Fulton Sheen on Work

Today we begin another mini-series, this one again brought to us by Bishop Fulton Sheen. (You can never get enough of a good thing!)

We begin with this striking statement: "Very few people in this age do the kind of work they like to do." How true!

Compare this to all the choirs that sing their "Follow your dream!" anthems, sprinkled with "Make a difference," or "Be all you can be," and all those other variations.

Of course, you may adhere to the more upbeat side of the coin. And if your work situation reinforces your view, enjoy it. Hope that it endures. Why not?

Or you may find Bishop Sheen's remark hits the spot. The fact is, many - if not most - of us do what we do more from necessity than from our finding that "perfect" job or starting that "perfect" business.

Work, for the vast majority of mankind, is work. It's not a day at the beach. And that's not really a big deal.

With that in mind, we should all find Bishop Sheen's analysis and commentary enlightening: 

"Very few people in this age do the kind of work they like to do. Instead of choosing their jobs from choice, they are forced by economic necessity to work at tasks which fail to satisfy them. Many of them say, "I ought to be doing something bigger,' or "This job of mine is only important because I get paid." Such an attitude lies at the bottom of much unfinished and badly-executed work. The man who chooses his work because it fulfills a purpose he approves is the only one who grows in stature by working. He alone can properly say, at the end of it, "It is finished!"

This sense of vocation is sadly lacking nowadays. The blame should not be placed on the complexity of our economic system, but on the collapse of spiritual values. Any work, viewed in its proper perspective, can be used to ennoble us; but a necessary prelude to seeing this is to understand the philosophy of labor."

A lot going on in those few words. And for those of us who aren't thrilled about our jobs, it's important to understand that we're likely too focused on what's lacking. If we make up our minds to do our best, no matter the task at hand, we'll be on the right path. And every one of us can do this simply by offering up all we do for the greater glory of God. There can be no higher purpose for our work or, frankly, anything and everything that we do.

Note too this idea of a lack of a sense of vocation. Indeed, when was the last time you even heard the word "vocation" used. Once we all were raised to consider our vocation. The basics: single, married, religious. We started there. We were urged to pray fervently for guidance from the Holy Spirit in this matter. 

Those who chose religious did so with the understanding that they had a calling. Those who opted for the non-religious life also understood they had a calling. And with that calling came the desire to fulfill the duties of our chosen state of life best we could. 

We began our lives with a calling. So all we would do after that had an indelible stamp on it. Even if our work was menial or didn't pay us much, that didn't negate our calling. And if our lot in life was modest, or even one of financial struggle, our calling remained in place.

If this consideration of a vocation has evaporated, it has done so because of "the collapse of our spiritual values." This doesn't mean that our economic system is always fair. Indeed we're going through a period where it is, for many of us, grossly unfair. As the old saying goes, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

But we must not allow this to dominate our thinking as we begin our work each day. And we cannot participate in this collapse of spiritual values. There's not all that much we can do, as individuals, to right an economic system that does not promote fairness or justice. But there's all we can do to adhere to the spiritual values that will enrich our work, not matter what sort of work we do.

We will continue with more thoughts from Bishop Sheen about work. He will bring us from this initial understanding to a deeper understanding of what he calls "the philosophy of labor."