Some Great Advice From Bishop Fulton J. Sheen to Start the New Year - Part 2
Moving into this second week of 2018, we Catholic men at work now recall our natural desire to produce the best possible product or service. We do that first for the greater glory of God; then for the benefit of our customers, as well as for the common good. We conceive in our minds that "best possible," which becomes an idea towards which we strive. The fact that we don't always succeed in achieving the ideal shouldn't, of course, stop us from pursuing it. Here Bishop Fulton J. Sheen addresses why we may feel frustrated not only when we don't achieve our ideal, but even if and when we do. (Emphasis added.)
“Despite your every straining to find your ideals satisfied here below, the infinite torments you. The splendor of an evening sun as it sets like a ‘host in the golden monstrance of the west’; the breath of a spring wind, the divine purity in the face of a Madonna, all fill you with a nostalgia, a yearning, for something more beautiful still. With your feet on earth, you dream of heaven; creature of time, you despise it; flower of a day, you seek to eternalize yourself. Why do you want Life, Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Justice, unless you were made for them? Whence come they? Where is the source of light in the city street at noon? Not under autos, buses, nor the feet of trampling throngs, because there light is mingled with darkness. If you are to find the source of light, you must go out to something that has no admixture of darkness or shadow, namely, to pure light, which is the sun. In like manner, if you are to find the source of Life, Truth and Love, you must go out to a Life that is not mingled with its shadow, death, to a Truth not mingled with its shadow, error, and to a Love not mingled with its shadow, hate. You go out to something that is Pure Life, Pure Truth, Pure Love, and that is the definition of God. And the reason you have been disappointed is because you have not yet found Him! … It is God for Whom we are looking. Your unhappiness is not due to your want of a fortune, or high position, or fame, or sufficient vitamins; it is due not to a want of something outside you, but to a want of something inside you. You cannot satisfy a soul with husks! If the sun could speak, it would say that it was happy when shining; if a pencil could speak, it would say it was happy when writing – for these were the purposes for which they were made. You were made for perfect happiness. That is your purpose. No wonder everything short of God disappoints you. Have you noticed that when you realize you were made for Perfect Happiness, how much less disappointing the pleasures of earth become? You cease expecting to get silk purses out of sow’s ears. Once you realize that God is your end, you are not disappointed for you put no more hope in things than they can bear. You cease looking for first-rate joys where only tenth-rate pleasures are to be found.”
That great, fundamentally important Catholic prayer, the Morning Offering, begins, "Oh Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings..." Our "works" are all our actions. And our work is a subset of of our works. When we greet each new day in this fashion, we set the tone for our daily labor right from the get-go. If we can keep God with us throughout the day, the work we perform with our hands goes from our heart to His Sacred Heart - that fiery repository of Love that pours out His graces upon us with infinite generosity. Our efforts throughout the long work day become, in this way, acts of love. That's why we want to produce the best possible product or service through our daily labor. Without minimizing their importance, any rewards that come our way really are incidental.
Considered from this supernatural perspective, when we aim high and seek to produce great work, it's not for fortune, position, or fame. If that's our sole intent, we may enjoy a brief moment or two of reward, even adulation; but disappointment inevitably lingers around the next bend. And each successive round of disappointment brews a new batch of unhappiness. Bishop Sheen's remarks attempt to shake us out of any tendency we might have to seek with what the world offers: "It is God for Whom we are looking."
Let's get our minds right with this deeper understanding of the purpose and intent of our labor as we find our way to work today. In this New Year of 2018, we pray that God's grace will bathe us in this supernatural light.
“Despite your every straining to find your ideals satisfied here below, the infinite torments you. The splendor of an evening sun as it sets like a ‘host in the golden monstrance of the west’; the breath of a spring wind, the divine purity in the face of a Madonna, all fill you with a nostalgia, a yearning, for something more beautiful still. With your feet on earth, you dream of heaven; creature of time, you despise it; flower of a day, you seek to eternalize yourself. Why do you want Life, Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Justice, unless you were made for them? Whence come they? Where is the source of light in the city street at noon? Not under autos, buses, nor the feet of trampling throngs, because there light is mingled with darkness. If you are to find the source of light, you must go out to something that has no admixture of darkness or shadow, namely, to pure light, which is the sun. In like manner, if you are to find the source of Life, Truth and Love, you must go out to a Life that is not mingled with its shadow, death, to a Truth not mingled with its shadow, error, and to a Love not mingled with its shadow, hate. You go out to something that is Pure Life, Pure Truth, Pure Love, and that is the definition of God. And the reason you have been disappointed is because you have not yet found Him! … It is God for Whom we are looking. Your unhappiness is not due to your want of a fortune, or high position, or fame, or sufficient vitamins; it is due not to a want of something outside you, but to a want of something inside you. You cannot satisfy a soul with husks! If the sun could speak, it would say that it was happy when shining; if a pencil could speak, it would say it was happy when writing – for these were the purposes for which they were made. You were made for perfect happiness. That is your purpose. No wonder everything short of God disappoints you. Have you noticed that when you realize you were made for Perfect Happiness, how much less disappointing the pleasures of earth become? You cease expecting to get silk purses out of sow’s ears. Once you realize that God is your end, you are not disappointed for you put no more hope in things than they can bear. You cease looking for first-rate joys where only tenth-rate pleasures are to be found.”
That great, fundamentally important Catholic prayer, the Morning Offering, begins, "Oh Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings..." Our "works" are all our actions. And our work is a subset of of our works. When we greet each new day in this fashion, we set the tone for our daily labor right from the get-go. If we can keep God with us throughout the day, the work we perform with our hands goes from our heart to His Sacred Heart - that fiery repository of Love that pours out His graces upon us with infinite generosity. Our efforts throughout the long work day become, in this way, acts of love. That's why we want to produce the best possible product or service through our daily labor. Without minimizing their importance, any rewards that come our way really are incidental.
Considered from this supernatural perspective, when we aim high and seek to produce great work, it's not for fortune, position, or fame. If that's our sole intent, we may enjoy a brief moment or two of reward, even adulation; but disappointment inevitably lingers around the next bend. And each successive round of disappointment brews a new batch of unhappiness. Bishop Sheen's remarks attempt to shake us out of any tendency we might have to seek with what the world offers: "It is God for Whom we are looking."
Let's get our minds right with this deeper understanding of the purpose and intent of our labor as we find our way to work today. In this New Year of 2018, we pray that God's grace will bathe us in this supernatural light.
Happy New Year!
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