The Supernatural Organization of Work
Today we move on to "The Supernatural Organization of Work" in Working Your Way into Heaven by Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. We'll build on our previous discussion of how to go about uniting our work life with our prayer life. We turn first Cardinal Wyszynski's description of the natural tension that arises in our efforts to unite our prayer and work life:
"The union of work with prayer usually encounters great difficulties. The real difficulty lies in this, that, seen from the outside there is a certain divergence between prayer and work. Prayer withdraws us from the world, from all that is temporal around us, from external life, and causes us to become entirely immersed in God. Work, on the other hand, draws us toward creation. In work the world of created things demands our full attention; it insists on our being fully taken up with it. Men usually try to give their work in the temporal world value by devoting themselves completely to it."
So how do we go about easing this tension? We might begin by acknowledging that God and His creation cannot be separated. An example of a group that separated God and His creation in stark terms might be the Deists, who sprang up in the 18th century. They imagined God as a kind of great clock maker: He made the clock, wound it up, and basically walked away. While we typically don't find people calling themselves "Deists" these days, their philosophical progeny persist in perpetrating this error. Maybe even some of us Catholics can be counted in their number. When you think about it, if you claim to believe in God, but go about your life as if He weren't really there, you're a kind of Deist. We Catholics, on the other hand, know that creation - including us - would cease to exist were we not sustained in existence in the "Mind of God." Rather than creating the universe then walking away, God remains intimately involved with His creation. So the first step in easing what appears to be divergence between our prayer life and our work life would be to remind ourselves:
"Contact with creation in work is contact with God."
And so we understand that this world in which we work - His creation - was not designed to to separate us from Him. Quite the opposite:
"God so conceived the world that creation, like prayer, brings us back to Him."
We were all taught that God is "everywhere" (or should have been so taught). There are no little nooks or crannies where He can't be found. Naturally, that thought isn't one we embrace when we sin. We prefer to kind of skulk off to some dark corner of the room when we think or behave in ways we know not only break God's eternal law, but personally offend Him. It's so much easier to sin when we conveniently "forget" that He's watching us, isn't it? But, of course, that's just an illusion we sustain to ease our conscience. In reality, God is everywhere, including - when we're in the state of grace - within each and every one of us. Once we understand and accept this startling reality, we'll also understand why our work cannot be something separate and apart from God.
"The whole of creation is enclosed in God's thought, as is therefore that part, too, in which our daily work is accomplished...Work does not take us out of this union. For we shall not cease to be either the dwelling place of God or the temple of the Holy Spirit."
As for the specifics of how we consciously unite our work with our prayer, that all depends on our individual personalities.We're all different.
"...The ways in which we must do this will vary a lot, in accordance with our skill in handling ourselves, our thoughts, attention, and feelings in the course of our work. By the exercise of care, we can ensure that we will worship God not only constantly, but by ever separate act of our work...This will be a continual and real sacrifice (in the true sense of the word) of oneself and ones' work to God...the sacrifice to God of every moment of our toil..."
Here are some practical examples of how I attempt this (albeit not always with complete success):
We'll continue to explore the supernatural organization of our work next time...
"The union of work with prayer usually encounters great difficulties. The real difficulty lies in this, that, seen from the outside there is a certain divergence between prayer and work. Prayer withdraws us from the world, from all that is temporal around us, from external life, and causes us to become entirely immersed in God. Work, on the other hand, draws us toward creation. In work the world of created things demands our full attention; it insists on our being fully taken up with it. Men usually try to give their work in the temporal world value by devoting themselves completely to it."
So how do we go about easing this tension? We might begin by acknowledging that God and His creation cannot be separated. An example of a group that separated God and His creation in stark terms might be the Deists, who sprang up in the 18th century. They imagined God as a kind of great clock maker: He made the clock, wound it up, and basically walked away. While we typically don't find people calling themselves "Deists" these days, their philosophical progeny persist in perpetrating this error. Maybe even some of us Catholics can be counted in their number. When you think about it, if you claim to believe in God, but go about your life as if He weren't really there, you're a kind of Deist. We Catholics, on the other hand, know that creation - including us - would cease to exist were we not sustained in existence in the "Mind of God." Rather than creating the universe then walking away, God remains intimately involved with His creation. So the first step in easing what appears to be divergence between our prayer life and our work life would be to remind ourselves:
"Contact with creation in work is contact with God."
And so we understand that this world in which we work - His creation - was not designed to to separate us from Him. Quite the opposite:
"God so conceived the world that creation, like prayer, brings us back to Him."
We were all taught that God is "everywhere" (or should have been so taught). There are no little nooks or crannies where He can't be found. Naturally, that thought isn't one we embrace when we sin. We prefer to kind of skulk off to some dark corner of the room when we think or behave in ways we know not only break God's eternal law, but personally offend Him. It's so much easier to sin when we conveniently "forget" that He's watching us, isn't it? But, of course, that's just an illusion we sustain to ease our conscience. In reality, God is everywhere, including - when we're in the state of grace - within each and every one of us. Once we understand and accept this startling reality, we'll also understand why our work cannot be something separate and apart from God.
"The whole of creation is enclosed in God's thought, as is therefore that part, too, in which our daily work is accomplished...Work does not take us out of this union. For we shall not cease to be either the dwelling place of God or the temple of the Holy Spirit."
As for the specifics of how we consciously unite our work with our prayer, that all depends on our individual personalities.We're all different.
"...The ways in which we must do this will vary a lot, in accordance with our skill in handling ourselves, our thoughts, attention, and feelings in the course of our work. By the exercise of care, we can ensure that we will worship God not only constantly, but by ever separate act of our work...This will be a continual and real sacrifice (in the true sense of the word) of oneself and ones' work to God...the sacrifice to God of every moment of our toil..."
Here are some practical examples of how I attempt this (albeit not always with complete success):
- Begin the day with the Morning Offering. We immediately say: "O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings..."
- Before (or during) the day's work pray for the intercession of the patron saints I have designated for my work, that I work, among other things, for the greater glory of God.
- Right before I begin my day's work, pray "A Morning Resolve" which directs us to, among other things, "exercising economy in expenditure, generosity in giving, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust, and a childlike faith in God..." (all of which, if faithfully and persistently practiced, will make our work excel, and turn it into prayer).
- Set an iPhone calendar alarm reminder to signal the noon day time for the Angelus.
- Say grace before meals and wait two minutes to eat after that - a simple, though effective, little mortification.
- Throughout the day, silently utters aspirations like "All for Thee Jesus," "Jesus, I love You."
We'll continue to explore the supernatural organization of our work next time...
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