The Second Day of Lent
(The following was originally posted on February 18, 2010)
Lent has arrived. I hope your Ash Wednesday was a holy and peaceful one. And I hope you have a plan for Lent.
Here, we focus on Catholic men at work. Lent gives us men the opportunity to grow closer to God. That's its purpose. It's not for suffering or making us sad or miserable. And we Catholic men who spend the bulk of our days working now have a special opportunity to grow closer to God at work during Lent.
The Church calls on us to perform special acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving during Lent. Whatever your plan is to perform these special acts, don't leave work out of the mix. Work, as always, waits to be sanctified, for us to sanctify it. And now, during Lent, we have a special, extra reason to really put our minds to sanctfying our work.
With this Lenten focus, let's ask this question: Why is it so important to sanctify our work? Why can't we just go about our business during the day without having to think of Our Lord, say a quick prayer from time to time, offer up all our works for His greater glory? It takes so much effort just to get the job done. Why add another "layer" on top of our busy days?
Isn't it enough if we go to Church, say some morning prayers, be faithful to our wives, attentive to our kids. Better still, read scripture, study the faith, give great example to our neighbors in our outward behavior, including our language. What's all the fuss about sanctifying our work?
Listen. If you're doing so much for Our Lord outside the job, that's great. Congratulations. But the fact is we men spend the majority of our time working. It's the way life is for most of us.
Maybe this passage from John's first Letter will help us understand why it's important to sanctify our work.
Okay, so you don't "love" your work. You just "do your job." But, really, when you spend most of your time at work, that's where you spend most of your time and energy, like it or not. It's just a fact.
Love your job or not, that means you're spending most of your time and energy working on the "things which are in the world." If you don't sanctify all that you touch during your day, you're left with "the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life." Is that what you want to spend all your time on?
By sanctifying our work, we transform the "things which are in the world." We're God's instruments. I'm not just "doing my job," I'm doing God's work.
C'mon guys. Isn't that a much better way to spend your time and energy? And now that we're in the midst of Lent, we can use that as special motivation to do what we really need to be doing all year.
The nice thing is, Lent brings with it special graces from God. God will provide the grace you need, especially in Lent, to sanctify your work.
Lent has arrived. I hope your Ash Wednesday was a holy and peaceful one. And I hope you have a plan for Lent.
Here, we focus on Catholic men at work. Lent gives us men the opportunity to grow closer to God. That's its purpose. It's not for suffering or making us sad or miserable. And we Catholic men who spend the bulk of our days working now have a special opportunity to grow closer to God at work during Lent.
The Church calls on us to perform special acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving during Lent. Whatever your plan is to perform these special acts, don't leave work out of the mix. Work, as always, waits to be sanctified, for us to sanctify it. And now, during Lent, we have a special, extra reason to really put our minds to sanctfying our work.
With this Lenten focus, let's ask this question: Why is it so important to sanctify our work? Why can't we just go about our business during the day without having to think of Our Lord, say a quick prayer from time to time, offer up all our works for His greater glory? It takes so much effort just to get the job done. Why add another "layer" on top of our busy days?
Isn't it enough if we go to Church, say some morning prayers, be faithful to our wives, attentive to our kids. Better still, read scripture, study the faith, give great example to our neighbors in our outward behavior, including our language. What's all the fuss about sanctifying our work?
Listen. If you're doing so much for Our Lord outside the job, that's great. Congratulations. But the fact is we men spend the majority of our time working. It's the way life is for most of us.
Maybe this passage from John's first Letter will help us understand why it's important to sanctify our work.
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof: but he that doth the will of God, abideth for ever.” (I John 2:15-17)
Okay, so you don't "love" your work. You just "do your job." But, really, when you spend most of your time at work, that's where you spend most of your time and energy, like it or not. It's just a fact.
Love your job or not, that means you're spending most of your time and energy working on the "things which are in the world." If you don't sanctify all that you touch during your day, you're left with "the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life." Is that what you want to spend all your time on?
By sanctifying our work, we transform the "things which are in the world." We're God's instruments. I'm not just "doing my job," I'm doing God's work.
C'mon guys. Isn't that a much better way to spend your time and energy? And now that we're in the midst of Lent, we can use that as special motivation to do what we really need to be doing all year.
The nice thing is, Lent brings with it special graces from God. God will provide the grace you need, especially in Lent, to sanctify your work.
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