Bringing Our Spiritual Life To Work During the Octave of Pentecost - Part 2
We've been talking about bringing our spiritual life to work during the Octave of Pentecost. Let's pick up where we left off last time: What if our love of God isn't strong enough to motivate us to express that love in our work today as we should. What if we need more motivation?
Well, think of the consequences of not loving Him. What happens then? Psalm 103 gives us some idea of what happens to His Creation when it turns away from Him. It's rather daunting:
But if thou turnest away thy face, they shall be troubled: thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust.
God turning His face from us? Think about that. Well, if you're not beginning and ending your day with the intention of knowing, loving, and serving God, what do you expect? God never forces Himself on us. He's there, waiting to pour out His grace and His love. But He won't do that if we're not open to His grace and His love, if we don't want His grace and His love.
He's always looking for us. But if we're not looking for Him, if we've turned away from Him, you can see how His face may very well be turned away from us.
Oh, and by the way, it's not just saying that you're open or you want His grace and His love. You've to to walk the talk. And that walking starts with obeying the Ten Commandments - all of them.
Let's see how we can gauge ourselves at work with those Commandments. And don't worry, since so many of us seem to be "snowflakes" these days, we'll tread lightly. We won't focus on the "Thou shalt nots." Instead, we'll simply flip them around to "Thou shalts" OK? It goes like this:
Tell the truth - all the time: never lying, of course, but also no exaggeration or twisting the facts to your advantage.
Treat your company's property - physical and intellectual - as if it were your own. You don't want someone walking into your workspace and rifling your stuff, right? If you're working hard on a difficult project, you don't want someone else dipping their digital hands or eyes into your work and taking credit for it, right? So you do the same.
What about those first four Commandments that have to do with God and your parents?
For God, let's simply, confidently conduct ourselves as Christian gentlemen - i.e., people who believe (as we say in the Creed) in God, in His Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. Re-read, repeat, re-read, repeat...You'll know exactly how to comport yourself on the job without having to be told how your belief in God impacts your work day. If not, it's time to go back to the drawing board. Start praying, start studying and meditating on the truths of your Holy Catholic Faith. Start reading good spiritual works.
Maybe you get to Confession. Get back to attending Mass regularly.
You get the picture.
We can even incorporate the Fourth Commandment into our work by showing proper deference to authority. Yeah, I know. The only word dirtier than authority these days is obedience. But when someone has legitimate authority over you - a boss, for example - and exercises that authority respectfully, then - guess what? - you owe them your obedience.
Then there's that good old Sixth Commandment. Again, we won't focus on what you shouldn't be doing. Instead we'll just what really should be obvious but - oh, so often - needs to be said. Treat every woman you encounter with respect - well, okay, maybe here the negative needs saying too - not as an object of lust. Keep your hands and your eyes to yourself. And when your mind wanders where it shouldn't, learn to distract or re-focus those thoughts by engaging with some pressing or otherwise important task. (And we've all got plenty of those on our plates, don't we?)
All of us Catholic men can pray for the graces we will need to faithfully and fully obey God's Commandments. In this Octave of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will hear us.
Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
And when this day is done, we can join our voices to Davids' in Psalm 103:
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Let my speech be acceptable to him: but I will take delight in the Lord. Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the unjust, so that they be no more: O my soul, bless thou the Lord.
Well, think of the consequences of not loving Him. What happens then? Psalm 103 gives us some idea of what happens to His Creation when it turns away from Him. It's rather daunting:
But if thou turnest away thy face, they shall be troubled: thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust.
God turning His face from us? Think about that. Well, if you're not beginning and ending your day with the intention of knowing, loving, and serving God, what do you expect? God never forces Himself on us. He's there, waiting to pour out His grace and His love. But He won't do that if we're not open to His grace and His love, if we don't want His grace and His love.
He's always looking for us. But if we're not looking for Him, if we've turned away from Him, you can see how His face may very well be turned away from us.
Oh, and by the way, it's not just saying that you're open or you want His grace and His love. You've to to walk the talk. And that walking starts with obeying the Ten Commandments - all of them.
Let's see how we can gauge ourselves at work with those Commandments. And don't worry, since so many of us seem to be "snowflakes" these days, we'll tread lightly. We won't focus on the "Thou shalt nots." Instead, we'll simply flip them around to "Thou shalts" OK? It goes like this:
Tell the truth - all the time: never lying, of course, but also no exaggeration or twisting the facts to your advantage.
Treat your company's property - physical and intellectual - as if it were your own. You don't want someone walking into your workspace and rifling your stuff, right? If you're working hard on a difficult project, you don't want someone else dipping their digital hands or eyes into your work and taking credit for it, right? So you do the same.
What about those first four Commandments that have to do with God and your parents?
For God, let's simply, confidently conduct ourselves as Christian gentlemen - i.e., people who believe (as we say in the Creed) in God, in His Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. Re-read, repeat, re-read, repeat...You'll know exactly how to comport yourself on the job without having to be told how your belief in God impacts your work day. If not, it's time to go back to the drawing board. Start praying, start studying and meditating on the truths of your Holy Catholic Faith. Start reading good spiritual works.
Maybe you get to Confession. Get back to attending Mass regularly.
You get the picture.
We can even incorporate the Fourth Commandment into our work by showing proper deference to authority. Yeah, I know. The only word dirtier than authority these days is obedience. But when someone has legitimate authority over you - a boss, for example - and exercises that authority respectfully, then - guess what? - you owe them your obedience.
Then there's that good old Sixth Commandment. Again, we won't focus on what you shouldn't be doing. Instead we'll just what really should be obvious but - oh, so often - needs to be said. Treat every woman you encounter with respect - well, okay, maybe here the negative needs saying too - not as an object of lust. Keep your hands and your eyes to yourself. And when your mind wanders where it shouldn't, learn to distract or re-focus those thoughts by engaging with some pressing or otherwise important task. (And we've all got plenty of those on our plates, don't we?)
All of us Catholic men can pray for the graces we will need to faithfully and fully obey God's Commandments. In this Octave of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will hear us.
Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
And when this day is done, we can join our voices to Davids' in Psalm 103:
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Let my speech be acceptable to him: but I will take delight in the Lord. Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the unjust, so that they be no more: O my soul, bless thou the Lord.
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