Taking a Moment to Plan Ahead In Our Spiritual Life at Work
Seem too early, even abrupt this talk of Lent? Well, maybe not. Ash Wednesday's less than a month away. And those of us who follow the Church's traditional Liturgical Calendar will quickly find Septuagesima Sunday arriving on February 1st - a mere two Sunday's away.
For the followers of the newfangled calendar, a reminder: Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinqhagesima Sundays precede Ash Wednesday - the first official day of Lent - in that order. The priest will already begin to wear purple. We will be prepared for the arrival of Lent over those preceding weeks. It was a good practice that lasted for centuries until the newfangled stuff began pushing out the traditional - at least for the majority of us Catholics.
So why are we bringing all this up on this winter's day at work in 2026? Well, it's simply good practice to plan ahead in our spiritual lives, just as it's good, no an essential practice to plan ahead in our business. This is certainly the case for those of us who run a small enterprise. But the practice is just as important even from employees.
In either case, just showing up each day for work won't do the trick. You need to have some sense of purpose for the day's labor. The task list leads somewhere, right? It's sole purpose is to achieve some objective or objectives that serve the enterprise for which we labor each day. We may not always think of this as we slog through the day, but it's good practice to do so, at least from time to time. If we don't, work becomes mere drudgery. And drudgery weighs heavily on a soul that desire to offer it up for the greater glory of God. Better to lighten things up so that our offering can fly straight to Our Lord! And working with the purpose of our work in mind can help us do that.
With mixed experience of this over various jobs in different industries, and over now many years, I can attest to the importance of this. Most recent experience - running my own little business - almost forced me to work with focused attention and intention, keeping the objective of each task clear. "Forced" because most of this time has been spent as a sole proprietor with no employees. All was and is on me. And there's lot of that "all"! So without a clear eye looking ahead at just why this or that must be done by this or that deadline, each day could easily become a kind of jumble. Not a good basis for offering up my best efforts to Our Lord for His Greater Glory.
Of course, in some businesses it's not always all that clear exactly what might be the goals and objectives for which we strive. If we're working check-out in supermarket, are we necessarily "tuned in" to whatever managements objectives might be on a strategic and tactical level? Or maybe the business for which we work really isn't run all that well. Goals and objectives aren't a part of the conversation. "Do what you're told" or "Get the job done" may be all we have to motivate us (and "motivate" is used loosely here).
In these circumstances, we can always fall back on our own personal goals and objectives which can be as simple as needing to earn a adequate income to provide a modest security and sufficiency for ourselves and our family. And in this, we want to do all we can to fulfill our daily obligations to our boss and the business. Do this for the Greater Glory of God, with a spirit of charity towards all with whom we work, and with whom we come in contact, and we can have a rich foundation for a productive and holy day's labor.
So whatever our circumstances, even if we can boil down our daily efforts boil down to putting in our time, doing our best while we work, and keeping ourselves fit and ready to begin all over again the next day, we can still share the ultimate objectives of any Catholic man at work: Doing all for the Greater Glory of God, the welfare of our family, the benefit of our clients and customers, and the common good.
If we have all this in place, again, no matter our particular circumstances, here is a simple outline of the annual "benchmarks" for the Liturgical Year that can keep us on point when it comes to uniting our work with that of our Holy Church, and therefore ultimately with the Will of God. (We give a special nod to the traditional Liturgical Calendar in our noting of Septuagesima Sunday.)
Septuagesima 2026-02-01
Ash Wednesday 2026-02-18
Easter 2026-04-05
Pentecost Sunday 2026-05-24
Sundays after Pentecost 26
Last Day of the Liturgical Year 2026-11-28
Note that we have already burrowed deeply into the Liturgical Year, with the First Sunday of Advent - the first day of the Liturgical Year - already more than a month and a half behind us. But this simple outline can show us how each and every year can be seen in a simple snapshot to help us be always connected in some way to our spiritual lives, even as we attend to our day's work.
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