Not just Workin’ for a Livin’

During these summer months, we start thinking more about vacation days, looking for ways to take a break from work. Some companies even adjust for summer hours or close for a few weeks.

Year round, advertisers try to tempt us with images of rest and leisure. They want us to imagine ourselves near the beach, idle, holding a cold drink. They paint inactivity as an ideal moment we should constantly pursue.

While we consider our vacation options this summer, as these opportunities certainly afford us periods to recharge our batteries and spend more time with family, I think we can also consider the blessings of work both at home and in our professional occupations. After all, the reality of work continues no matter the month.

Rather than looking at work as drudgery or an obligation we try to escape, St. Josemaria Escrivá, whose feast day we observe on June 26, taught that work can be a path to holiness.  “Work is a gift from God,” he said. “It is something to be sanctified and something which sanctifies.” (Christ is Passing By, 47).

The founder of Opus Dei (Latin for “Work of God”) said, “Work is part and parcel of man’s life on earth. It involves effort, weariness, exhaustion: signs of the suffering and struggle which accompany human existence and which point to the reality of sin and the need for redemption. But in itself work is not a penalty or a curse or a punishment.”

He further notes, “It makes no sense to classify men differently, according to their occupation, as if some jobs were nobler than others. Work, all work, bears witness to the dignity of man, to his dominion over creation. It is an opportunity to develop one’s personality. It is a bond of union with others, the way to support one’s family, a means of aiding in the improvement of the society in which we live and in the progress of all humanity” (Christ is Passing By, 47).

Among our Catholic devotions, there are a variety of novenas, a nine-day prayer period, to ask God for a specific intention. a “novena for work” to St. Josemaria offers some good points to consider. The focus for each of the nine days is reflected in the titles: 1. Work as a path to holiness; 2. Work done for love of God; 3. Working with order and constancy; 4. Well-finished work; 5. All honest work is dignified; 6. Work done in company with God, and with rectitude of intention; 7. Maturing in virtue though work; 8. Work as service, a help for others; and 9. Apostolate through work.

The selection from his writings and intention each day offer a closer look at the value of the work we do. They remind us of the power of prayer, love and sacrifice.

Reading further, here are a few of his words on the subject:

“Sanctity is not for a privileged few. The Lord calls all of us. He expects love from all of us — from everyone, wherever they are; from everyone, whatever their state in life, their profession or job. For the daily life we live, apparently so ordinary, can be a path to sanctity: it is not necessary to abandon one’s place in the world in order to search for God … because all the paths of the earth can be the occasion for an encounter with Christ” (Letter 24-III-1930, no. 2).

“Let us work. Let us work a lot and work well, without forgetting that prayer is our best weapon. That is why I will never tire of repeating that we have to be contemplative souls in the middle of the world, who try to convert their work into prayer.” (Furrow, Work, Chap. 15, 497)

“It is no good offering to God something that is less perfect than our poor human limitations permit. The work that we offer must be without blemish and it must be done as carefully as possible, even in its smallest details, for God will not accept shoddy workmanship. 'Thou shalt not offer anything that is faulty,' Holy Scripture warns us, 'because it would not be worthy of him.' For that reason, the work of each one of us, the activities that take up our time and energy, must be an offering worthy of our Creator. It must be operatio Dei, a work of God that is done for God: in short, a task that is complete and faultless.” (Friends of God, Working for God, 47)

“We acquire the style of contemplative souls, in the midst of our daily work! Because we become certain that he is watching us, while he asks us to conquer ourselves anew: a little sacrifice here, a smile there for someone who bothers us, beginning the least pleasant but most urgent job first, carefulness in little details of order, perseverance in the fulfilment of our duty when it would be so easy to abandon it, not leaving for tomorrow what should be finished today: and all this, to please him, Our Father God!”  (Friends of God, Working for God, 67)

St. Josemaria’s writings are reinvigorating, placing work in a new light. While we are “workin’ for a livin’" as intoned in the 1980’s song by Huey Lewis and the News, our work can also sanctify us. No matter how monotonous or challenging, our prayers direct our approach. And this makes all the difference, filling each task with joy.

(Originally published in June 2018 edition of The Valley Catholic newspaper)