What Really Preoccupies Us As We Attend to Our Daily Duties?

Let's consider the question of what preoccupies us as we attend to our daily duties.

Recall that last time we checked in with Father Leen for some instruction on the importance of Holy Hope and the role Our Blessed Lady r plays as Mother of Hope. Today Father will build on that original instruction.

Now, to be frank, Father Edward Leen's writing is not always a light read. If you read any of his works, you know he's a meaty writer. He's not pandering to the lowest common denominator. He's not afraid of aiming high. So if it takes a bit more time and attention to read and absorb his thoughts, so be it. It's worth the effort.

Yeah, I realize that we're going to need to muster our resources to attend to our daily duties at work today. And there may not be much excess energy or brain power to take in denser writing about our spiritual life. Nevertheless, remember that the connection between our work and our spiritual life is critical to our endeavor to become saints. You do recall this, right? And as such, sometimes we've simply got to break from our routine and inject some high octane matter into our spiritual fuel tank. 

Today could be one of those times.

Just think of how this need for extra oomph plays out in our work. Reflecting on our daily activities likely reveals an ebb and flow of some sort. The typical day may be anything but typical. Some days can be almost on auto-pilot. We check our task list, get down to performing what's required, no crises hit us, our boss is on vacation, our co-workers have their own plates to attend to. We're more or less left alone to just get the day's work done.

Even when running a small business, even one where we have no employees to pick up any slack, we can have days where all is calm, almost humdrum, sometimes even boring.

But inevitably this doesn't last. Even if it's not a crisis, there will be tasks that challenge us. These can come from any direction, including customer or client urgent needs, a new initiative to improve products or services, a dramatic turn in the economy, or government actions (anyone heard of tariffs?) that upset the apple cart in significant ways.

At times like this, we must bear down, fire up our brainwaves and put forth our best and then some.

So why not in our spiritual life too? Our spiritual life not just some throw away activity we attend to when convenient. It's an integral part of our daily life. We don't leave it at home when we head off to work. We want our work to be for the greater glory of God. Our spiritual life serves as the basis of this effort. God's Grace will flow to us as needed to help us remain recollected in His Presence. We need to cooperate with His Grace. We need to pause from time to time to recognize His Handiwork in our efforts, to carve out a few second her and there for some aspirations or aspirations that acknowledge Him, whether Father, Son, or Holy Ghost - or All Three.

It takes some effort, doesn't it? So in that spirit, let's put forth a bit of extraordinary effort to read and take in the extraordinary works of Father Leen today, and understand the central role of Mary and Hope in our daily struggle to be put forth our best effort in our work, and in that, to take at least one little step toward sainthood - our ultimate goal in this life.  

  “Mary is the Mother of Hope. Why? Mary always aspired towards God, always and in all her activities. Her hope was constant, sustained without a break. Mary was aspiring after and attaining to Him in all the minute preoccupations of a woman’s domestic life. For she did all things in view of her God – Jesus. She worked, she swept, she cooked, she tidied up for God. She ‘aspired’ after Him, in and through all these trivial details and occupations of an everyday existence. Are there many of us who aspire so after God? We can answer that question by putting to ourselves another. What are the things that preoccupy us? We cannot desire anything very strongly and at the same time be preoccupied with other desires. If, at any given moment, we examine our desires we may find a multitude, which are more or less strongly pulling us in various directions. Our desires are the tendencies of our life; their multiplicity is a sign that we are not moved solely by the hope of straining towards God. Mary thought nothing of importance in her life except the entering into fresh and fuller possession of God at every moment of her existence. We, too, should have that strong hope; at least we should desire it, aim at it.

“Why do we fail? Why are we so often disappointed? We lack hope. We think we cannot reach God. We think that, today, because prayer is difficult, God is out of our reach. Perhaps we are even content with living merely on our own plane, content to occupy ourselves with the ordinary affairs of life, not using them hopefully as a means to press towards God. There should be a constant effort to realize that God is ours; that God must be ours. God has put this virtue of Hope into us for this purpose. The motive of Hope is always God, God ready to succor us in this enterprise which is the pursuit of God. When we are acting in the virtue of Hope we have not to pray God to help us. God will, in virtue of our Hope, put Himself at our disposal; He will give us all that we require to attain Him. Therefore, if we are not persuaded that by His help, we can reach Him, have intimacy with God, possession of God, love of God, as Mary had, let us turn to Mary, Mother of Fair Love, of Fear, of Knowledge and of Holy Hope, and ask her to obtain for us the grace to live and act in the virtue of Hope, and thus tend constantly towards Him Who is its object.” (Father Edward Leen, C.S.Sp.)