Halloween at Work
We're going to take a break from our discussion of Working Your Way into Heaven by Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. We'll visit with the Cardinal again in the New Year.
The New Year? Yes, it's coming. Today is Halloween (All Hallow's Eve), which means, of course, that tomorrow we celebrate the great feast of All Saints. And you know what comes next: Thanksgiving, then Christmas! It's almost here folks. Hard to believe this year shot by so quickly, isn't it?
Next week, we continue our custom of presenting a few posts with ideas for planning your business and your life. You can, if you wish, use these to help prepare for the coming New Year, even as you attend to whatever pressing matters you're addressing while trying to meet your goals for this year. It seems it's always like that at work: As the great holiday season unfolds, we're balancing our desire to participate in and enjoy the festivities even as we scramble to meet the demands of a year-end push in our business. This used to frustrate me quite a bit - until my Catholic sensibility stepped in with this reminder: the Season of Advent has a penitential character to it. That character hasn't been emphasized so much in our post-Vatican II Church. Combined with our thoroughly secularized world, it's understandable that many of us have lost the connection of Advent and penance. But if you do recall this connection, and you're similarly frustrated, you can direct your energy to offering that frustration up in a penitential spirit.
This time of year might also be a good opportunity to check in - especially if we're in that frustration mode - with how much we trust and rely on God. On my end, while this year's not an extraordinarily difficult one in our business (which definitely does not mean it's been easy!), there are a few big projects that need to be completed before year end. More than the usual, they will likely change how we go about doing what we do - always a challenge. And let's not forget those events in our personal lives that can require us at times to reboot so we can deal with new circumstances, welcome and unwelcome: birth, death, marriage, moving, etc. As the pieces of the puzzle of our lives arrange themselves this way and that, we may find our emotions tugged this way and that. But we know, as Catholics, that those emotional tides are meant to try our peace and stability. Think of them as a series of tests - special opportunities for us to turn to God, especially in any period of periods of anxiety and turmoil, and abandon ourselves to His holy will.
Back to Halloween: If you've got younger kids, you may find yourself in "Trick or Treat" mode later today. While many neighborhoods have forsaken sending children in costume door to door seeking treats, ours still does. Our kids are grown now, but I still treasure those years when I could get home from work early enough to walk with them house to house. It was a lighthearted, fun time, capped off by everyone contributing to a great pile of goodies plopped in the middle of our table after dinner. Everyone got to choose some candy for dessert (including Mom and Dad!). Each child had the option of holding on to some favorite tidbits for themselves; but I was often surprised and touched by their generosity in contributing to the common family stash. (Personal favorites: Snickers, Mounds, Almond Joy, Kit-Kats, Reese's peanut butter cups.)
Of course, there was a "dark" side to Halloween: not so much the scary stuff, but the gore. While the scary can be overdone, it's at least somewhat consistent with our Catholic tradition of focusing on the souls of those who have died starting with All Hallows Eve (Halloween), extending through All Saints' and All Souls' Day. So ghosts and goblins can be seen as in some way mixing with that tradition. The gory stuff, however, really is out of place and it's unfortunately grown exponentially since I was a kid. (I hope any of you parents out there try to limit your children's exposure to this sort of trash.) While unfortunate, if you are confronted with it, let it be a reminder of the darkness that will always make it's way into our lives from time to time.
Whatever your situation - kids, no kids, Trick, Treat, or not - let's all remember that, in addition to being a "fun" day, it's the vigil of a great feast day, All Saints' Day. Recollect yourself enough to prayerfully anticipate going to Mass tomorrow, a holy day of obligation. Remember the dead and honor the Saints, of course; but also remind yourself that we are all called to be saints, part of a great Triumvirate of saints: The Church Triumphant (saints in Heaven), the Church Penitent (saints in special "training" in Purgatory), and us, the Church Militant. While we can rest assured that our compatriots in this Triumvirate either have obtained, or will obtain, their Heavenly reward, we've still got work to do. The point here: We don't know for certain that we'll get our Heavenly reward. If that sounds or feels a bit daunting, just remember that God loves you. He's pulling for you in every way. You simply have to love Him back. These encouraging words from St. Alphonsus Liguori should set things straight. As we work, and maybe later walk with our kids, through this Halloween, they'll help us be of good cheer on this holy (All Hallows) and fun (Halloween) day.
“You desire to know for certain that God loves you? But at the moment He does not will to impart to you this knowledge. He wills that you should just humble yourself, trust in His goodness, and resign yourself wholly to His good-pleasure. Besides, it is a maxim, received as incontestable by all the masters of the spiritual life, that when a person of timorous conscience is in doubt as to whether he has lost the grace of God, it is certain that he has not lost it. For no one can lose God without being fully aware of the fact. Moreover, according to St. Francis de Sales, the resolution you have, at least, in the depths of your heart, to love God and not to cause Him the slightest displeasure by deliberate purpose, is a manifest sign that you are still in His grace. Abandon yourself, therefore, into the arms of divine mercy, protest that you desire nothing but God alone and His good-pleasure, and banish every fear. Oh, how agreeable to the Lord are the acts of confidence and resignation we make in the midst of this terrifying darkness.” (St. Alphonsus de Ligouri)
Happy Halloween!
The New Year? Yes, it's coming. Today is Halloween (All Hallow's Eve), which means, of course, that tomorrow we celebrate the great feast of All Saints. And you know what comes next: Thanksgiving, then Christmas! It's almost here folks. Hard to believe this year shot by so quickly, isn't it?
Next week, we continue our custom of presenting a few posts with ideas for planning your business and your life. You can, if you wish, use these to help prepare for the coming New Year, even as you attend to whatever pressing matters you're addressing while trying to meet your goals for this year. It seems it's always like that at work: As the great holiday season unfolds, we're balancing our desire to participate in and enjoy the festivities even as we scramble to meet the demands of a year-end push in our business. This used to frustrate me quite a bit - until my Catholic sensibility stepped in with this reminder: the Season of Advent has a penitential character to it. That character hasn't been emphasized so much in our post-Vatican II Church. Combined with our thoroughly secularized world, it's understandable that many of us have lost the connection of Advent and penance. But if you do recall this connection, and you're similarly frustrated, you can direct your energy to offering that frustration up in a penitential spirit.
This time of year might also be a good opportunity to check in - especially if we're in that frustration mode - with how much we trust and rely on God. On my end, while this year's not an extraordinarily difficult one in our business (which definitely does not mean it's been easy!), there are a few big projects that need to be completed before year end. More than the usual, they will likely change how we go about doing what we do - always a challenge. And let's not forget those events in our personal lives that can require us at times to reboot so we can deal with new circumstances, welcome and unwelcome: birth, death, marriage, moving, etc. As the pieces of the puzzle of our lives arrange themselves this way and that, we may find our emotions tugged this way and that. But we know, as Catholics, that those emotional tides are meant to try our peace and stability. Think of them as a series of tests - special opportunities for us to turn to God, especially in any period of periods of anxiety and turmoil, and abandon ourselves to His holy will.
Back to Halloween: If you've got younger kids, you may find yourself in "Trick or Treat" mode later today. While many neighborhoods have forsaken sending children in costume door to door seeking treats, ours still does. Our kids are grown now, but I still treasure those years when I could get home from work early enough to walk with them house to house. It was a lighthearted, fun time, capped off by everyone contributing to a great pile of goodies plopped in the middle of our table after dinner. Everyone got to choose some candy for dessert (including Mom and Dad!). Each child had the option of holding on to some favorite tidbits for themselves; but I was often surprised and touched by their generosity in contributing to the common family stash. (Personal favorites: Snickers, Mounds, Almond Joy, Kit-Kats, Reese's peanut butter cups.)
Of course, there was a "dark" side to Halloween: not so much the scary stuff, but the gore. While the scary can be overdone, it's at least somewhat consistent with our Catholic tradition of focusing on the souls of those who have died starting with All Hallows Eve (Halloween), extending through All Saints' and All Souls' Day. So ghosts and goblins can be seen as in some way mixing with that tradition. The gory stuff, however, really is out of place and it's unfortunately grown exponentially since I was a kid. (I hope any of you parents out there try to limit your children's exposure to this sort of trash.) While unfortunate, if you are confronted with it, let it be a reminder of the darkness that will always make it's way into our lives from time to time.
Whatever your situation - kids, no kids, Trick, Treat, or not - let's all remember that, in addition to being a "fun" day, it's the vigil of a great feast day, All Saints' Day. Recollect yourself enough to prayerfully anticipate going to Mass tomorrow, a holy day of obligation. Remember the dead and honor the Saints, of course; but also remind yourself that we are all called to be saints, part of a great Triumvirate of saints: The Church Triumphant (saints in Heaven), the Church Penitent (saints in special "training" in Purgatory), and us, the Church Militant. While we can rest assured that our compatriots in this Triumvirate either have obtained, or will obtain, their Heavenly reward, we've still got work to do. The point here: We don't know for certain that we'll get our Heavenly reward. If that sounds or feels a bit daunting, just remember that God loves you. He's pulling for you in every way. You simply have to love Him back. These encouraging words from St. Alphonsus Liguori should set things straight. As we work, and maybe later walk with our kids, through this Halloween, they'll help us be of good cheer on this holy (All Hallows) and fun (Halloween) day.
“You desire to know for certain that God loves you? But at the moment He does not will to impart to you this knowledge. He wills that you should just humble yourself, trust in His goodness, and resign yourself wholly to His good-pleasure. Besides, it is a maxim, received as incontestable by all the masters of the spiritual life, that when a person of timorous conscience is in doubt as to whether he has lost the grace of God, it is certain that he has not lost it. For no one can lose God without being fully aware of the fact. Moreover, according to St. Francis de Sales, the resolution you have, at least, in the depths of your heart, to love God and not to cause Him the slightest displeasure by deliberate purpose, is a manifest sign that you are still in His grace. Abandon yourself, therefore, into the arms of divine mercy, protest that you desire nothing but God alone and His good-pleasure, and banish every fear. Oh, how agreeable to the Lord are the acts of confidence and resignation we make in the midst of this terrifying darkness.” (St. Alphonsus de Ligouri)
Happy Halloween!
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