Keeping Order In Our Work Day With Chaos At The Gates

We need to keep order in our work day. Surely we know this as a practical requirement. But it's critical to our being able to sanctify our work.

More so these days - days of chaos.

Chaos? Well, it may not be on the tip of everyone's tongue, nor may it be front and center in our experience every day. But it sure does seem to be a force of nature that's been building for some months, no, years now.

Even a cursory glance back at recent history should bear this out. Think of our government, our culture, and - sadly - our Holy Catholic Church. Chaos may not be the first descriptive that pops into mind. But isn't it operating with a vengeance in so many areas?

If we're not always conscious of all this chaos - though some of us are - it nevertheless can work its way into our thoughts and feelings in some way, shape, or form. And such activity can easily oppose the order we need to assemble our work day and perform our duties responsibly and diligently.

To take the three mentioned in reverse order, let's start with our Holy Catholic Church. Anyone who has been even vaguely familiar with the last century's massive storm that blew away - or tried to blow away - our holy traditions will have experienced the chaotic manner in which the institutional Church has functioned ever since Vatican II. Without getting bogged down in a detailed history, just think of the mere fact that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - in the form it was celebrated for centuries was not simply "reformed" but that traditional form was jettisoned in favor of a liturgy created by man, promoted and propagated by a Pope (Paul VI). And for what reason?

Sure, reasons are given. But seriously, what good reason was there for this? And yes, it's been something that now seems the normal part and parcel of our liturgy, with the participation of the majority of Catholics (at least those who bother to go to Mass at all) for over 50 years now. But all that fact does is mask the dislocation of the venerable Mass of the ages and the resulting chaos that ensued. While many of us don't daily see or feel that chaos, we live with its fruits.

And let's not forget that unfortunate document from our recently deceased Pope that attempts to further minimize the celebration of our Holy Mass of the Ages. 

All of this can, on certain days, depending on the latest shenanigans emanating from Rome and so many of our Bishops - cause us to enter our work day with the weight of distraction as our hearts and minds wonder how it all came to this. That is, if we take our Catholic Religion seriously, if we allow it to inform our every thought, word, and deed.

The point here is not to dwell on distractions. Naturally, when they come, our task is to ask God for the grace to get back to the business at hand. We're simply noting that these are serious matters that - if we are serious Catholics - will sometimes cause us to be distracted from our work.

With God's grace, as we turn our attention to the task at hand, we can offer up the distraction and any distress it may cause. We may even recall that we are sinners and as such, such distraction and resulting distress may be considered a kind of penance we are called to endure. And in our enduring this, we might even offer up the difficulty, or in extreme cases the suffering, for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

If this seems a bit overwrought, really it's not. When you think of the parade of distractions that can march through our brains, trumpets blasting, drums thumping, why should the problems of our Holy Church be any less distracting. Indeed, they should be even more distracting, no? 

Oh, and addressing these with a penitential spirit cannot help but sweeten any merit that may come our way. At least this seems logical to this non-theologian. And, of course, any merit we manage to gain in this life will serve to enhance our eternal life when, with God's Grace, our work is finally done, once for all, and we arrive at the Gates of Heaven.

Just remember that unless we in some way address all this and restore order into our work day, the result is likely to be...chaos. 

So now we turn to two more major sources of chaos: our society and our government. More next time...