Recently
I gave a talk on this subject, daring to address it for the first
time from a completely different perspective, to the surprise of many
as a result. To cut to the chase I said: if you want to end your
lukewarm Spiritual Life, devote more attention to the way you deal
and manage your work life. Of course this applies to everybody – to
those who don't work, who can't work – with everyone being invited
to make themselves busy, because “idleness is the mother of all
vices”. It is important not to create empty moments in your day,
because the Devil takes advantage of them, finds space in you and
starts to tempt you: thoughts start to go around in circles in your
mind – and this tends to be dangerous and unhealthy.
Now,
to return to the point: to pay greater attention to the way you
commit to work and the quality of the way you deal with your work in
a committed way, with attention to detail, accuracy, and quality.
First
of all work takes up a large proportion of our day – one third! We
can't neglect or discard a third of our existence.
Then
too, we can't create a dichotomy between on the one hand “Work”
and on the other hand our “Spiritual Life”. Work is not
essentially a burden imposed on us so that we can earn our living or
a duty we can't escape from. As John Paul II used to say: work
makes us realise ourselves in life. Therefore, we can't just live
with the mental attitude: “I am waiting until I finish work in
order to breath and do what I would like to do” be it hobbies,
other business, rest, prayer. This would resemble a schizophrenic way
of dealing with work and life. On the contrary there is a deep unity
in our day and in our business-life. We can't exclude work from the
values of our day, and even worse, we can't split our spiritual life
into two parts: “alien pagan business” (i.e. work) and “holy
activities” (i.e. prayer, spiritual life). Of course I am not going
as far as some to state: “work is prayer/worship”, but I am
highlighting the fact that it is still the same “you” who works,
who deals with others, who has a place in the world and society
through your work. If work has little or no meaning for you, or even
if it is seen as a burden, it is important to “work on” that
issue because it is destructive, it doesn't create deep peace in you,
and leads to a feeling of being unsettled, unsatisfied and frustrated. A significantly large part of your energy is involved,
then, in something that is damaging you. Is this good? Can this
contribute to a good and healthy Spiritual Life? Does this please
God?
The
situation is exacerbated by unemployment, for how then can we find
fulfilment in some form of work, even be it voluntary work? How can
we see God present during those daily eight or more hours? This is
the challenge and one of the first steps that will help us to emerge
from a lukewarm Spiritual Life.
Of
prime importance in this light is Order. A disorganised person in
daily life often creates a disorganised spiritual life. The goal is
not to have random virtues, but to practise them in an organised way.
One can have excellent virtues but if they are managed badly, great
damage can result.
Thus
the effort we make to create an image of ourselves for the world, to
take our place in it, to grow, is of utmost importance. When the
young rich man asked Jesus what he was supposed to do in order to
gain Eternal Life, the Lord did not immediately reply to him: “come
and follow me.” No! He started by assessing the human foundations
of the young man's Call, when he asked the latter whether he had
fulfilled Moses' commandments? Let us for a moment consider the
hypothesis that the answer was “no”, and that this gentleman was
not working, or better still, was not happy in his work life.
Granted, nobody admits that “work” is always an enjoyable
experience, free of stress, and effort! There is no reward without
the necessary effort, although of course, one can adjust
effort/energy, time, quality and outcome, to see if it is worth it,
in order to employ most efficiently one's talents, capacity,
expertise, and so on.
But
here, in my humble view, within a serious and committed spiritual
life, what matters is to focus on our work and a place where God is
as well. Work is not an empty space where God is absent. God is not
waiting for us outside of our Work-Space only. He is waiting for us
during our work time. This is why doing high quality work is
important. Negligence, random acts and careless behaviour in work
cannot expect a good spiritual life to result.
Surprisingly
enough, however, God pays attention to this. Just pause for a moment
and think of it: you are the same person in the eyes of God when you
pray and when you work. Can you deceive yourself? Can you fake it?
Can you deceive God? Impossible! You are the same person, here, there
and everywhere. You can't have a double standard: wanting God,
wanting on the one hand a good Spiritual Life and have on the other
an average quality or standard of work.
Let
me take a very simple example: a few years ago I was teaching a young
man a way of doing Lectio Divina based on the daily readings of the
Mass. He said that he understood, and promised that he would start to
practise it. I met him on a regular basis for a few months and
checked on his practice of it. He said that he was doing it as I had
explained it to him. I never ventured into asking for more details –
in hindsight that was an error as we will see. A few years later both
of us were involved in doing some cleaning. After having done his
part, I asked him whether he had cleaned a particular area, to which
he replied in the affirmative. By pure luck, I happened to be passing
through the area he had cleaned and to my utter surprise it had not
been done properly – or at least, with the thoroughness I had
expected. I have to admit this was a big lesson in my life – not to
rely on the simple reply: “yes I did it.” I thought bitterly that
his answer at odd times was always “ yes, I have done it.” So, I
wondered, was his Lectio Divina done in the same way in which he had
cleaned that area? This was deeply thought-provoking.
Let
us return to the point about work: if you are good at certain things,
and you have proved you can do them, then you are handed more
important matters to deal with. The Kingdom of God is the most
important thing in life, and it is not offered immediately but is
preceded by a period of preparation. This is why the Lord himself
says: 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful
with little things; I will put you in charge of greater things.”
(Matthew 25:21)
Of
course you might be outraged by what I say, and you might extrapolate
and apply what I am saying and deduce and conclude differently. But
if we try humbly to apply that to ourselves, I am sure we can benefit
and emerge from a lukewarm Spiritual Life. I would simply say: why do
we expect the Lord to help us exit from a lukewarm lethargic
Spiritual Life while we continue to be lukewarm in our work?
To
the lay eye they seem unrelated, but I hope you might reconsider it
and start to see that the very opposite is true.
God
promised the Land to Abraham and swore to give it to him. But in
fact, it took more than 400 years to realise this. First and
foremost, God wanted Abraham's children to work, become active,
commit to daily life and to their society, even if they were in a
foreign land (Egypt), living amongst pagans (Egyptians)..; it is only
then that He started to make things happen, and with his Arm, he
saved them and brought them to a different land.
Let
us now explore a question/objection here: can a Committed Spiritual
Life help a disorganised person put some order in his or her life?
Let
me reword that objection/question: can a Spiritual Life, i.e. a
personal relationship with the Lord Jesus play a role in mending my
life and getting back an ordered life, attentive to detail and
conscientious at work? Of course yes, the Grace of God can help: we
read about powerful conversions where a person who was leading a very
bad life, came to discover the Lord and started by His Grace to
change and become better, cleaner, more organised, committed in
society and work.
Think
of any big sinner (just for the sake of having a clear picture before
us) who is struck by the Grace of God... led by it, arising from his
mud, and starting to lead a good life. Think of the Prodigal son, who
wasn't leading an orderly life, and still was struck by the Grace of
God, came back to himself, thought of his error, changed direction,
prayed, asked for forgiveness and started his way back home. It must
be said that one can re-start this way.
But
the question I was addressing during my talk and the audience hearing
it were different. They were Christians, whom, at a certain point in
past years, had started to lead a committed christian life, a good
Spiritual Life, but with the business of life they had got to a
lukewarm point.
Think
of the third soil of the Parable of the Sower: we are talking here
about “good” Christians, who to a certain extent are committed,
but still, the business and concerns of life have become so strong as
to be compared to the spikes or thorns capable of suffocating the
Word of God in them... so that they have reached a lukewarm state in
their spiritual life.
To
their utter surprise, I brought them back to consider their work
place and not to investigate their Spiritual Life! Maybe Spiritual
Life meant an escape to them? Maybe Work was lived as a dichotomy?
Let
us remember that God is very present during our work time and sees
how we work... In conclusion therefore, the message here is: the way
we deal with work directly affects our Spiritual Life.
Please
don't hesitate to have a look at a closely related post: The Duties
of my State (please click here).
