First Day Back at Work In This New Year

The Christmas "break" is now officially over. The New Year begins. No matter the year, there's something special about  the break from "business as usual" that marks those days between Christmas and New Year's. Indeed, you could call it wonderful, even when some years aren't as much "fun" as others. For example, I remember years when various children of ours got sick and we couldn't all visit this grandparent or that Aunt. Still, we managed and it was, well, wonderful. Just sitting at home for extended periods of time, surrounded by all those decorations, the signs of Christmas that fill our home for weeks - and still do - make these days unlike any other.

Then comes that first day back to "business as usual": That's today. Sure, we continue to keep Christmas at home. The decorations won't be taken down for a while. But that first full day marks a break from the festivities and sometimes brings a wisp of sadness as we knuckle down to eight hours of work. Maybe you feel a bit let down too today. If so, I want to share this meditation from Father William Doyle, S.J. (1873-1917). It reminds us about the real Christmas Spirit, and how we can carry it with us today and everyday this coming New Year. Take a few moments to read and think about Our Lord's birth. Picture the nativity scene again in your mind. And when you begin your work today, perhaps recall these thoughts and feelings at some point.

      “What impressed me most in the meditation on the Nativity was the thought that Jesus could have been born in wealth and luxury, or at least with the ordinary comforts of life, but He chose all that was hard, unpleasant, and uncomfortable. This He did for me, to show me the life I must lead for Him. If I want to be with Christ, I must lead the life of Christ, and in that life there was little of what was pleasing to nature. I think I have been following Christ, yet how pleasant and comfortable my life has always been - ever avoiding cold, hunger, hard work, disagreeable things, humiliations, etc.
 
      “‘My Jesus, You are speaking to my heart now. I cannot mistake Your voice or hide from myself what You want from me and what my future life should be. Help me for I am weak and cowardly…O my God, make me a saint, and I consent to suffer all You ask for the rest of my life.’ What is God asking from me now? Shall I go back on that offering.?”

Just as we know how to keep Christ at the center of our Christmas feastivities, let's start this New Year with a determination to keep Christ at work. There's plenty of time to review your 2017 key initiatives, to hit the ground running as you pursue your business and career goals. But without Our Lord at the center of it all, none of it will matter much. We all know this. But it's all too easy to give a cursory assent to the importance of putting Christ at the center of every bit of our lives, of everything we do. Working for "the greater glory of God" every day has a fine ring to it, doesn't it? But are we really living and working each day with a lively spirit, eager to listen, to know what God wants us to do? Or do we, like bulls in a China closet, forge ahead, thrashing this way and that, oblivious to that voice that lovingly, persistently tries to guide us to do the Will of the Father?

As Father Doyle reminds us, Our Lord is speaking to us now. Let's not ignore Him anyore, starting today. Again,

"I cannot mistake Your voice or hide from myself what You want from me and what my future life should be." 

This has nothing to do with our worldly ambitions. We were made to be saints, first and foremost. Everything we think, say, or do revolves around that, springs from that. For most of us - if not all of us - the path to sainthood isn't and won't be an easy one. And so we implore:

"Help me for I am weak and cowardly."

Having declared our determination to do His will, to be what He wants us to be, and having admitted our fundamental incapacity to do this on our own, we now begin our first day back at work after a wonderful Christmas break:

"What is God asking from me now? Shall I go back on that offering?

Thusly do we Catholic men at work begin this Year of Our Lord 2017.

Happy New Year!