Shaking Up Our Work Day: Imitating Christ at Work
To complete our recent posts about shaking up our work day, we come to the ultimate shake-up: imitating Christ at Work. We begin by thanking Our Blessed Mother, of whom we spoke last time. While most Catholics understand that we draw closer to Our Lord through her intercession, last time we saw how work took a fundamental and pervasive place in the daily life of
Mary, just as it did for everyone around her - and just as it does for
us. And so we unite with her today and ask her intercession to help us understand how we can and should imitate the life of Our Lord in every aspect of our lives, including our work.
Now let's consider more specifically just what imitating the life of Christ might look like. For some enlightening thoughts, we turn to Reverend George Zimpfer (emphasis added):
'Imitation of Christ’ does not mean that we must seek an exact parallel of incidents in our lives and that of Jesus. It means that we must strive to think and act according to His spirit, as we should judge how He would speak and act or think in any given circumstances. The hundreds of expressions of our spirituality are our own, just as the events of our Lord’s life were peculiarly His own. His day was not as our day; His circumstances of life were not as ours. Yet he lived, and he asks us to live in like manner. It is an ideal, of course, and we strive to approximate it. We must look beneath the outward circumstances, the mere activities of Christ’s life, and try to discover the deep moral truths and principles which guided them. Most of our Lord’s life was unexceptional, if viewed only in these circumstances. He was not always working miracles, but he lived among men and women graciously. What made Him a Light among men, a Light that shone with ever increasing brilliance until today His figure stands as the greatest in human history, was His inner life, His spirit. He came not only as the Son of God; He came to us also as the Son of Man. He not only died for us, but He lived for us as well, to show us how to live.” (Rev. George Zimpfer)
If the very idea thinking and acting according to His spirit seems a bit beyond your pay grade, you may take some comfort from Father's comment that "It's an ideal, of course, and we strive to approximate it." Just know that this doesn't let us off the hook. If you apply even the tiniest iota of your knowledge of your Catholic Faith, you already know that Our Lord condescended to take on a human nature not simply to die for us, but also to live for us, as Father says, "to show us how to live." Why wouldn't we want to do our best to deepen our knowledge of His life and deepen our understanding of the example He set for us? And why wouldn't we strive to apply that knowledge and understanding to our work life?
Now, I'm not going to even attempt to tell anyone how he or she should think or act; nor is it possible to enumerate "the deep moral truths and principles which guided" the outward circumstances and activities of Christ's life in the space of a blog post. I think it's important that each of us, in our own way, look at Our Lord's life and spend the time we need to apply His example in ways that will make the most sense to us in our own circumstances. Each of us is a unique individual, and as such, has a special and unique relationship to Christ. As Father notes, "the hundreds of expressions of our spirituality are our own." What we can emphasize here, though, is the primary and critical importance of those expressions. We need to put them at the center of our lives, beginning with the moment we awake until we retire at the end of each day.
One thing I can do in this limited space, however, is share a little story that illustrates how we are commonly influenced by the example of those around us, specifically those we encounter at work. The point here is to show that most of us already have been and continue to be influenced by the example of others with whom we work. And while such examples may prove beneficial - as is the case here - the realization or the influence of the impact of good example should motivate us to seek to understand better the example Our Lord has set for each of us.
A gentleman colleague, married with three young children lost his wife to cancer. The couple was in their 30s, the children ranged from, I think, 5 to 10 years old. The way he carried himself through the months of his wife's chemotherapy and surgery, which, after much pain and suffering, resulted in her ultimately dying, was a model of manly dignity. He continued to do his best to pull his weight at work, never asking anyone for special consideration (although he was charitably given that by many of us). If he questioned why God would allow this to happen to a decent hard-working guy with a young family, you wouldn't know it from his conduct both during and after his wife's decease. If ever I had felt sorry for myself before witnessing this courageous man bear up under his adversity, I assure you I haven't felt a stitch of sorrow over anything that I've had to face in my own life since.
The suffering this man and his wife endured - or anyone's suffering really - can't be directly compared to the suffering Our Lord endured for our sake. First of all, this man did not want to experience such suffering. It was, in a sense, thrust upon him. He also was not consciously trying to set an example for his colleagues in any way. He simply dealt with things in the best way he knew how. I think he would be surprised if I told him how his example inspired me. (Maybe I should have said as much at the time?) Our Lord, on the other hand, willingly took on the sins of the world and actively, totally embraced His suffering. He knew that His example would stand for all time.
Next time we'll gaze a little deeper into that example. For now, we head off to work surrounded by our glorious and grace-filled Easter Season. As we do, we beg the solicitude and consolation of Our Blessed Mother throughout our busy work day.
Now let's consider more specifically just what imitating the life of Christ might look like. For some enlightening thoughts, we turn to Reverend George Zimpfer (emphasis added):
'Imitation of Christ’ does not mean that we must seek an exact parallel of incidents in our lives and that of Jesus. It means that we must strive to think and act according to His spirit, as we should judge how He would speak and act or think in any given circumstances. The hundreds of expressions of our spirituality are our own, just as the events of our Lord’s life were peculiarly His own. His day was not as our day; His circumstances of life were not as ours. Yet he lived, and he asks us to live in like manner. It is an ideal, of course, and we strive to approximate it. We must look beneath the outward circumstances, the mere activities of Christ’s life, and try to discover the deep moral truths and principles which guided them. Most of our Lord’s life was unexceptional, if viewed only in these circumstances. He was not always working miracles, but he lived among men and women graciously. What made Him a Light among men, a Light that shone with ever increasing brilliance until today His figure stands as the greatest in human history, was His inner life, His spirit. He came not only as the Son of God; He came to us also as the Son of Man. He not only died for us, but He lived for us as well, to show us how to live.” (Rev. George Zimpfer)
If the very idea thinking and acting according to His spirit seems a bit beyond your pay grade, you may take some comfort from Father's comment that "It's an ideal, of course, and we strive to approximate it." Just know that this doesn't let us off the hook. If you apply even the tiniest iota of your knowledge of your Catholic Faith, you already know that Our Lord condescended to take on a human nature not simply to die for us, but also to live for us, as Father says, "to show us how to live." Why wouldn't we want to do our best to deepen our knowledge of His life and deepen our understanding of the example He set for us? And why wouldn't we strive to apply that knowledge and understanding to our work life?
Now, I'm not going to even attempt to tell anyone how he or she should think or act; nor is it possible to enumerate "the deep moral truths and principles which guided" the outward circumstances and activities of Christ's life in the space of a blog post. I think it's important that each of us, in our own way, look at Our Lord's life and spend the time we need to apply His example in ways that will make the most sense to us in our own circumstances. Each of us is a unique individual, and as such, has a special and unique relationship to Christ. As Father notes, "the hundreds of expressions of our spirituality are our own." What we can emphasize here, though, is the primary and critical importance of those expressions. We need to put them at the center of our lives, beginning with the moment we awake until we retire at the end of each day.
One thing I can do in this limited space, however, is share a little story that illustrates how we are commonly influenced by the example of those around us, specifically those we encounter at work. The point here is to show that most of us already have been and continue to be influenced by the example of others with whom we work. And while such examples may prove beneficial - as is the case here - the realization or the influence of the impact of good example should motivate us to seek to understand better the example Our Lord has set for each of us.
A gentleman colleague, married with three young children lost his wife to cancer. The couple was in their 30s, the children ranged from, I think, 5 to 10 years old. The way he carried himself through the months of his wife's chemotherapy and surgery, which, after much pain and suffering, resulted in her ultimately dying, was a model of manly dignity. He continued to do his best to pull his weight at work, never asking anyone for special consideration (although he was charitably given that by many of us). If he questioned why God would allow this to happen to a decent hard-working guy with a young family, you wouldn't know it from his conduct both during and after his wife's decease. If ever I had felt sorry for myself before witnessing this courageous man bear up under his adversity, I assure you I haven't felt a stitch of sorrow over anything that I've had to face in my own life since.
The suffering this man and his wife endured - or anyone's suffering really - can't be directly compared to the suffering Our Lord endured for our sake. First of all, this man did not want to experience such suffering. It was, in a sense, thrust upon him. He also was not consciously trying to set an example for his colleagues in any way. He simply dealt with things in the best way he knew how. I think he would be surprised if I told him how his example inspired me. (Maybe I should have said as much at the time?) Our Lord, on the other hand, willingly took on the sins of the world and actively, totally embraced His suffering. He knew that His example would stand for all time.
Next time we'll gaze a little deeper into that example. For now, we head off to work surrounded by our glorious and grace-filled Easter Season. As we do, we beg the solicitude and consolation of Our Blessed Mother throughout our busy work day.
Happy Easter!
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