Advice We Can Apply To Any and All of Our Work - And Everything Else We Do - Today

Here's some advice we can apply to all our work today. In fact, it's good enough to apply to just about everything else we do today and every day.

I'll reserve any personal examples or comments except to say that this one hit me like a sledgehammer. So much so that it hurt. My only consolation was the assumption that there must be more guys out there who might also experience the sledgehammer effect. 

Not sure what you think, but experience at work, in marriage, and in life in general seems to indicate that guys will be members of this team more than gals. Having worked with and for a fair number of women, there's surely no claiming this as an exclusively male club. Far from it. But still, guys do seem made up in a way that can match this a bit more closely.

Maybe not, but...

Either way we all could learn a thing or two about both ourselves and others with whom we work from this brief description.

“…’Am I one big saint-maker, a giant hair-shirt constantly irritating others by my carelessness, insensitiveness, harshness, or my overbearing and domineering attitude? Do I go out of my way and sacrifice myself for others? Or, do I live for myself only? Do I always insist on my own way, my own view and opinion?…We must forget ourselves and what is convenient to us, and spend our energy bringing joy and peace into the lives of others, particularly those with whom we live.”

Okay. As this sinks in, the recommended solution can seem a bit off-handed. Heck, if it was so easy to:

• forget ourselves,
• and what is convenient to us,
• and spend our energy bringing joy and peace into the lives of others,
• particularly those with whom we live,

wouldn't we all want to do this, like right now? Then again, even if we're the ones guilty as charged, this assumes we can see past our noses and can honestly admit that we're in the "Giant Hair Shirt Club." But let's assume that. Let's assume we've got the humility to recognize our faults and the desire to change. Perhaps a big assumption, but let's do that anyway.

It's not going to be easy to take this simple advice, this direct solution to the problem, and put it into practice. Still, that's no excuse. We've really got to try.

That's especially true if we're serious about becoming a saint some time before Sister Death takes our hand and leads us to our Particular Judgment. And shouldn't any Catholic worth his (or her) salt want to become a saint - or at least acknowledge that such an aspiration marks us as a full-fledged lover of our Heavenly Father, His Son, and their Holy Spirit - Who is Love Itself?

Of course we should.

So the solution now becomes part of our sincere intention to become a saint. And, naturally, since becoming a saint won't be easy, so too this solution won't be easy. 

But see how it fits into our becoming saints?

Since the alternative can't be attractive - remaining a hair shirt and/or not bothering to try to become a saint - our choice is made, isn't it?

Self, the greatest enemy of spiritual progress, the biggest stumbling block in our drawing closer and closer to God, must be crushed, one way or the other. If we can't smash it to bits right away, we chip away at it day to day.

A good guess would be most of us need to pursue the steady day-to-day method. Think of Michelangelo creating one of his masterworks. Self is the block of marble. We keep at it until something beautiful emerges.

Michelangelo wrote that the final shape of his work was already in the block of marble, and he was just chipping away the excess until he got to the ultimate sculpture. Personally, I like this image. 

However you think of or approach forgetting self, just do it. Having tried this every which way, I know it's not easy, nor does it happen overnight.

I'm still chipping away.