Resolutions of St. Gabriel Possenti to Help Us Sanctify Our Work Today

We continue with St. Gabriel's resolutions to help us sanctify our work.

For the next few, consider our relationships at work. We all have a boss or perhaps several bosses. (Yes, even those of us who run a small business have a boss of sorts: our customers and clients.) We owe a degree of deference to that individual or individuals. 

Then there are our fellow-workers, our colleagues. Different jobs call for different sorts of relationships but at the core of any relationship we must cultivate the respect and, yes, love that Our Lord prescribed while he walked this earth - our love of neighbor. And while this love may not come with warm fuzzy feelings, it does proscribe certain thoughts, words and actions - at the very least.

Love can be challenged (and sometimes this occurs daily) by certain individuals. For whatever the reason, we just don't get along with some folks - and they don't get along with us. We may even have colleagues who outright try to undermine us. If so, we can be thankful that Our Lord has trusted us enough to challenge our charity, to help it grow. (Having faced such characters from time to time, it could be rather easier to recognize this challenge than to meet it. But there it is.)

Our saint understood all this. While he was a religious living in a community, the same challenges presented themselves even there. We ought not to mistake life in a religious community as somehow easier than ours out here in the world. We must not think that personal disagreements, dislikes, grudges - and worse - somehow do not exist for religious. They, like us, are sinners. They, like us, were born with Original Sin. They, like us labor under the weight of a fallen human nature. In that light, consider the following resolutions. And as we consider them, it should be easy to apply all to our own circumstances in the work place.

I will never speak of the faults of others, even though they may be public, nor will I ever show want of esteem for others, whether in their presence or in their absence.

I will not judge ill of anyone.
I will show the good opinion I have of each one by covering up his faults.
I will consider everyone my superior, treating all with humility and reverence.
I will rejoice at the good done by others.

Can we see and relate to others in this manner, even in the midst of a busy work day, even as we strive to "get ahead" in our career. Can we put others first, even before our own interests? 

The fact is, saints always strive to do this. And the fact is, we want to be saints, right?

There's no point denying this. Even if you're an honest bloke who knows how sinful he can be. As a Catholic, we can't escape wanting to be a saint, right?

If not, then what? Are we wanting to go to Hell? Of course not. Are we planning a stay in Purgatory? Well, maybe for some. But we've posted on this before. It's really not appropriate, or even sane, to have such a plan. In many ways it allows us to ease up on our spiritual life, to avoid the tough battles we must fight each day against the world, the flesh, and the devil: Why bother? I'm going to spend eons in Purgatory anyway.

What sort of twisted reasoning is that?

And if we want to be saints - and we do - then we also want to be saints in the workplace. 

Sure, we may not walk around with our head in the clouds. We won't try to "show" everyone how saintly we are. We will simply strive to bring true, full-blown, no-holds-barred charity and humility into the workplace each day. And with that, our every word and action - even our thoughts - will flow in a more "saintly" fashion.

Maybe we think of it this way: A saint like Gabriel Possenti didn't just pop our of the womb as a saint. He worked at it. Heck, if that wasn't so, why would he need to write out these resolutions.

They're resolutions - i.e., he is resolving to do these things. If he just did them without struggle, without trying, there would be no need to resolve to do them right?

And so we resolve, each in his own way, each considering the specific circumstances of his life, each ready to bring this resolve into the workplace.

With 2025 now well advanced, we thank God for the example of the saints; and we thank St. Gabriel Possenti for taking the time to write down his resolutions, so many of which can help our struggle to join him as a saint.

We'll conclude next time with more resolutions to help us sanctify our work - and our lives.


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