Here's a Way to Rely on God's Grace While We Work
We know we should always rely on God's grace in everything we do, right? But, let's face it, sometimes that's easier said than done. When you're in the thick of it at work, do you always take a deep breath and ask for His grace, such that you work only and always according to His Will?
In truth, the harder the work, the more pressing the deadline, the fewer the times I look to Him. I'm always trying to rely on myself. After all, I'm the one ultimately responsible to see that the work gets done properly and on time. But after the heat of the moment passes, by His grace of course, I will often remember the folly of such an attitude.
Relying on myself springs from a lack of real, true, deep faith. And that's the sort of faith we need, indeed we must have, to work our way towards Heaven. We can't afford to turn our hearts and minds away from God even for an instant. Each time we do we cause a kind of separation, when we should be drawing ever closer to Him.
Okay, so this may be an "ideal" situation. Hey, we're only human, with a fallen human nature. And fallen human nature brings with it many flaws, specific to each of us as individuals. Indeed, part of our daily prayer should be not only to be sorry for our sins, but to discover, to know, to understand our imperfections so that we may live and work to overcome - again by His grace - those imperfections. That's how we draw closer to Him who is perfect in every way.
But that's why we need to always and everywhere seek His grace, what our Holy Faith calls the actual graces we need to think, say, and do only what is good, what is true, what is beautiful; to reject that which is evil, what is false, what is ugly. Only by His grace can we mere mortals, with our fallen human nature, so flawed in in so many ways, ever hope to attain the glory of Heaven.
And all this must be applied to our daily work. We must at least try, even if only at first in fits and starts, to unite ourselves to Our Blessed Lord, with the intercession and help of Our Lady, in every bit and particle of our daily labor. No exceptions. Just imagine being in the position to know that His hand is on your shoulder, holding you up to bear your heaviest burdens, lifting you up when you slip and fall: believing it and living each day covered, surrounded by that knowledge. Wouldn't your life be so much better than it is now?
In this light, I was taken by these words from Father John Zuhlsdorf the other day. I thought I'd share them with you. I hope they help you as you get to work today, and every day:
God gives all of us something to do in this life. If we attend to our work with devotion He will give us every actual grace we need to accomplish our tasks. He knew us and our vocations from before the creation of the cosmos, and thus will help us to complete our part of His plan, so long as we cooperate. Living and acting in the state of grace and according to our vocations we come to merit, through Jesus Christ’s Sacrifice, to enjoy the happiness of the heaven for which God made us.
In our prayer we recognize that all good initiatives come from God. When we embrace them and cooperate, it is He who ultimately brings them to completion. He goes before. He follows after. Our good works have merit for heaven only because God inspires them, informs them, and brings them to a good completion. He works through us, His knowing, willing, loving servants. The good deeds are truly ours, of course, and therefore the reward for them is ours. But God freely shares with us His merits so that our works are meritorious.
Rely on God's grace at work today!
In truth, the harder the work, the more pressing the deadline, the fewer the times I look to Him. I'm always trying to rely on myself. After all, I'm the one ultimately responsible to see that the work gets done properly and on time. But after the heat of the moment passes, by His grace of course, I will often remember the folly of such an attitude.
Relying on myself springs from a lack of real, true, deep faith. And that's the sort of faith we need, indeed we must have, to work our way towards Heaven. We can't afford to turn our hearts and minds away from God even for an instant. Each time we do we cause a kind of separation, when we should be drawing ever closer to Him.
Okay, so this may be an "ideal" situation. Hey, we're only human, with a fallen human nature. And fallen human nature brings with it many flaws, specific to each of us as individuals. Indeed, part of our daily prayer should be not only to be sorry for our sins, but to discover, to know, to understand our imperfections so that we may live and work to overcome - again by His grace - those imperfections. That's how we draw closer to Him who is perfect in every way.
But that's why we need to always and everywhere seek His grace, what our Holy Faith calls the actual graces we need to think, say, and do only what is good, what is true, what is beautiful; to reject that which is evil, what is false, what is ugly. Only by His grace can we mere mortals, with our fallen human nature, so flawed in in so many ways, ever hope to attain the glory of Heaven.
And all this must be applied to our daily work. We must at least try, even if only at first in fits and starts, to unite ourselves to Our Blessed Lord, with the intercession and help of Our Lady, in every bit and particle of our daily labor. No exceptions. Just imagine being in the position to know that His hand is on your shoulder, holding you up to bear your heaviest burdens, lifting you up when you slip and fall: believing it and living each day covered, surrounded by that knowledge. Wouldn't your life be so much better than it is now?
In this light, I was taken by these words from Father John Zuhlsdorf the other day. I thought I'd share them with you. I hope they help you as you get to work today, and every day:
God gives all of us something to do in this life. If we attend to our work with devotion He will give us every actual grace we need to accomplish our tasks. He knew us and our vocations from before the creation of the cosmos, and thus will help us to complete our part of His plan, so long as we cooperate. Living and acting in the state of grace and according to our vocations we come to merit, through Jesus Christ’s Sacrifice, to enjoy the happiness of the heaven for which God made us.
In our prayer we recognize that all good initiatives come from God. When we embrace them and cooperate, it is He who ultimately brings them to completion. He goes before. He follows after. Our good works have merit for heaven only because God inspires them, informs them, and brings them to a good completion. He works through us, His knowing, willing, loving servants. The good deeds are truly ours, of course, and therefore the reward for them is ours. But God freely shares with us His merits so that our works are meritorious.
Rely on God's grace at work today!
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