The Supernatural Organization of Our Work - Part 4
We continue our discussion of the supernatural organization of our work.Today we'll look to heighten our awareness of God's Presence and our own desire and efforts to both reveal and offer up our daily work to Him. We'll do that by building on our understanding of the importance of identifying the various components of our daily work in order to both 1) place them under the watchful eyes of God; 2) seek His gracious assistance to elevate our daily toil from the natural to the supernatural. Of course, this takes effort. It requires both our attention and our intention.
On a natural level, paying full attention to our work really is necessary if we're going to do a good job. Of course, those of us who perform physically challenging, even dangerous work must give our full attention to our jobs. A quick example of the physical challenging: plumbing; of the dangerous: police work. To do these jobs safely and well, you can't just show up. Your mind and body must be in sync, along with your awareness of your surroundings. But the same applies to those of us with jobs that aren't physically challenging or dangerous, e.g., office work. Sure, some of us might be able to get away with just showing up and more or less sleep-walking through the day. (I've worked with such people!) But, really, you can't do your best, and certainly can't produce excellent work with that approach.
Besides our full attention, we need to clarify and acknowledge our intention to do our best work for the greater glory of God. With our attention and intention set, we're basically set up now to elevate our daily toil to a supernatural level. We do that by linking our work to God, in those ways we've already discussed, which might be summed up thusly:
"Continual watchfulness over the course of our work is enriched by this link with God, by our presence of mind, the control of our feelings, and the ennoblement of our motives."
And with the benefit of the virtue of humility we perform our work with the knowledge that, left to our own devices, we really can't rise to the level of excellence that we can with God's help. Cardinal Wysynski puts it in even more stark terms:
"The final act of work is the acknowledgment of our impotence and the worship of God's goodness."
Such an acknowledgement will not only please God, but will also help us be prepared for those curve balls thrown our way during the work day:
"We should arm ourselves against the unexpected that may come to us during work with the spirit of obedience so much praised by the centurion: 'I too know what it is to obey authority; I have soldiers under me and I say 'Go,' to one man, and he goes, or, 'Come,' to another and he comes, or, 'Do this, to my servant, and he does it.' Then every unforeseen change, every disruption of our work, and every order that upsets our prearranged plans or the day's schedule will be received in a spirit of supernatural submission. And when difficulties arise in the course of the work itself, we accept them with the conviction that the good God really wishes to deepen our personal relationship to work, for man is proved in adversity (Prov. 17:17; 2 Cor. 6:4)."
Rather than complain or grind our teeth when things don't go our way, we're able to turn adversity into an act of submission to God's Holy Will. Not only will adversity help us to recognize and consent to God's Will, but we'll be able to use any and all difficulties as a means to deepen our relationship to our work. Rather than just being something we do to make a buck, we'll learn how work ultimately serves us as a means to more fully live and express ourselves as human beings. It's an integral part of our existence here on God's green earth. Sure, our journey on this green earth isn't a walk in the park as it was once for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But, as we've noted many times in the past, the punishment meted out for their Original Sin was not the fact that we have to work, but rather that work became onerous. By supernaturally organizing our daily labor, work retains at least a vestige of what it once was in those happier days in the Garden. Even better, it becomes a sure means to look up above and beyond the daily grind of our life on earth and see, perhaps even touch, at least the outer suburbs of St. Augustine's City of God, which Wikipedia appropriately describes as "marked by people who forego earthly pleasure to dedicate themselves to the eternal truths of God, now revealed fully in the Christian faith. The Earthly City, on the other hand, consists of people who have immersed themselves in the cares and pleasures of the present, passing world."
Cardinal Wyszynski explicitly connects this onerous character of our work with Original Sin as he characterizes it as an especially beneficial form of prayer:
"...the prayer of hardship, suffering, and sweat. In this toil is the sure remedy for the fruits of Original Sin, and the salvation of one's soul through the burden of work..."
To wrap up our four part discussion, we turn to Wyszynski's recollection of the spirit of asceticism that should permeate our daily labor, along with the importance of each of us determining our own best way to approach the supernatural organization of our work:
"Every one of God's workers can develop his own philosophy of asceticism in work, and the prayer in work that will best answer the needs of his soul."
On a natural level, paying full attention to our work really is necessary if we're going to do a good job. Of course, those of us who perform physically challenging, even dangerous work must give our full attention to our jobs. A quick example of the physical challenging: plumbing; of the dangerous: police work. To do these jobs safely and well, you can't just show up. Your mind and body must be in sync, along with your awareness of your surroundings. But the same applies to those of us with jobs that aren't physically challenging or dangerous, e.g., office work. Sure, some of us might be able to get away with just showing up and more or less sleep-walking through the day. (I've worked with such people!) But, really, you can't do your best, and certainly can't produce excellent work with that approach.
Besides our full attention, we need to clarify and acknowledge our intention to do our best work for the greater glory of God. With our attention and intention set, we're basically set up now to elevate our daily toil to a supernatural level. We do that by linking our work to God, in those ways we've already discussed, which might be summed up thusly:
"Continual watchfulness over the course of our work is enriched by this link with God, by our presence of mind, the control of our feelings, and the ennoblement of our motives."
And with the benefit of the virtue of humility we perform our work with the knowledge that, left to our own devices, we really can't rise to the level of excellence that we can with God's help. Cardinal Wysynski puts it in even more stark terms:
"The final act of work is the acknowledgment of our impotence and the worship of God's goodness."
Such an acknowledgement will not only please God, but will also help us be prepared for those curve balls thrown our way during the work day:
"We should arm ourselves against the unexpected that may come to us during work with the spirit of obedience so much praised by the centurion: 'I too know what it is to obey authority; I have soldiers under me and I say 'Go,' to one man, and he goes, or, 'Come,' to another and he comes, or, 'Do this, to my servant, and he does it.' Then every unforeseen change, every disruption of our work, and every order that upsets our prearranged plans or the day's schedule will be received in a spirit of supernatural submission. And when difficulties arise in the course of the work itself, we accept them with the conviction that the good God really wishes to deepen our personal relationship to work, for man is proved in adversity (Prov. 17:17; 2 Cor. 6:4)."
Rather than complain or grind our teeth when things don't go our way, we're able to turn adversity into an act of submission to God's Holy Will. Not only will adversity help us to recognize and consent to God's Will, but we'll be able to use any and all difficulties as a means to deepen our relationship to our work. Rather than just being something we do to make a buck, we'll learn how work ultimately serves us as a means to more fully live and express ourselves as human beings. It's an integral part of our existence here on God's green earth. Sure, our journey on this green earth isn't a walk in the park as it was once for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But, as we've noted many times in the past, the punishment meted out for their Original Sin was not the fact that we have to work, but rather that work became onerous. By supernaturally organizing our daily labor, work retains at least a vestige of what it once was in those happier days in the Garden. Even better, it becomes a sure means to look up above and beyond the daily grind of our life on earth and see, perhaps even touch, at least the outer suburbs of St. Augustine's City of God, which Wikipedia appropriately describes as "marked by people who forego earthly pleasure to dedicate themselves to the eternal truths of God, now revealed fully in the Christian faith. The Earthly City, on the other hand, consists of people who have immersed themselves in the cares and pleasures of the present, passing world."
Cardinal Wyszynski explicitly connects this onerous character of our work with Original Sin as he characterizes it as an especially beneficial form of prayer:
"...the prayer of hardship, suffering, and sweat. In this toil is the sure remedy for the fruits of Original Sin, and the salvation of one's soul through the burden of work..."
To wrap up our four part discussion, we turn to Wyszynski's recollection of the spirit of asceticism that should permeate our daily labor, along with the importance of each of us determining our own best way to approach the supernatural organization of our work:
"Every one of God's workers can develop his own philosophy of asceticism in work, and the prayer in work that will best answer the needs of his soul."
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