Four Manly Actions to Take Today to Reflect Christ at Work - Part 3
Continuing now with Father Zimpfer's "four manly actions," here's more about how we can best imitate Christ at work. Again, the four:
Develop courage and fearlessness in facing the harshness of men and their deep selfishness, seeing them as ignorant rather than malicious.
On the one hand, this may seem daunting. After all, if you've ever been the object of another person's bad intentions, or simply the object of their derision, you may have the natural desire to "get back" at them in some way. Even as your Catholic sensibility whispers "Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord," your human heart desires some kind of revenge, or at least some recompense. Understandable.
But Father Zimpfer challenges us in an interesting and instructive manner. He knows our natural tendencies, and so does not simply tell us to act in charity (easier said than done), although there's nothing wrong with that. He does not minimize either the evil intent of those who wrong us, nor the rude manner with which they might offend us. Rather, he recognizes their harshness and selfishness and calls for the manly virtues of courage and fearlessness. But notice how he immediately tempers our reaction by insisting that we see these trouble-makers as ignorant rather than malicious.
Are you tempted to argue this last point? I don't blame you. I've been the object of malice once or twice, and it sure seemed to me that the offender knew exactly what he was doing. But, really, that's not the point. I think Father Zimpfer wants us to understand that if only such people really understood the true nature of their offense, how it not only represents a lack of charity towards us, but also how it endangers their own soul, they might change their ways. And, in fact, we know that they do endanger their souls by their actions.
Of course, we Catholics might know all this, but they may not - and that's the point. We remember here Our Lord's words as He hung on His Cross: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Now, to be clear, we're not saying that people have no idea that what they're doing is wrong. Every one of us, in our hearts, has a sense of right and wrongs. And you don't have to be raised Catholic, or seriously practice the Catholic Faith to gain that sense. We're born with it. Anyone who denies this is fooling themselves.
And, yet, knowing that they are indeed fooling themselves, we should also understand that they likely don't really understand the dire consequences of purposely doing evil to others. If you're not clear on this, just think about yourself. I don't know about you, I've found this to be a good way to temper my judgment of others. For example, have you ever said an uncharitable word about someone else. Specific to work, have you ever engaged in, or even simply listened to, office gossip? We wrote about this, known as the sin of detraction, in some detail a while back (Here and Here) heeding the warning of St Francis de Sales regarding the seriousness of this sin, as well as his advice to all of us to do anything and everything we can to avoid it.
To be continued next time...
- Fight for truth as Jesus lived and fought for it.
- Attack ignorance and sham as he attacked it, with no complacence in our own superiority, seeing the difference between the sinner and the sin.
- Develop courage and fearlessness in facing the harshness of men and their deep selfishness, seeing them as ignorant rather than as malicious.
- Seek to acquire some of Our Lord's patience and kindness, His charity and tolerance, His understanding and gentleness.
Develop courage and fearlessness in facing the harshness of men and their deep selfishness, seeing them as ignorant rather than malicious.
On the one hand, this may seem daunting. After all, if you've ever been the object of another person's bad intentions, or simply the object of their derision, you may have the natural desire to "get back" at them in some way. Even as your Catholic sensibility whispers "Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord," your human heart desires some kind of revenge, or at least some recompense. Understandable.
But Father Zimpfer challenges us in an interesting and instructive manner. He knows our natural tendencies, and so does not simply tell us to act in charity (easier said than done), although there's nothing wrong with that. He does not minimize either the evil intent of those who wrong us, nor the rude manner with which they might offend us. Rather, he recognizes their harshness and selfishness and calls for the manly virtues of courage and fearlessness. But notice how he immediately tempers our reaction by insisting that we see these trouble-makers as ignorant rather than malicious.
Are you tempted to argue this last point? I don't blame you. I've been the object of malice once or twice, and it sure seemed to me that the offender knew exactly what he was doing. But, really, that's not the point. I think Father Zimpfer wants us to understand that if only such people really understood the true nature of their offense, how it not only represents a lack of charity towards us, but also how it endangers their own soul, they might change their ways. And, in fact, we know that they do endanger their souls by their actions.
Of course, we Catholics might know all this, but they may not - and that's the point. We remember here Our Lord's words as He hung on His Cross: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Now, to be clear, we're not saying that people have no idea that what they're doing is wrong. Every one of us, in our hearts, has a sense of right and wrongs. And you don't have to be raised Catholic, or seriously practice the Catholic Faith to gain that sense. We're born with it. Anyone who denies this is fooling themselves.
And, yet, knowing that they are indeed fooling themselves, we should also understand that they likely don't really understand the dire consequences of purposely doing evil to others. If you're not clear on this, just think about yourself. I don't know about you, I've found this to be a good way to temper my judgment of others. For example, have you ever said an uncharitable word about someone else. Specific to work, have you ever engaged in, or even simply listened to, office gossip? We wrote about this, known as the sin of detraction, in some detail a while back (Here and Here) heeding the warning of St Francis de Sales regarding the seriousness of this sin, as well as his advice to all of us to do anything and everything we can to avoid it.
To be continued next time...
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