Another Special Prayer To Help Us Sanctify All Our Work Today
For today, another special prayer to help us sanctify our work today. This one's extra special. Extra special?
Well, first of all, its source: Cardinal Newman - not only a wise and holy man, but a saint as well. And he's talking about our vocation.
You don't hear much about vocations these days - at least the "Big Three." Growing up, we heard about these constantly. We were taught to pray for the light of knowing our vocation. Our choices: Religious, Married, Single. One of these was God's Will for us. We prayed to know what God wanted us to be.
It all started with our vocation. That came before any particular occupation or profession. Once we ascertained - best we could - which of the three it would be, only then would we concern ourselves with whether we aspired to this or that type of work or position.
Sadly, it would seem this has melted into the ball of modernist wax that subsumed so much of the traditional teaching, spiritual and practical, that shaped our forebears. But that's what modernism does. It takes what was - and here we mean the good that was - and both denigrates and eliminates it from our store of knowledge and, as a consequence, experience.
Cardinal Newman was very aware of our tradition and the legitimate ways that it had changed or could change. Modernism does not fit the bill.
Anyway, back to our special prayer.
The other reason this passage is extra special is personal. This was what we requested printed on the holy card at our eldest son's wake. It's jarring to even think of his sudden death. Only know that Cardinal Newman's words provided the first glimpse of comfort and light in our grappling with why God permitted this.
As for all us Catholic men at work, we might read this and gain some perspective as we embark on our day's labor. No matter the nature of our work - physical, digital, mental, intellectual, or a combination of all these and more, we should proceed knowing that we will first fulfill the obligations of our vocation - religious, married, single. And as part of our obligation to our vocation, our work takes its place as one of the two great wings - ora (prayer) et labora (work) that will allow us - with God's grace - to soar to Heaven when our time here has come to an end - as it did so achingly soon for our dearest son.
Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
“God has created me to do Him some definite service: He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good. I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His Commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am. I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away a friend; He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me, still He knows what He is about.”
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