Bringing Advent to Work - Part 2
We're continuing with some ideas about bringing Advent to work. Today we look to one of our great saints to help us develop the virtue of humility. A coupe of years ago, we posted a series on humility during Advent. (HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE). We thought focusing on such a fundamentally important virtue starting the new Liturgical Year was important: good for the soul, to be sure, but also most helpful to us Catholic men at work. We noted how humility will enhance our work and our relationships at work:
The greatest example of humility is, of course, Our Lord. When the Divine Infant of Bethlehem condescended that night to be born in the poorest of circumstances, He immediately taught us to esteem poverty and humility. It was, in a sense, His first teaching. Yet how many of us have grasped this teaching? With the assistance of St. Vincent de Paul, this year's Advent posts will focus on bringing Our Lord's spirit of humility to work. We'll refer to letters our saint wrote which have been published as Some Counsels of St Vincent de Paul. The letters were written more than three hundred and fifty years ago and provide advice regarding the teaching and assistance of the poor. The advice is as fresh and useful today as it was then. (You can read about the remarkable life and work of St. Vincent in the Catholic Encyclopedia HERE.) St. Vincent begins with a penetrating discussion of humility. Let's get started right away with our great saint's counsel to help us bring Advent to work today.
"In the sixty-seven years which God has allowed me upon earth I have tried over and over again to find out the best means of living in union with God and in charity with my neighbor. I have never found anything that helped as much as humility - the lowering of oneself below everyone else with the sense that one is really worse than others, and the refusal to judge anyone. For it is pride and self-love that blinds us and makes us struggle for our own opinions against others."
These word can be pretty jarring, surrounded as we are with endless talk about "positive thinking" and "self-esteem." In the workplace, we're taught to focus on "positive reinforcement," which naturally results in a desire to be rewarded for every little accomplishment. Contrast this with "lowering oneself below everyone else with the sense that one is really worse than others." Who thinks that way these days? Indeed, such a manner of thinking would likely be characterized as negative, a/k/a "stinkin' thinkin," by that army of consultants hired by companies to boost sales and productivity. What could St. Vincent possibly mean here? Is this really what humility is all about? Is so, won't humility effectively weigh us down as we attempt to advance our careers?
For a hint at how St. Vincent might answer these questions, consider this: For it is pride and self-love that blinds us and makes us struggle for our own opinions against others. To the extent that we recognize and get to work on this pride and self-love, we can pursue our legitimate aspirations and ambitions in a true spirit of charity and humility - and do so as Catholic men at work, without all the secular trappings of "positive thinking" and "self-esteem."
Meanwhile, work beckons. If you read our last post, you'll have some tools to use to help you bring Advent to work today. Feel free to use them.
We end with this beautiful Advent aspiration:
- We become more attractive to both our colleagues and our employers, just as we become more attractive to Our Lord.
- We'll gain a clearer understanding of our true value - not some postured or exaggerated sense of self-worth.
- Knowing our true value entails an appreciation for the specific natural good qualities which God has given to each of us as individuals.
- This knowledge will cause us to know, indelibly, that all the good in us comes from God.
- And that knowledge will help us to more easily handle even the most difficult assignments and bear with the most trying circumstances we might encounter during the day.
Humility is a repressing or moderating virtue opposed to pride and vainglory or that spirit within us which urges us to great things above our strength and ability.
The greatest example of humility is, of course, Our Lord. When the Divine Infant of Bethlehem condescended that night to be born in the poorest of circumstances, He immediately taught us to esteem poverty and humility. It was, in a sense, His first teaching. Yet how many of us have grasped this teaching? With the assistance of St. Vincent de Paul, this year's Advent posts will focus on bringing Our Lord's spirit of humility to work. We'll refer to letters our saint wrote which have been published as Some Counsels of St Vincent de Paul. The letters were written more than three hundred and fifty years ago and provide advice regarding the teaching and assistance of the poor. The advice is as fresh and useful today as it was then. (You can read about the remarkable life and work of St. Vincent in the Catholic Encyclopedia HERE.) St. Vincent begins with a penetrating discussion of humility. Let's get started right away with our great saint's counsel to help us bring Advent to work today.
"In the sixty-seven years which God has allowed me upon earth I have tried over and over again to find out the best means of living in union with God and in charity with my neighbor. I have never found anything that helped as much as humility - the lowering of oneself below everyone else with the sense that one is really worse than others, and the refusal to judge anyone. For it is pride and self-love that blinds us and makes us struggle for our own opinions against others."
These word can be pretty jarring, surrounded as we are with endless talk about "positive thinking" and "self-esteem." In the workplace, we're taught to focus on "positive reinforcement," which naturally results in a desire to be rewarded for every little accomplishment. Contrast this with "lowering oneself below everyone else with the sense that one is really worse than others." Who thinks that way these days? Indeed, such a manner of thinking would likely be characterized as negative, a/k/a "stinkin' thinkin," by that army of consultants hired by companies to boost sales and productivity. What could St. Vincent possibly mean here? Is this really what humility is all about? Is so, won't humility effectively weigh us down as we attempt to advance our careers?
For a hint at how St. Vincent might answer these questions, consider this: For it is pride and self-love that blinds us and makes us struggle for our own opinions against others. To the extent that we recognize and get to work on this pride and self-love, we can pursue our legitimate aspirations and ambitions in a true spirit of charity and humility - and do so as Catholic men at work, without all the secular trappings of "positive thinking" and "self-esteem."
Meanwhile, work beckons. If you read our last post, you'll have some tools to use to help you bring Advent to work today. Feel free to use them.
We end with this beautiful Advent aspiration:
Diving Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts!
Comments