of work that pretty much encompass most of the work we do in this world: academic, commercial and political. Most of us work in one of these areas, don't we? Some of us are educators who study, in the process gaining wisdom which we can then pass on to others as we guide them in their studies. Some of us work in business and earn money providing products and services to others in exchange for some compensation. And some of us work in government positions which use the power of government and the resources at its disposal - ideally - for the common good.
Of course, we who study in order to gain wisdom, if we do so only for the sake of gaining wisdom, easily slip into the prison of pride. We who work in business, if we work strictly to make ourselves successful and prosperous, may easily wind up loving money first and foremost, rather than being good stewards of the wealth we gain. And we who work in government can easily become enamored of the power that comes with such positions, exercising that power for personal gain, rather than serving the common good.
In this light, we can understand the words of our Lord:
First, we're all in this soup together, as we go to work each day to earn a living to support ourselves and our families. We bits and pieces who swim in this great pot need to remember that we're here, first and foremost, to know, love and serve God, and that that one way to do so is to sanctify our work.
Second, we know that one way to sanctify our work is to offer our sacrifices and struggles (and who of us doesn't struggle at work from time to time?) to God, even as we strive to do the best work we can. We do our best because we want to offer something good to the good Lord, not something shabby or second-rate. But, as we saw last time, we can easily become self-focused, self-centered, if all we do during our work day is strive for excellence. We can easily slip into pleasing ourselves, rather than pleasing God. And so our satisfaction at the end of a hard day's work well done becomes a source of self-satisfaction, which easily feeds our natural inclination to selfishness.
And so we know that it's critically important that our intention each day is not to satisfy ourselves, but - as we saw last time - to, in the words of Abbot Marmion, give pleasure to our Lord.
Now we turn to Jeremiah 9:23-24 and the words God Himself as given to us by one of His greatest prophets. As you read these, just think of how in these few words God gives us the specific guidance we need to keep us on the straight and narrow path each day at work. Indeed, He covers three main areas of work that pretty much encompass most of the work we do in this world: academic, commercial and political. Most of us work in one of these areas, don't we? Some of us are educators who study, in the process gaining wisdom which we can then pass on to others as we guide them in their studies. Some of us work in business and earn money providing products and services to others in exchange for some compensation. And some of us work in government positions which use the power of government and the resources at its disposal - ideally - for the common good.
Of course, we who study in order to gain wisdom, if we do so only for the sake of gaining wisdom, easily slip into the prison of pride. We who work in business, if we work strictly to make ourselves successful and prosperous, may easily wind up loving money first and foremost, rather than being good stewards of the wealth we gain. And we who work in government can easily become enamored of the power that comes with such positions, exercising that power for personal gain, rather than serving the common good.
In this light, we can understand the words of our Lord:
Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.His wisdom is righteous, not prideful. His power is justice, not personal gain. His love is not for money, but for His creation - us. That's why we seek not just excellence in our work each day, but first and foremost we seek to know, love and serve God.
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