An Especially Important Exhortation to Assist Us at Work
Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, recently wrote of an especially important exhortation from the Rule of his namesake, St. Benedict. It can help us today at work, especially in the glorious light of the Resurrection that surrounds now and - we pray - infuses us during the continuing Easter Season.
Before reading Ratzinger/Benedict's words, be prepared to possibly be taken aback a bit. They're likely to be strong medicine for many of us who have labored without a clear consciousness of God's Holy Presence during our work day for much of our work lives. In our thoroughly secularized society and culture, it's certainly understandable that bringing God to work doesn't come naturally to most of us. They're strong medicine as well for those of us who don't perceive the firm connection between liturgy and the rest of our lives. We go to Mass on Sunday and that's that. Then we get on with "real" life.
But we should know, at least intellectually, what's wrong with that. So now, with the arrival of the Easter Season, it's the perfect time to dig down and change. The fact is, Easter should mark a new beginning in our spiritual life. What better way to bolster that life than by taking down that barrier that separates our lives into two artificially constructed components: religious and "secular," expanding it to include all those hours we spend at work?
For many if not most of us, not only is the bulk of our time taken up by our work, but those hours tend to be "prime time" - a time when we, either by choice or circumstance, have to muster our energy, intellect, creativity, determination; when we apply ourselves most diligently to prioritizing our daily tasks in order to meet the challenges each new day brings, and ultimately to accomplish our goals,
All of this we should continue to do. But why expend all of that effort and energy without God, as if somehow He doesn't exist as we go about our work? This passage from the preface for the Russian edition of Opera Omnia on Liturgy and Liturgical Theology points us in the right direction by showing us how to keep our priorities straight. (Thanks to Father John Zuhlsdorf for bringing this to our attention in his excellent blog.)
Before reading Ratzinger/Benedict's words, be prepared to possibly be taken aback a bit. They're likely to be strong medicine for many of us who have labored without a clear consciousness of God's Holy Presence during our work day for much of our work lives. In our thoroughly secularized society and culture, it's certainly understandable that bringing God to work doesn't come naturally to most of us. They're strong medicine as well for those of us who don't perceive the firm connection between liturgy and the rest of our lives. We go to Mass on Sunday and that's that. Then we get on with "real" life.
But we should know, at least intellectually, what's wrong with that. So now, with the arrival of the Easter Season, it's the perfect time to dig down and change. The fact is, Easter should mark a new beginning in our spiritual life. What better way to bolster that life than by taking down that barrier that separates our lives into two artificially constructed components: religious and "secular," expanding it to include all those hours we spend at work?
For many if not most of us, not only is the bulk of our time taken up by our work, but those hours tend to be "prime time" - a time when we, either by choice or circumstance, have to muster our energy, intellect, creativity, determination; when we apply ourselves most diligently to prioritizing our daily tasks in order to meet the challenges each new day brings, and ultimately to accomplish our goals,
All of this we should continue to do. But why expend all of that effort and energy without God, as if somehow He doesn't exist as we go about our work? This passage from the preface for the Russian edition of Opera Omnia on Liturgy and Liturgical Theology points us in the right direction by showing us how to keep our priorities straight. (Thanks to Father John Zuhlsdorf for bringing this to our attention in his excellent blog.)
Nihil Operi Dei praeponitur – Let nothing be put before the Work of God. With these words St. Benedict, in his Rule (43.3), established the absolute priority of divine Worship in respect to every other duty of monastic life. This, even though it is in monastic life, was now immediately to be assumed because, for monks, an essential duty was also in agricultural work and in learning [scienza]. In agriculture, just as in craftsmanship, and in the work of formation there could certainly be temporal exigencies that could appear to be more important than liturgy. In the face of this, Benedict, with the priority assigned to liturgy, unequivocally underscored the priority of God Himself in our life: “As soon as the signal for the time of the divine office is heard, let everyone, leaving whatever he hath in his hands, hasten with all speed, yet with gravity” (43:1).
Things of God, and with them the liturgy, do not appear to be at all essential [urgenti] in the consciousness of the men of today. There is an urgency for every possible matter. The issue of God does not ever seem to be pressing. Now, one could affirm that, in any case, monastic life is something different from the life of the men in the world, and this is unquestionably true. Nevertheless, the priority of God, which we have forgotten, is important for everyone. If God isn’t important anymore, the criteria for establishing that which is important are shifted. Man, in setting God aside, submits himself to constraints that make him the slave of material forces and that are thus opposed to his dignity.The operative phrase here: "the priority of God Himself in our life." We need this to sink in and take root. The "Vidi Aquam" that is sung at the beginning of High Mass in the Extraordinary form during the Easter Season refers to the water which flowed from Our Lord's side after He was pierced by the lance:
I saw water coming forth from the temple
on the right side, alleluia:
and all those to whom this water came
were saved, and shall say, alleluia, alleluia.
on the right side, alleluia:
and all those to whom this water came
were saved, and shall say, alleluia, alleluia.
As we work our way through the Easter Season, let's place ourselves beneath His Cross and receive this living water by getting our priorities straight.
Happy Easter!
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