The Supernatural Organization of Our Work - Part 2
We continue our discussion of the supernatural organization of our work, guided by Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, referencing his book, Working Your Way into Heaven. Last time we looked at why our work life and our prayer life can and should be united each day. While each of us must find our own way to do this, we nevertheless made some practical suggestions on how to unite our work life with our prayer life. We begin today's discussion by first recognizing that work can be hard.
"Our work destroys human strength and our very selves through weariness and the "sweat of our brow."
Anyone who applies himself to his work diligently each day knows that feeling of weariness that catches up with us, even on the best days. As for those days when our tasks are particularly challenging, well, would "exhaustion" better describe how you feel? It's a fairly common condition, isn't it? The expressions "hump day" (Wednesday, the half way point of the work week) and "TGIF" (Thank God it's Friday) partially spring from this shared experience. We can't wait for the weekend, and the relief it brings from whatever difficulties our work brings us during the week.
As Catholics, though, while we may look forward to the weekend, we also understand that such experiences can be perfect opportunities for us to "offer up" any discomfort, difficulty, even suffering, to God. Rather than run from these difficulties, we turn them into acts of love:
"...work involves the sacrifice to God of the fruit of our work, the consecration by love of the finished work."
For those of us who are familiar with the traditional Mass (aka Tridentine Rite, Extraordinary Form, etc.), Cardinal Wyszynski compares this sacrifice of the fruit of our work to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, commenting on these words spoken by the priest:
"'We offer Thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation,' the chalice of hardship, toil, and suffering.
"'Accept, O Holy Father, almighty and eternal God, this spotless Host.' The host is the finished work, born of submission and obedience to men and to God."
Of course there's no proportional comparison of our work to Our Lord's suffering and death on the Cross. But you might remember this in those difficult moments you encounter on the job. If you carry your rosary with you, you could even take it out and gaze at the crucifix for a brief moment or two. It will put things in perspective. You might even be filled with gratitude for the love and mercy that Our Lord's suffering and death represents for each of us. Heck, we can do this even when the work day isn't all that tough. What a beautiful interlude this could be during any day of work, don't you think?
We could incorporate this and many other thoughts and gestures into our work day. For example, in the past we've talked about those opportunities to mortify ourselves during the day, or simply taking a few seconds to silently utter an aspiration like "All for Thee, Jesus" in the midst of even our busiest day. Such thoughts and gestures take us out of ourselves and represent a surrender of our hearts and minds to God.
"Even the most absorbing kind of work can be linked with such a surrender of oneself to God."
Let's take this comment to heart, gentlemen. No matter how demanding or absorbing our work at any given time, there's always room for us to raise it from the natural to the supernatural plane. Next time we'll look at how we can actively organize our work to do just this.
"Our work destroys human strength and our very selves through weariness and the "sweat of our brow."
Anyone who applies himself to his work diligently each day knows that feeling of weariness that catches up with us, even on the best days. As for those days when our tasks are particularly challenging, well, would "exhaustion" better describe how you feel? It's a fairly common condition, isn't it? The expressions "hump day" (Wednesday, the half way point of the work week) and "TGIF" (Thank God it's Friday) partially spring from this shared experience. We can't wait for the weekend, and the relief it brings from whatever difficulties our work brings us during the week.
As Catholics, though, while we may look forward to the weekend, we also understand that such experiences can be perfect opportunities for us to "offer up" any discomfort, difficulty, even suffering, to God. Rather than run from these difficulties, we turn them into acts of love:
"...work involves the sacrifice to God of the fruit of our work, the consecration by love of the finished work."
For those of us who are familiar with the traditional Mass (aka Tridentine Rite, Extraordinary Form, etc.), Cardinal Wyszynski compares this sacrifice of the fruit of our work to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, commenting on these words spoken by the priest:
"'We offer Thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation,' the chalice of hardship, toil, and suffering.
"'Accept, O Holy Father, almighty and eternal God, this spotless Host.' The host is the finished work, born of submission and obedience to men and to God."
Of course there's no proportional comparison of our work to Our Lord's suffering and death on the Cross. But you might remember this in those difficult moments you encounter on the job. If you carry your rosary with you, you could even take it out and gaze at the crucifix for a brief moment or two. It will put things in perspective. You might even be filled with gratitude for the love and mercy that Our Lord's suffering and death represents for each of us. Heck, we can do this even when the work day isn't all that tough. What a beautiful interlude this could be during any day of work, don't you think?
We could incorporate this and many other thoughts and gestures into our work day. For example, in the past we've talked about those opportunities to mortify ourselves during the day, or simply taking a few seconds to silently utter an aspiration like "All for Thee, Jesus" in the midst of even our busiest day. Such thoughts and gestures take us out of ourselves and represent a surrender of our hearts and minds to God.
"Even the most absorbing kind of work can be linked with such a surrender of oneself to God."
Let's take this comment to heart, gentlemen. No matter how demanding or absorbing our work at any given time, there's always room for us to raise it from the natural to the supernatural plane. Next time we'll look at how we can actively organize our work to do just this.
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