Fear in the Workplace, continued
Our Stability Project continues with St. Benedict's "Degrees of Humility" as laid out in his Rule. Last time we saw that the first degree of humility is fear of God. We attempted to explain what fear of God means. It's not something frightening. It's a good thing. We provided some concrete suggestions about keeping God's Presence in our workplace. We ended with this:
"Recognizing God's holy presence strengthens our fear of the Lord. But St. Benedict now lays out a series of specifics, starting with the our strict observance of His commandments:Let him ever remember all the commandments of God, an how hell will burn for their sins those that despise him; and let him constantly turn over in his heart the eternal life which is prepared for those that fear him."
Given our fallen human nature, few of us will hit a score of "100%" when it comes to faithfully following God's commandments. We're not perfect. If you're a member of the less-than-perfect club, a basic awareness that God is here, now,
watching all that we do can serve as a special motivator to raise your score. Here's how St. Benedict puts it:
"And guarding himself always from sins and vices, whether of thought, word, hand, foot, or self-will, and checking also the desires of the flesh, let him consider that God is always beholding him from heaven, that his actions are everywhere visible to the eye of the Godhead, and are constantly being reported to God by the angels."
Not that God,
being All-Knowing, needs His angels to present Him with reports. But, aside from
whether this accurately portrays one of the activities assigned to the
angels, it certainly provides us with a vivid picture that could serve
as an additional motivator. And that would seem to be St. Benedict's intention.
Note that self-will plays a key role here.
"We are indeed, forbidden to do our own will by Scripture, which saith to us: 'Turn away from thine own will.' (Proverbs 16:25)"
As you might imagine, fear of God and awareness of His Presence can create a rich harmony between ourselves and God. Self-will imposes a jarring dissonance. Harmony will increase and sustain stability in the workplace . Dissonance will undermine that stability.
So self-will must be tamed if not eliminated. One way to do this is to do our tasks with fervor and exactness. The more we focus our efforts this way, the less time we'll have to focus on ourselves. Make sense?
Indeed, the more we immerse ourselves in producing excellent work, not only will our self-will be reigned in, but the less opportunity we'll have to indulge any of our faults and vices.
"We must be on our guard, then against evil desires, for death lies close by the gate of delight... 'Go not after thy lusts.' (Ecclesiasticus 28:30)..."
We'll close our discussion with a re-cap of the distinction we made between "fear" as we normally understand the word, and fear of God. A definition of fear:
"an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat..."
This is not how we think of God. Our fear of God is based on our understanding that He is not only just, but that He loves us, and that we love Him. He doesn't want to hurt us. We don't want to offend or hurt Him.
When fear of God accompanies us in our work, we establish a harmonious connection with our Father, with our Savior, with their Holy Spirit. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will permeate our efforts, indeed all of our thoughts, words, and deeds. While few of us can expect to perfectly preserve a harmonious connection 24/7, it would behoove us all to do our best to cultivate it 24/7.
We now have our first degree of humility in place. It will serve to increase stability in our workplace.
One additional thought: When we began our "Stability Project," war was not an immediate threat to the daily calm and peace that should serve as a stable base for our daily efforts. Now - at least for many of us - it is. So we'll continue our Project with renewed vigor.
We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee
Comments