Here's How Easter Week Can and Should Impact Our Days at Work This Week
(Every day this week has been and will be
"another Easter." We Catholics observe each day as a solemn feast - the
highest level of celebration in the liturgical calendar. But with most of us now firmly back in the saddle of our daily toil, does this really impact your life as you go about your work? Here's how we answered this question last year.)
Since our spiritual life comes first, (it does, right?), let's start there. With Our Lord's Resurrection smashing sin and death once and for all, we find ourselves in rather glorious circumstances. Before running out the door to work, how about a few moments meditation on what He did for us in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. You can't help but swell with gratitude, even a kind of rolling joy, that should stick with you through the day today. If you already make it a practice to take a few moments in the quiet of the early morning to meditate or contemplate in some fashion, this should come naturally. If not, it's a good time to start. You couldn't find a more uplifting subject for meditation than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Give it a shot.
Bounding out the door, maybe you've got a spring in your step this morning, having let the startling and glorious reality of the Resurrection sink in. So now you're at work, and a new world awaits. If you haven't already made it a habit of beginning your actual work day with a short prayer, now's the best time to start.
Now let's connect this more intimately with the "practical" side of our work life. Here's where it gets really interesting. We all know that building on success makes the accomplishment of work goals easier, smoother. In the same way we can build on the "successes" of our recent Lenten discipline. "Success"? "What success? I just looked in the mirror and it's the same old me. Did I really succeed at anything by persevering in those special prayers, in that fasting, in giving up something I like, etc.?"
Of course you have! You made some progress with your efforts simply be persevering. You may not "feel" all that much holier; you may not "see" the progress you've made. But assuredly you have. In some small way, you've taken a step or two in God's direction, drawing ever so much closer to Him. That was the whole point of your Lenten discipline. It wasn't to become some sort of penitential athlete. Such thinking focuses on the self, and ultimately feeds our pride. You know that. So the whole point was simply and profoundly to somehow draw closer to God. Your discipline was an act of love. You demonstrated your love for God in persevering in your daily penances, despite the difficulties in doing so, in the face of temptations to slack off, to give up. Even if you did slack off at times, just getting back on track was a way of saying "I love you Lord" to Him Who sacrificed all for you.
With all that in mind, remember that, while we don't need to continue our prayer and fasting in the same fashion we did during Lent, we don't want to throw it all out the window and slip back to that "old self" we were before Lent began. Sustaining our prayer life, making small sacrifices during the day by, for example, denying ourselves small pleasures in our mortifications or going out of our way to be charitable towards others, keep us firmly on track to making continued progress in doing God's will every moment of the day. Bolstered by these simple spiritual activities, we sanctify our work. we can't help but produce work of the highest quality; we become a true witness to Christ and His teaching in the work place. All of this will flow naturally, without "imposing" ourselves and our Catholic faith on others. Our work will speak for itself. We will lead by example.
And as you go about your business today, enlivened and informed by your spiritual life as every Catholic can and should be, don't sell short the power of these solemn days of the Easter Octave (the eight days after and including Easter Sunday). Recognize the graces that flow from these special days and ask Our Risen Lord to grant us the help, the strength we need to continue to sanctify our work and grow ever closer to Him. Just because you are surrounded by the secular and material concerns that fill the work place (for most of us), that doesn't mean you can't incorporate your spiritual life into every thought, word, and deed throughout your busy day.
Remember that, and you've just brought Easter with you to work.
Since our spiritual life comes first, (it does, right?), let's start there. With Our Lord's Resurrection smashing sin and death once and for all, we find ourselves in rather glorious circumstances. Before running out the door to work, how about a few moments meditation on what He did for us in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. You can't help but swell with gratitude, even a kind of rolling joy, that should stick with you through the day today. If you already make it a practice to take a few moments in the quiet of the early morning to meditate or contemplate in some fashion, this should come naturally. If not, it's a good time to start. You couldn't find a more uplifting subject for meditation than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Give it a shot.
Bounding out the door, maybe you've got a spring in your step this morning, having let the startling and glorious reality of the Resurrection sink in. So now you're at work, and a new world awaits. If you haven't already made it a habit of beginning your actual work day with a short prayer, now's the best time to start.
Now let's connect this more intimately with the "practical" side of our work life. Here's where it gets really interesting. We all know that building on success makes the accomplishment of work goals easier, smoother. In the same way we can build on the "successes" of our recent Lenten discipline. "Success"? "What success? I just looked in the mirror and it's the same old me. Did I really succeed at anything by persevering in those special prayers, in that fasting, in giving up something I like, etc.?"
Of course you have! You made some progress with your efforts simply be persevering. You may not "feel" all that much holier; you may not "see" the progress you've made. But assuredly you have. In some small way, you've taken a step or two in God's direction, drawing ever so much closer to Him. That was the whole point of your Lenten discipline. It wasn't to become some sort of penitential athlete. Such thinking focuses on the self, and ultimately feeds our pride. You know that. So the whole point was simply and profoundly to somehow draw closer to God. Your discipline was an act of love. You demonstrated your love for God in persevering in your daily penances, despite the difficulties in doing so, in the face of temptations to slack off, to give up. Even if you did slack off at times, just getting back on track was a way of saying "I love you Lord" to Him Who sacrificed all for you.
With all that in mind, remember that, while we don't need to continue our prayer and fasting in the same fashion we did during Lent, we don't want to throw it all out the window and slip back to that "old self" we were before Lent began. Sustaining our prayer life, making small sacrifices during the day by, for example, denying ourselves small pleasures in our mortifications or going out of our way to be charitable towards others, keep us firmly on track to making continued progress in doing God's will every moment of the day. Bolstered by these simple spiritual activities, we sanctify our work. we can't help but produce work of the highest quality; we become a true witness to Christ and His teaching in the work place. All of this will flow naturally, without "imposing" ourselves and our Catholic faith on others. Our work will speak for itself. We will lead by example.
And as you go about your business today, enlivened and informed by your spiritual life as every Catholic can and should be, don't sell short the power of these solemn days of the Easter Octave (the eight days after and including Easter Sunday). Recognize the graces that flow from these special days and ask Our Risen Lord to grant us the help, the strength we need to continue to sanctify our work and grow ever closer to Him. Just because you are surrounded by the secular and material concerns that fill the work place (for most of us), that doesn't mean you can't incorporate your spiritual life into every thought, word, and deed throughout your busy day.
Remember that, and you've just brought Easter with you to work.
Happy Easter!
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