So What About Plain Old Ordinary Days at Work?
Last week we looked at how we Catholics might approach particularly bad or especially good days at work. So now let's look at plain old ordinary days. After all, that pretty much describes most days at work, doesn't it?
Aside: If you've got one of those jobs that you absolutely love, that keep you on your toes in a tizzy of joyful activity each day, that inspire you to great things, etc., etc., you might skip all this. Just go back to comments on that particularly good day and multiply it by a gazillion. But for the rest of us, here goes...
To set the stage, we wake up and it's just another day. Nothing particularly special going on. Our morning routine commences. What do you do? Maybe something like this: Morning Offering; a bit of waking up exercise, then reading some Scripture, Spiritual reading, a bit of doctrinal study. Most mornings, a bit of "meditation." (It's not something mystical or complicated, just a few quiet minutes of doing your best to concentrate, to think of God in some way, without any of the usual distractions.)
Then it's off to work, and upon arrival, the "To Do" list guides the next 8 or so hours. Depending on the sort of work you do, you may spend the day in front of a desktop or laptop computer screen; or you may be outside moving from place to place, or doing some sort of physical work; or maybe you're in a classroom. Whatever work you're doing the rest of the day, you've got a choice: You can offer up every thought, word, and deed for the greater glory of God, as St Ignatius of Loyola might have put it. Or you can just go about your work with little or no reference to God, as if somehow your life at work were separate and apart from Him, a secular slab sliced out of your day, where you attend to the affairs of the world, where there's no time or place for God. While you and I may not intend it, that latter describes most days at work for most of us. It shouldn't be this way.
Now we're not saying you've got to think about God constantly, minute to minute; or mumble vocal prayers and aspirations in the midst of your daily activities. That would be rather strange, even off-putting to those with whom you work. Besides you'd likely not get your work done, or, if you did, you wouldn't have your mind on it, with likely poor or mediocre results. God doesn't really want that, right? Rather, we simply want the presence of mind to simply tell God that you'll be working for His greater glory throughout the day. "All for Thee, my God" would be a short, simple aspiration directed to Him that focuses your intention and assures your Father in Heaven that you love Him above all.
At least start your day's work with the right intention. Then maybe you develop a habit of occasional thoughts, mental aspirations ("All for Thee, my God"; "Jesus, I love Thee"...) that remind you of Him, and the fact that your work glorifies Him. If you can do this, you may find that even those somewhat boring days where you're maybe performing rote tasks, now rise above the ordinary: you've "super-naturalized" them and they're no longer something you just slog through. With practice, such work may take on a weight and importance far beyond it's earthly station, because you're performing it with love for His greater glory. Even work that's particularly difficult now feels lighter (if not easier); the burden is lifted.
As you finish each task on that To Do list, accomplish those little objectives throughout the day, you might remember that each task done with love, each objective accomplished for His greater glory, puts you one step closer to your ultimate goal: Heaven. Work this way each day, to reference a phrase in the bull of canonization of St Therese of Liseux, without going beyond the common order of things. Our ordinary days at work thus become spiritual stepping stones to eternal happiness.
Aside: If you've got one of those jobs that you absolutely love, that keep you on your toes in a tizzy of joyful activity each day, that inspire you to great things, etc., etc., you might skip all this. Just go back to comments on that particularly good day and multiply it by a gazillion. But for the rest of us, here goes...
To set the stage, we wake up and it's just another day. Nothing particularly special going on. Our morning routine commences. What do you do? Maybe something like this: Morning Offering; a bit of waking up exercise, then reading some Scripture, Spiritual reading, a bit of doctrinal study. Most mornings, a bit of "meditation." (It's not something mystical or complicated, just a few quiet minutes of doing your best to concentrate, to think of God in some way, without any of the usual distractions.)
Then it's off to work, and upon arrival, the "To Do" list guides the next 8 or so hours. Depending on the sort of work you do, you may spend the day in front of a desktop or laptop computer screen; or you may be outside moving from place to place, or doing some sort of physical work; or maybe you're in a classroom. Whatever work you're doing the rest of the day, you've got a choice: You can offer up every thought, word, and deed for the greater glory of God, as St Ignatius of Loyola might have put it. Or you can just go about your work with little or no reference to God, as if somehow your life at work were separate and apart from Him, a secular slab sliced out of your day, where you attend to the affairs of the world, where there's no time or place for God. While you and I may not intend it, that latter describes most days at work for most of us. It shouldn't be this way.
Now we're not saying you've got to think about God constantly, minute to minute; or mumble vocal prayers and aspirations in the midst of your daily activities. That would be rather strange, even off-putting to those with whom you work. Besides you'd likely not get your work done, or, if you did, you wouldn't have your mind on it, with likely poor or mediocre results. God doesn't really want that, right? Rather, we simply want the presence of mind to simply tell God that you'll be working for His greater glory throughout the day. "All for Thee, my God" would be a short, simple aspiration directed to Him that focuses your intention and assures your Father in Heaven that you love Him above all.
At least start your day's work with the right intention. Then maybe you develop a habit of occasional thoughts, mental aspirations ("All for Thee, my God"; "Jesus, I love Thee"...) that remind you of Him, and the fact that your work glorifies Him. If you can do this, you may find that even those somewhat boring days where you're maybe performing rote tasks, now rise above the ordinary: you've "super-naturalized" them and they're no longer something you just slog through. With practice, such work may take on a weight and importance far beyond it's earthly station, because you're performing it with love for His greater glory. Even work that's particularly difficult now feels lighter (if not easier); the burden is lifted.
As you finish each task on that To Do list, accomplish those little objectives throughout the day, you might remember that each task done with love, each objective accomplished for His greater glory, puts you one step closer to your ultimate goal: Heaven. Work this way each day, to reference a phrase in the bull of canonization of St Therese of Liseux, without going beyond the common order of things. Our ordinary days at work thus become spiritual stepping stones to eternal happiness.
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