Our Duty to be Socially Useful Through Work - Part 2

We continue our discussion about our duty to be socially useful through work. Last time we saw how that duty begins with our our own families, and those closest to us.

While we may be in a position to help others outside our inner circle of family, friends, and neighbors, in Working Your Way into Heaven, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski want us to clearly understand our initial duty to our families. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized.

St Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 5:8:

The man who makes no provision for those near him, above all his own family, has contradicted the teachings of the Faith, and indeed does worse than the unbelievers do.

But St. Paul does not mean that we exhaust our duty by taking care of our own family. In Galatians 6:10, he further states:

...let us practice generosity to all, while the opportunity is ours; and, above all, to those who are of one family with us in the Faith.

As authentic Christians our charity flows in abundance, beginning but not ending with our own families. And when we connect our own work with the work of God, our Creator and Father, the intentions for which we work are purified, as our work becomes the very means to practice charity. As Cardinal Wyszynski explains,

It cleanses our work of selfishness, of greed for profit, of the spirit of materialism and worldliness.

Our own society reveals not only the historic disparity between rich and poor, but also now one between the so-called "1%" and the "99%," many of whom feel they have been consigned "second-class citizen status." As it always has, the world yearns for the kind of charity taught us by our Catholic Faith. How wonderful to discover that each of us can express true Christian charity in our everyday work:

It is this thought that gives to human work its most sublime character.

While at first blush, the following from Cardinal Wyszynski may appear to be tall order for those of us who know we can only hope to approach the heights of sanctity demonstrated by the saints, we must remember that with the necessary and abundantly given help of God's grace we can and will attain true holiness.

Our work must be filled with the spirit of love, of sacrifice, of disinterestedness, of service to those who cannot work, of service to the poor, to orphans, and to those who are unfit for effort and toil, especially the sick. 

As we meditate on these lofty words, we find ourselves discovering a new and exciting incentive to work:

It is this that leads man out of the narrow backyard of his own purely personal affairs onto the broad highways of love. Through it, we become God's family in work. We know very well that the more efficient our work is, the more means Providence acquires to distribute to the poor and the needy.

This is the starting point for Christian zeal in work, for Catholic effort, intensity, and heroism in work.

Heading out to our daily labors today, remember this. If, like me, much of your work consists of some level of ordinariness and drudgery, remind yourself that the fruits of your labor join with those of others. We, His family, join together in our work to express our love for each other, and to fulfill His Holy Will. In this the drudgery of every day work can rise to the level of heroism.

I don't know about you, but I find this provides real inspiration for me to do my very best in all the work that awaits me today.