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Blessed Salvador was known for his professionalism and expertise. But his customers and employees also knew that he was a devout Catholic man, a good husband and a good dad to his twelve children. They knew he went to Mass every day, that he often paid visits to the Blessed Sacrament, that he prayed with his family and went to confession regularly.
They knew that Blessed Salvador wasn’t a good mechanic and a good businessman who happened to be a good Catholic. They knew he was a good mechanic and a good businessman because he was a good Catholic.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE WORLD OF WORK
It is no exaggeration to say that the Catholic Church is the first institution in human history to respect the dignity of work. It’s true also that there is no other sacred book that has more to say about work than the Bible.
The Gospels say that Jesus worked for most of his adult life –– until he was about 30 –– as a carpenter, just like his earthly “father,” Joseph. Scholars tell us that the Greek word we translate as “carpenter” (tekton), sometimes meant the equivalent of what we today call a building contractor. So it may have been that Jesus worked in a family-owned construction business.
What we know for certain is that Jesus was so identified with his profession that when he began to preach, his neighbors were amazed. They couldn’t believe this man they knew only as a carpenter could be speaking with such authority. (see Mark 6:2-3; Matthew 13:54-55)
And in his teaching, Jesus often used examples from the world of work, industry and finance, especially in his parables.
Jesus’ first followers were small business owners. Peter and his brother Andrew were commercial fishermen, successful enough, according to the Gospels, to own several boats and to employ several men. (Luke 5:1-7) St. Paul, as we know, earned his living as a tent-maker. (Acts 18:3) And among the early converts we read about in the Acts of the Apostles, was Lydia, a prosperous and prominent businesswomen, a silk merchant. (Acts 16:14)
It’s no surprise, then, that ordinary people, like Blessed Salvador, are recognized as Catholic saints and blesseds. This is what Jesus came for, this is why he worked with human hands and loved with a human heart. Jesus knew that the vast majority of those who believed in him would be ordinary people who worked for a living. He came to give all of us the grace we need to become saints –– not in spite of, or apart from our work, but in our work and through our work.
THE CRISIS IN THE MEANING OF WORK
I believe that as a society, we face a crisis in the meaning of work. We do not understand what work is, what work is for and how our individual work contributes to the common good, to our work together as citizens.
We suffer right now from an entirely secularized, materialistic and “functionalistic” idea of work. Work –– whether it be white-collar or blue-collar, industrial or service, manual or intellectual –– is seen as nothing more than a means to an end: a means to make money, a means to get certain tasks done. Conceived this way, work has no intrinsic value, and no necessary relationship to who we are as individuals. Nor does work, when conceived this way, have any bearing on our relationships with God and with our neighbors.
Together we need to rediscover the supernatural dimension of work, that dimension that unites our work to the plans and works of our creator. We need to begin to see our own work, and the work of others, through the eyes of God.
In this, the Catholic Church has much to offer. What we have in the Scriptures, in the teachings of the Church, and in the witness of the saints, are the outlines of a new way of living and working –– the outlines of a spirituality of work.
THE WORK OF GOD IN THE BIBLE
The spirituality of work is rooted in the wisdom revealed in sacred Scripture.
How often the Bible describes God as working! On the first page we read, “And on the seventh day . . . God rested from all his work which he had done.” (Gen. 2:2) Throughout the Bible, God is praised for his mighty works in the life of his people. Jesus himself said: “My Father is working still, and I am working.” (John 5:17)
The Bible teaches that every one of us has been made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27), and has a part to play in God’s plan for the world. (Eph. 1:4–6) Each of us, St. Paul said, is “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has prepared in advance.” (Eph. 2:10)
The Bible teaches that, through the work we do, we are to continue God’s own work in the world –– to build up his family on earth, and to reflect his love and glory in our lives. We are to work to put food on our tables to provide for our families. Also, we are to work so that we will have something to give to our brothers and sisters in need.
But our work is intended to be much more than simply a means to these worthy ends. Our work is intended to be a kind of worship, an offering of love to God, a way we give him thanks and praise. “Whatever you do,” St. Paul used to say, “do all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31)
The gospel of work that we find in Scripture is also expressed in the church’s liturgy, in the Eucharist.
In the prayers the priest prays, we acknowledge that bread and wine –– like everything else we make or do –– is both the work of human hands and the gift of God’s creation. So, we offer these gifts to God in thanksgiving and for the praise and glory of his name.
WORK AND YOUR MISSION IN LIFE
All the work we do should be like this –– a working with the gifts of God’s creation, an offering of prayerful service to God and our brothers and sisters. But how are we to do this, practically?
We begin by becoming aware that we are always in the presence of God. No matter where we are or what we’re doing, God is not far from us. In Jesus, God has already shared our human life, the joys and struggles of family and work. And in his love, he remains near, closer to us than the very air we breathe.
We also have to understand our earthly work –– your day jobs, if you will –– as a divine commission. Each of us has a calling to be co-creators with God. Through your work, each of you is entrusted with the awesome privilege of sharing and advancing God’s work of creation and Christ’s work of salvation.
God created each of you for a specific reason. Each of us can say, as the Venerable John Henry Newman said: “God has committed some work to me which has not been committed to another. I have my mission — I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told of it in the next.” (“Meditations on Christian Doctrine,” 1848, 1.2.2)
You must see your professional work, then, as part of a God-given mission. The mission you are called to do is different from the mission I’m called to do and from the mission given to those around you. But we share a common purpose –– to grow in holiness and love, and to help others grow in holiness and love, too.
ORA ET LABORA — WORK AND PRAY
The Catholic spirituality of work means doing your work always in the presence of God, and doing your work in the spirit of worship and service. The spirituality of work also means working with an attitude of prayer.
St. Benedict’s rule for his monks was ora et labora (“work and pray”). St. Josemaría used to say that all our work should be “part of a prayer — a loving dialogue with God.”
It is so easy to be distracted, to get caught up in the stress of the daily grind. You all know this very well. But there is only one real remedy. I urge you my friends: take time each day to pray. You only need a minute or two.
THE LABOR OF LOVE
If you begin to think about work in this way, if you begin to put these insights into practice, your work will begin to become a labor of love –– you will find yourself developing your own personal spirituality of work.
Authority and power doesn’t come from social rank or money. True leadership depends on your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I urge you to read a few verses of the gospel every day. Learn more about Jesus –– about how he lived, the things he said and did. Make Jesus the model for your relationship with God, and for your dealings with clients, customers, and co-workers.
Let yourselves be guided by his church. I urge you to always keep handy the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, and the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America, by Pope John Paul II.
These books won’t give you policy solutions, or even precise answers to all the questions you face in your work. But they will offer you principles for reflection, criteria for judgment, and guidelines for action. Through prayerful study, these books will help you think and act with the mind of Christ, and to become every day more sensitive to what God is asking of you.
GUZMAN CARRIQUIRY LECOUR
The burgeoning growth of the Hispanic population in the United States is neither a problem nor a threat, a Vatican official told attendees at a conference held in the Denver Archdiocese.
Rather, he said, it’s a blessing from God to give a renewed vigor and “a more complete catholic synthesis” to the mission of evangelization in this country, said Guzman Carriquiry Lecour, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Carriquiry, a layman originally from Uruguay, was one of the speakers addressing Catholic bishops and business leaders gathered at a mountain lodge near Denver Aug. 18-20 to discuss the contributions and struggles of Hispanics in America and their responsibility to be leaders and to evangelize in today’s society.
Co-sponsored by the Denver and San Antonio archdioceses, the symposium was the follow-up to an inaugural conference held in 2004. Like the first event, it was held at St. Malo Retreat and Conference Center in Allenspark and used the late Pope John Paul II’s “Ecclesia in America” as its foundational document.
The pope’s 1999 apostolic exhortation calls on the church to consider the Americas as one continent in addressing issues such as evangelization.
About 30 people participated in the symposium. Topics included immigration and the economic, cultural and spiritual contributions of Hispanics to society and to the church in America.
Carriquiry highlighted the growing Hispanic presence in the United States — and the subsequent responsibility that comes with that.
“Seventy-two percent of the Hispanics in the United States claim to be Catholic,” noted Carriquiry. “Hispanics already represent 39 percent of the 64.2 million American Catholics. They will constitute half starting at 2020. And according to the (U.S.) bishops’ conference, they will be 86 percent of the Catholic population in 2050. It is a tremendous Catholic responsibility.”
And their population growth repeatedly surpasses demographers’ forecasts, said Carriquiry. |