Pressing On With the Virtue of Humility at Work
Our Stability Project continues with St. Benedict's "Degrees of Humility" as laid out in his Rule. Last time we discussed the fourth degree of humility. Today we'll combine some of the next few degrees. Again, our intention is to ground our work in the Rule of St. Benedict. Our hope is that by so grounding our daily labors in the expert guidance this masterwork provides we will foster stability in our workplace.
Some of these which seem to apply strictly to monks in a monastery will require some creativity to apply to our work. For example the fifth degree of humility:
"...that he humbly confess and conceal not from his abbot any evil thoughts that enter his heart, and any secret sins that he has committed."
You can easily see the application in a monastery. What about the typical workplace? No one's going to confess evil thoughts or secret sins to their boss, right? But it's a shame to waste any recommendations from St. Benedict if we help it. Perhaps we can consider this application for us non-monks:
The fact is, we may very well have evil thoughts or secret sins as we're going about our business. It might be a desire to avoid or delay finishing off a particularly difficult task or project - for whatever our reason. If promptness would be the appropriate and virtuous response, procrastination could very well be sinful in some circumstances. If our avoidance or lack of enthusiasm results in critical mistakes or a delay that negatively impacts our companies performance, that's, quite simply, evil.
Okay, maybe "evil" seems too harsh. But consider: It's obviously not good...which means it's bad. What's not good, what's bad, is evil. Whether that sounds somewhat harsh is besides the point.
If it still seems harsh, maybe we've become victims of a secular culture that provides a never-ending stream of excuses for what in the past would have been recognized as, if not evil, then at least inexcusable.
Look, we don't want to take the view that unless someone "catches us" slacking off, then it's OK. Or unless there's a measurable loss of revenue, just let it slide. Look at it this way: We work for the greater glory of God, right? If we don't put our best effort into providing top-flight work in a timely manner, that can't possibly qualify as "for the greater glory." Period.
Then there's the way we treat others. Charity above all, right? What happens when that's not the case? It's not good; it's bad. Or maybe we envy someone who appears to be getting more of the plaudits and promotions we're convinced we should get. Someone rubs us the wrong way and we just dislike them. A smile or good word is the last thing they'll get from us. Or we engage in gossip or, worst of all, detraction - which is, under any circumstances, an outright sin and plain old evil.
Now for the creative part: We start with being on our guard throughout the work day. We might even take a few moments here and there for a quick examination of conscience to check up on how we're doing - although the obviously bad stuff ought not require much of an examen. We'll know right away we "done wrong."
At that point, in lieu of confessing to an abbot, we face our faults and sins straight away and at the very least beg God's forgiveness and, ideally, say an Act of Contrition. We might even consider getting to confession if it's available. I worked for a stretch near a church that had confessions available every work say around lunchtime. I made it a habit of getting there on a regular basis. Not that I'm particularly holy. Quite the opposite - which was the reason for establishing the practice of getting to confession on a steady basis.
Well, that's my best effort at creatively applying this 5th degree of humility in a way that it makes sense for those of us not reporting to a religious superior. The next two degrees - six and seven, are related, so we'll cover them together next time.
We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee,
Comments