Four Ways Work Helps Us Find Our Way to God
Our last two posts introduced Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski's teachings about work. Now we'll look at some specific themes. Let's remember first that not only should we sanctify our work, but also that in doing so, our work will sanctify us. That's why understanding the true nature of work is so important. It's not just something "practical," something we have to do to eat. Work, by its very nature, intimately connects with our spiritual life.
Remembering that most of us spend a good portion, if not the major portion, of our active, productive hours at our jobs should be enough to make us want to get the most out of those hours. However, too many of us think that "getting the most" begins and ends with how much we earn, or the satisfaction and esteem we derive from being "successful" in a worldly or material sense at our jobs. But we Catholics need to learn how to somehow elevate those hours at work from natural to supernatural. We want those mere hum-drum activities that make up most of our work days to help us draw closer to God. That's how we'll sanctify our work. With the understanding that sanctifying our work results in our work sanctifying us - that is, growing closer to God - the following four themes from Cardinal Wyszynski's writings will aid us in our efforts. They focus on each one of us as individual human beings who strive to work for the greater glory of God:
Work is one means of spiritual progress.
Spiritual progress isn't mystical or complicated. It's just growing closer to God. Over time, with His grace, we unite ourselves to Him in our every thought, word, and deed. His Will becomes our will. Daily prayer, attending Mass at least on Sunday, studying our faith and reading good spiritual works, examining our conscience, spending some time alone with Our Lord before the Blessed Sacrament or in quiet moments of contemplation - in short, all our pious practices - shouldn't just be items on a list we check off each day. They derive their value from enhancing and advancing our spiritual progress, i.e., helping us grow closer to God. If you can devote an hour or so a day for these practices, that's pretty good.
But imagine if you could transform that big chunk of time you spend at work into a means of spiritual progress. Much has been written about how to do this. We've posted dozens of these ideas. But in case you're just starting to warm up to the idea, here's a simple short-cut to get started: Start by having the right intention. Tell Our Lord you want to devote every minute on the job working for His greater glory. He'll hear you. And don't worry about how exactly you're going to transform what you're doing now during the work day into a continual prayer. If you have the sincere intention to do so, between your efforts and the working of the Holy Spirit, you'll learn on the job, so to speak. One thing you can do to give yourself a push yourself would be to develop a habit of turning your mind and heart to God as your work. Simple aspiration like, "All for you, Lord," or "Jesus, I love you" sprinkled throughout the day will get you into the swing of things.
Between the intention to sanctify your work, and these simple little acknowledgments, you'll be well on your way to converting those hours of labor into hours of prayer. There's nothing hard or mystical about it. Anyone can do it.
None of this takes away from your efforts to provide food, clothing, and shelter for your family or even enhance your style of living. But reorienting your work such that it helps propel you closer to God really does elevate those long working hours from a practical endeavor into a spiritual work. Why wouldn't everyone want this?
Work is a need of the rational nature of man.
Aristotle called man "a rational animal." The point wasn't to emphasize that humanity was just another type of animal. It was to highlight the importance of rationality, or reason. If not for our reason, we'd be just like animals. No animals have the capacity to reason as man does. Given the fundamental importance of our rational nature, the claim that work is a need of our nature elevates work from something we must do to survive or "get ahead" to something we need to do. Think about it (all you rational animals). What would you do if you didn't work? Yes, even you who have jobs you really don't like, for whatever reason. Would you do "nothing" if you didn't have a job to go to every day? Let's take the extreme example: You just hit the lottery! So you'd now do nothing? Well, maybe you'd take some time off after quitting your job. But wouldn't you be rather bored doing nothing? Chances are you'd look for other work, even if it's work done without remuneration. (Being paid is not intrinsic to the meaning of work.) If you think about this, I'm guessing you'll conclude that working is in our DNA. Maybe not that particular job you're doing today. But working at something, don't you think?
Look at it from another angle: Animals don't work. Yes, men have harnessed horse power, oxen power, and the strength and agility of other animals to enhance the product of man's labor. But the animals themselves don't "work" on their own.
We'll reserve our comments of the last two themes for next time,
Remembering that most of us spend a good portion, if not the major portion, of our active, productive hours at our jobs should be enough to make us want to get the most out of those hours. However, too many of us think that "getting the most" begins and ends with how much we earn, or the satisfaction and esteem we derive from being "successful" in a worldly or material sense at our jobs. But we Catholics need to learn how to somehow elevate those hours at work from natural to supernatural. We want those mere hum-drum activities that make up most of our work days to help us draw closer to God. That's how we'll sanctify our work. With the understanding that sanctifying our work results in our work sanctifying us - that is, growing closer to God - the following four themes from Cardinal Wyszynski's writings will aid us in our efforts. They focus on each one of us as individual human beings who strive to work for the greater glory of God:
- Work is one means of spiritual progress.
- Work is a need of the rational nature of man.
- Man gets to know himself fully through work.
- Man learns to express himself fully through work.
Work is one means of spiritual progress.
Spiritual progress isn't mystical or complicated. It's just growing closer to God. Over time, with His grace, we unite ourselves to Him in our every thought, word, and deed. His Will becomes our will. Daily prayer, attending Mass at least on Sunday, studying our faith and reading good spiritual works, examining our conscience, spending some time alone with Our Lord before the Blessed Sacrament or in quiet moments of contemplation - in short, all our pious practices - shouldn't just be items on a list we check off each day. They derive their value from enhancing and advancing our spiritual progress, i.e., helping us grow closer to God. If you can devote an hour or so a day for these practices, that's pretty good.
But imagine if you could transform that big chunk of time you spend at work into a means of spiritual progress. Much has been written about how to do this. We've posted dozens of these ideas. But in case you're just starting to warm up to the idea, here's a simple short-cut to get started: Start by having the right intention. Tell Our Lord you want to devote every minute on the job working for His greater glory. He'll hear you. And don't worry about how exactly you're going to transform what you're doing now during the work day into a continual prayer. If you have the sincere intention to do so, between your efforts and the working of the Holy Spirit, you'll learn on the job, so to speak. One thing you can do to give yourself a push yourself would be to develop a habit of turning your mind and heart to God as your work. Simple aspiration like, "All for you, Lord," or "Jesus, I love you" sprinkled throughout the day will get you into the swing of things.
Between the intention to sanctify your work, and these simple little acknowledgments, you'll be well on your way to converting those hours of labor into hours of prayer. There's nothing hard or mystical about it. Anyone can do it.
None of this takes away from your efforts to provide food, clothing, and shelter for your family or even enhance your style of living. But reorienting your work such that it helps propel you closer to God really does elevate those long working hours from a practical endeavor into a spiritual work. Why wouldn't everyone want this?
Work is a need of the rational nature of man.
Aristotle called man "a rational animal." The point wasn't to emphasize that humanity was just another type of animal. It was to highlight the importance of rationality, or reason. If not for our reason, we'd be just like animals. No animals have the capacity to reason as man does. Given the fundamental importance of our rational nature, the claim that work is a need of our nature elevates work from something we must do to survive or "get ahead" to something we need to do. Think about it (all you rational animals). What would you do if you didn't work? Yes, even you who have jobs you really don't like, for whatever reason. Would you do "nothing" if you didn't have a job to go to every day? Let's take the extreme example: You just hit the lottery! So you'd now do nothing? Well, maybe you'd take some time off after quitting your job. But wouldn't you be rather bored doing nothing? Chances are you'd look for other work, even if it's work done without remuneration. (Being paid is not intrinsic to the meaning of work.) If you think about this, I'm guessing you'll conclude that working is in our DNA. Maybe not that particular job you're doing today. But working at something, don't you think?
Look at it from another angle: Animals don't work. Yes, men have harnessed horse power, oxen power, and the strength and agility of other animals to enhance the product of man's labor. But the animals themselves don't "work" on their own.
We'll reserve our comments of the last two themes for next time,
- Man gets to know himself fully through work.
- Man learns to express himself fully through work.
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