THESE two ought to be together. At the moment, of course, we
are far
way off the ideal. Work and prayer are supposed to be together,
because our life, though with many parts, aspects, levels, is only one
and that life is a life with God, our Creator and Father.
Everything in it is supposed to be done or to take place with God. In
spiritual parlance, this doctrine is called the “unity of life.” We
need to be more keenly aware of this doctrine and to start to
translate it into practice.
The objective reality of our life should be reflected as perfectly as
possible in our subjective understanding of our life. That is when we
would be living in the truth, precisely because truth is when our
subjective grasp of things agrees with the objective reality.
Since our life is a life with God, then we can also say that our life
is a life of prayer. That is the broadest definition of prayer. Prayer
is when we are with God subjectively, when we correspond to the
objective reality of our being with God. This can be done
intentionally, mentally, orally, etc.
But prayer can and should be done also through our work, our study,
our rest, and in fact through all the phases, aspects and activities
of our life. Thus, St. Paul says: “Therefore, whether you eat or
drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor
10,31)
We should not consider this Pauline indication as an exaggeration, or
a purely religious dictum that we are free to accept or not. Of
course, we are free to refuse it, but that would be akin to the
freedom of harming oneself.
We need to adapt our thinking and our culture and civilization in
general to this truth that comes to us more through our faith than
through our own estimation of things. Reality in its ultimate
dimensions is given to us by faith more than by our reason and senses
alone.
That we have to do everything for God and with God can be derived
also from the words of Christ who, when asked what the greatest
commandment was, said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy
whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and thy whole mind.” (Mt 22,36)
Sorry, but I don’t see how else those words could be understood.
With respect to our work which we have to learn to convert into
prayer, we can say that the basis for this is that we have been
created by God to work. We have been made to work just as the birds
are made to fly. Work is not meant to be a curse or punishment to us.
In fact, it plays a prominent role in our nature and life.
Work is part of what makes us “the image and likeness of God.” It is
what integrates all our human faculties and turns our potencies into
actualities. It offers us the means of livelihood and the tool for
development and progress, both personal and social, local and global.
More, our work is always a work of God also. It is not just our work.
It is part of divine providence, that abiding governance of God over
all his creation.
It is important that we be aware of these truths so that we avoid
distorting it, or reducing or impoverishing it of its objective role
in our life, or worse, of making it work against us and God.
Unfortunately, we are seeing many disturbing phenomena related to
work. If there are many people who have unhealthy attitudes toward
work so that they as much as possible would refrain from work, there
are also those who work hard but with evil motives and improper
purposes.
It is now a big challenge for us to recover the true nature,
character and role of work in our life. The recovery has to start with
the individual persons, then the family, the schools, before the true
face of work can be seen in our government offices, private businesses
and industries, sports and recreation, politics, culture, etc.
One indispensable thing that we should do or realize is that our work
is actually a personal encounter with God, and because of that, it is
also a personal encounter with everybody else.
Work, just like our life in general, is relational. That is how work
could be done properly. That is how work could become prayer and also
love and service for others. Let’s put work and prayer together!
way off the ideal. Work and prayer are supposed to be together,
because our life, though with many parts, aspects, levels, is only one
and that life is a life with God, our Creator and Father.
Everything in it is supposed to be done or to take place with God. In
spiritual parlance, this doctrine is called the “unity of life.” We
need to be more keenly aware of this doctrine and to start to
translate it into practice.
The objective reality of our life should be reflected as perfectly as
possible in our subjective understanding of our life. That is when we
would be living in the truth, precisely because truth is when our
subjective grasp of things agrees with the objective reality.
Since our life is a life with God, then we can also say that our life
is a life of prayer. That is the broadest definition of prayer. Prayer
is when we are with God subjectively, when we correspond to the
objective reality of our being with God. This can be done
intentionally, mentally, orally, etc.
But prayer can and should be done also through our work, our study,
our rest, and in fact through all the phases, aspects and activities
of our life. Thus, St. Paul says: “Therefore, whether you eat or
drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor
10,31)
We should not consider this Pauline indication as an exaggeration, or
a purely religious dictum that we are free to accept or not. Of
course, we are free to refuse it, but that would be akin to the
freedom of harming oneself.
We need to adapt our thinking and our culture and civilization in
general to this truth that comes to us more through our faith than
through our own estimation of things. Reality in its ultimate
dimensions is given to us by faith more than by our reason and senses
alone.
That we have to do everything for God and with God can be derived
also from the words of Christ who, when asked what the greatest
commandment was, said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy
whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and thy whole mind.” (Mt 22,36)
Sorry, but I don’t see how else those words could be understood.
With respect to our work which we have to learn to convert into
prayer, we can say that the basis for this is that we have been
created by God to work. We have been made to work just as the birds
are made to fly. Work is not meant to be a curse or punishment to us.
In fact, it plays a prominent role in our nature and life.
Work is part of what makes us “the image and likeness of God.” It is
what integrates all our human faculties and turns our potencies into
actualities. It offers us the means of livelihood and the tool for
development and progress, both personal and social, local and global.
More, our work is always a work of God also. It is not just our work.
It is part of divine providence, that abiding governance of God over
all his creation.
It is important that we be aware of these truths so that we avoid
distorting it, or reducing or impoverishing it of its objective role
in our life, or worse, of making it work against us and God.
Unfortunately, we are seeing many disturbing phenomena related to
work. If there are many people who have unhealthy attitudes toward
work so that they as much as possible would refrain from work, there
are also those who work hard but with evil motives and improper
purposes.
It is now a big challenge for us to recover the true nature,
character and role of work in our life. The recovery has to start with
the individual persons, then the family, the schools, before the true
face of work can be seen in our government offices, private businesses
and industries, sports and recreation, politics, culture, etc.
One indispensable thing that we should do or realize is that our work
is actually a personal encounter with God, and because of that, it is
also a personal encounter with everybody else.
Work, just like our life in general, is relational. That is how work
could be done properly. That is how work could become prayer and also
love and service for others. Let’s put work and prayer together!
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