This Is Incredibly Moving With Many Lessons For Us All As We Gear Up For Work Today

As we continue to march into 2026, let's build on the freshness of a new beginning. The description of the work of St. Peter Claver was a recent inspiration as well as some specific practical advice from Father Willie Doyle to top it off.

From practical advice, we switch to an incredibly moving passage from Father Willie's diary. It holds many lessons for us that we apply to our work this year. 

Of course, most of us will not have to work under the conditions Father finds himself in here. But let's remember that all of our work fits somehow into God's Plan for His Creation. With that, we have a responsibility to approach our work no less seriously than Father Willie did his. 

  

A sad morning as casualties were heavy and many men came in dreadfully wounded. One man was the bravest I ever met. He was in dreadful agony, for both legs had been blown off at the knee But never a complaint fell from his lips, even while they dressed his wounds, and he tried to make light of his injuries. “Thank God, Father”, he said, “I am able to stick it out to the end. Is it not all for little Belgium?” The Extreme Unction, as I have noticed time and again, eased his bodily pain. “I am much better now and easier, God bless you”, he said, as I left him to attend a dying man. He opened his eyes as I knelt beside him: “Ah! Fr. Doyle, Fr. Doyle”, he whispered faintly, and then motioned me to bend lower as if he had some message to give. As I did so, he put his two arms round my neck and kissed me. It was all the poor fellow could do to show his gratitude that he had not been left to die alone and that he would have the consolation of receiving the Last Sacraments before he went to God. Sitting a little way off I saw a hideous bleeding object, a man with his face smashed by a shell, with one if not both eyes torn out. He raised his head as I spoke. “Is that the priest? Thank God, I am all right now.” I took his blood-covered hands in mine as I searched his face for some whole spot on which to anoint him. I think I know better now why Pilate said “Behold the Man” when he showed our Lord to the people. 

 

Naturally, the impact we have on others may not be as immediate and profound. Nevertheless, God's grace is given to each of us to offer up our work for His greater glory and to perform it for the welfare of our family, the benefit of our clients and customers, as well as for the common good. There's a lot in that. And so we approach today's work day with this in mind.

If we simply do our best, attend to every task with fervor and exactness, comport ourselves consciously as Catholic gentlemen, we will have made this work day a good one. While any of us can do this, it can be difficult when the world intervenes with its immediate and urgent demands, some of which may appear unreasonable or impossible. Or how about when people who rub us the wrong way get under our skin. And that's just for starters.

But we might remind ourselves that these speed bumps on the road to sanctifying our work are likely permitted to occur by a loving Father Who uses them to toughen us up, to help us to learn to turn to Him in any difficulty, temptation, and suffering. And with that knowledge, we can manage diligently perform our duties ideally in a spirit of peace.

But if we find that our knowledge does not suffice in this or that moment when we are tempted to react to our circumstances either lacking charity or without the cheerful hope that a firm Faith should enable in us, we can recollect these words of Father Willie and simply compare whatever we might face to what he faced during his days in the trenches.

Hope this helps!