A Simple But Important Explanation Of Why We Must Strive To Be Saints At Work Today

Even if we know that we're called to be saints, it can be a stretch for some of us to imagine this endeavor being pursued at work. After all, we're so engaged with our tasks. At the very least, it's what pays the bills. But it can also be a building block of some sort of "career" that we strive to establish. With all the practical or personal importance we attach to work, it can seem that work time is "time out" from striving to be a saint.

We've addressed this many times over the years. In a sense, it's why this blog exists. Given the fact that most of us spend the bulk of our time - at least Monday to Friday, and sometimes beyond - plying our trade (whatever it may be) it just doesn't make sense to set our spiritual life aside during work time. Right? If we do that, we're cutting out a huge chunk of our time and attention and ceding it to mammon rather than God. Put that way, it's not very appealing - right?

Striving to be a saint at work isn't a matter of walking about with a brown robe and sandals and praying the Diving Office at specific intervals during the day. It's not a matter of imagining a halo over our heads as we engage with our tasks and interact with our boss, our colleagues, our customers or clients. We're not drawing attention of ourselves in any way. 

So what are we doing?

It's really as simple as our attending to our various duties diligently; performing each task with fervor and exactness out of love of God. We offer all to him. In this we will be Abel, not Cain. Our offering will "rise up" and please Him. None of this will be evident to anyone in the work place - at least not as a being seen as a means to sanctify our work. 

When we interact with others, we must - must - put charity first, above our own self-interest. Sure we want to get ahead. But we can't do this at the expense of others in any way, shape or form. 

Admittedly this is a tough one for many of us. And that's especially true when we're jammed in with individuals who will step on every thing that lies in their way on the road to "success"; never mind the types who just annoy us, typically in some trivial way. All of this calls out for charity. And it's not so easy to respond to such a call.

Maybe this top-down reminder will help us on this particular day to remember the our primary goal in his life is to know, love, and serve God, and to strive to spend eternity in Heaven. Even if the reminder pinches us (hard one hopes) as we dive into our work, it's worth being reminded, don't you think?

With that, here's something that drills home the absolute necessity of striving to a saint, why it's not a luxury, or even something we can put off for even one day. Father Leen - one of our serious Catholic spiritual writers, lays it all out for us in a way that can give us a boost on what may very well otherwise be a typical work day in our lives.  

“Saint Paul, writing to the Christian converts, addresses them as persons called to be Saints. It is clear from this mode of address that, in the eyes of the Apostle, the vocation of every Christian, as such, is that he be a saint.…To evade it to the end is not merely to risk but actually to incur everlasting unhappiness. Startling as this thought is, there is not needed much reflection to see that its truth cannot be gainsaid. Nothing ‘unsaintly’ can find place in heaven. What is definitely and by irrevocable choice ‘unsaintly’ is forever excluded from the presence of God, and this is necessarily so by the very nature of things. It is not in consequence of a stern, arbitrary and, if He chose, revocable decree of banishment issued by God that the unholy soul is banned from heaven. The unholy soul simply could not exist in heaven. It would shrivel up in a veritable agony. It could no more exist there than could a dry twig in a blazing furnace. Light is not more incompatible with darkness than the sanctity of God with what is unholy. It is the infinite purity, the perfect sanctity of God that makes heaven impossible for the unsaintly. Since eternal happiness depends on sanctity, it is important to have a very clear notion of what it consists in and of the way by which it is attained.” (Father Edward Leen, C.S.Sp., 1885-1944)

 

Happy Easter!