Making Each Moment Count at Work
These past weeks, we've been focused on the joy of the Easter Season. Combine this joy with making each moment count throughout the day. Now there's a recipe for a good day at work.
In my own case, it's been a bit of a struggle to combine joy with work, given our son's death at the beginning of this year. But even with that heavy mantle of sadness weighing on my shoulders day after day, Easter still manages to sprinkle its joy from time to time. And that joy, by the grace of God, extends to the work day.
To be clear, it's God's mercy, His Goodness, His Love that allows those few moments of joy to sort of break up the sadness. It's not so much the nature of what I do that lets in the joy. Not that my work isn't somewhat joyful at times - with an emphasis on "at times." But isn't that the case with most of us? Okay, maybe you're one of those fortunate sons who've managed to land a "dream job," or who have created a business that's so extraordinary, you can't wait to get into the office every morning. If so, congrats. But I suspect that's not the case for many if not most of us.
Mind you, I'm not complaining about my work. Not at all. It's a blessing to do what I do. In fact, after we buried our son, I almost immediately turned to my daily work. The responsibility to provide a valuable service to clients who need that service made it somewhat easy to get back in the saddle. And, as it turns out, returning to full-time work provided a base of stability that helped me deal with the roller coaster emotions that inevitably buffet those of us who have suffered a great loss.
If - or maybe I should say when - you ever face a great loss, you might consider getting back to your daily work as quickly as possible. You'll find it will provide a natural ballast to help steady you, even in the midst of your grief. It will help you to do what we should all be doing each and every day at work.
Our work takes up most of our waking hours. So attending to it diligently becomes a practical means to fulfill our desire to work for the greater glory of God. Also, facing those difficulties that come our way throughout the work day will bolster our efforts here. Whether such difficulties are caused by events over which we have no control (like the death of our son) or those we may even cause ourselves doesn't really matter.
Here's something that combines all this and inspires us to make each moment count at work. I was particularly taken by the example of the good thief. It should help us to attend to the details of our labor each moment of our day:
“Let us, out of love for the will of God, embrace and conform ourselves to our own life as it is at this very moment, with all its labors, pains, and sacrifices, even though we ourselves may be the cause of the bitterness of our present situation, offering it all to God in expiation for our faults and for His greater glory and our sanctification. Let us, in this, imitate the good thief who, when he was about to die, did not look at his past life save to turn away from it with deepest contrition; nor did he look to the future, for he had none; but embraced wholeheartedly the present moment, painful as it was, in satisfaction for his sins. Then, responding to the grace of the moment, he humbly asked Jesus to remember him when He entered His kingdom. This was enough to justify him and open the gates of heaven to him the very day he expired. Oh, if we would thus sanctify our present moment! What great graces, what ineffable treasures, what sublime sanctity we would attain!
“This admirable example of the good thief should serve as an encouragement to us never to hesitate to accept and offer to God all the pains of our present life, even though we may realize that we ourselves are the cause of them. For if we detest our faults and firmly resolve never to fall into them again, their bitter consequences will be for us a powerful means of sanctification, and the infinite glory of the merciful love of Jesus will shine forth in our lives. Indeed, the foremost reason why God permits the faults of men is that His glory may be manifested in their cure; and if God is glorified in us, what does anything else matter? In conclusion, let us sanctify the present moment by embracing it wholeheartedly, for it is the manifestation of God’s will in our regard and in it is the grace whose fruits we must return to God. This is our gift of every day and of every moment.” (Fr. Victorino Osende, O.P.)
In my own case, it's been a bit of a struggle to combine joy with work, given our son's death at the beginning of this year. But even with that heavy mantle of sadness weighing on my shoulders day after day, Easter still manages to sprinkle its joy from time to time. And that joy, by the grace of God, extends to the work day.
To be clear, it's God's mercy, His Goodness, His Love that allows those few moments of joy to sort of break up the sadness. It's not so much the nature of what I do that lets in the joy. Not that my work isn't somewhat joyful at times - with an emphasis on "at times." But isn't that the case with most of us? Okay, maybe you're one of those fortunate sons who've managed to land a "dream job," or who have created a business that's so extraordinary, you can't wait to get into the office every morning. If so, congrats. But I suspect that's not the case for many if not most of us.
Mind you, I'm not complaining about my work. Not at all. It's a blessing to do what I do. In fact, after we buried our son, I almost immediately turned to my daily work. The responsibility to provide a valuable service to clients who need that service made it somewhat easy to get back in the saddle. And, as it turns out, returning to full-time work provided a base of stability that helped me deal with the roller coaster emotions that inevitably buffet those of us who have suffered a great loss.
If - or maybe I should say when - you ever face a great loss, you might consider getting back to your daily work as quickly as possible. You'll find it will provide a natural ballast to help steady you, even in the midst of your grief. It will help you to do what we should all be doing each and every day at work.
Our work takes up most of our waking hours. So attending to it diligently becomes a practical means to fulfill our desire to work for the greater glory of God. Also, facing those difficulties that come our way throughout the work day will bolster our efforts here. Whether such difficulties are caused by events over which we have no control (like the death of our son) or those we may even cause ourselves doesn't really matter.
Here's something that combines all this and inspires us to make each moment count at work. I was particularly taken by the example of the good thief. It should help us to attend to the details of our labor each moment of our day:
“Let us, out of love for the will of God, embrace and conform ourselves to our own life as it is at this very moment, with all its labors, pains, and sacrifices, even though we ourselves may be the cause of the bitterness of our present situation, offering it all to God in expiation for our faults and for His greater glory and our sanctification. Let us, in this, imitate the good thief who, when he was about to die, did not look at his past life save to turn away from it with deepest contrition; nor did he look to the future, for he had none; but embraced wholeheartedly the present moment, painful as it was, in satisfaction for his sins. Then, responding to the grace of the moment, he humbly asked Jesus to remember him when He entered His kingdom. This was enough to justify him and open the gates of heaven to him the very day he expired. Oh, if we would thus sanctify our present moment! What great graces, what ineffable treasures, what sublime sanctity we would attain!
“This admirable example of the good thief should serve as an encouragement to us never to hesitate to accept and offer to God all the pains of our present life, even though we may realize that we ourselves are the cause of them. For if we detest our faults and firmly resolve never to fall into them again, their bitter consequences will be for us a powerful means of sanctification, and the infinite glory of the merciful love of Jesus will shine forth in our lives. Indeed, the foremost reason why God permits the faults of men is that His glory may be manifested in their cure; and if God is glorified in us, what does anything else matter? In conclusion, let us sanctify the present moment by embracing it wholeheartedly, for it is the manifestation of God’s will in our regard and in it is the grace whose fruits we must return to God. This is our gift of every day and of every moment.” (Fr. Victorino Osende, O.P.)
Happy Easter!
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