THAT’S true. Our work, any kind of work as long as it is an
honest
work, can and should be considered as sacred. And the reason is
simple. Given the way we are—that we are creatures of God made in his
image and likeness and therefore made to participate in his very
life—our work cannot but be also a participation of God’s continuing
work, his providence over all his creation.
Since God and everything in him is sacred, we can safely conclude
that we and everything else in our life including our work can also be
considered as sacred. We should not just stop at affirming that human
life is sacred and should be respected. We have to go all the way to
affirm also the inevitable corollary that our work is also sacred.
As image and likeness of God, we live and do everything, including
our work, with God always. Even without realizing it, the objective
truth is that our life, and everything in it, is always a life with
God.
Our work therefore is not just ours. It just does not correspond
to some purely natural and human needs. It is by definition a work
with God. We need to be most aware of this truth, so we can also
consciously and freely work in sync as much as possible with God’s
will and ways, as is proper to us as God’s image and likeness.
This truth of our faith, of course, does not do away with the
distinction between what is sacred and what is mundane. This
distinction has to be upheld, but always keeping in mind that the
distinction does not erase the basic unity that exists between them,
since everything comes from God and also belongs to God.
Sacredness does not belong exclusively to liturgical acts, for
example, or to some personal prayer, involving some incense and ritual
exercises. It can also be said of our ordinary work involving blood,
sweat and tears. But obviously the sacredness of one is distinct from
that of the other, only in form but not in essence.
For us to be able to see the sacredness of our work, we need to be
driven first of all and always by faith and an abiding piety. Our
usual problem in this area is that when we do our work, we often set
aside, or at least put in second place, the considerations of faith
and piety and just allow ourselves to be ruled wholly or mainly by the
worldly principles of what is efficient, effective, profitable,
popular, etc.
There is a great need to bring our faith and piety down to the
middle of the world all the way to its grime and worst conditions, and
not confine them in churches or some sacred place alone. There is a
great need to develop and live an authentic Christian spirituality of
secularity or what in some sectors is referred to as lay spirituality.
The Vatican II thrust as articulated in Gaudium et spes should be
pursued. As concrete consequences of such outlook would be asking
ourselves questions like: what does God want me to get involved in
now, in the short-run and in the long-run? Is what I am doing now
what God really wants me to do? Am I doing things the way God wants me
to do them? How can I relate what I am working now to God’s will and
providence?
The important thing to do is to put God in the middle and on top
of everything that we do. He should be the beginning, pattern and end
of our work. This fundamental, indispensable criterion definitely
would hamper our work.
If anything at all, it would simply assure us that we are doing
what we are supposed to be doing the way it should be done. It
certainly will involve some struggle and self-denial, since we have to
contend with our usual tendency to do our own thing rather than God’s
will and in the way we like it done rather than the way God wants it
done.
We need to overcome whatever awkwardness can come to us,
especially in the beginning. But if we persist, driven by our faith
and love for God and for others, sooner or later working with God will
become second nature to us, and we can discern in our work, for all
the mundanity involved there, a certain sacred character.
In the end, we can see a greater, deeper and more extensive unity
in our life that is based on our union and love for God.
work, can and should be considered as sacred. And the reason is
simple. Given the way we are—that we are creatures of God made in his
image and likeness and therefore made to participate in his very
life—our work cannot but be also a participation of God’s continuing
work, his providence over all his creation.
Since God and everything in him is sacred, we can safely conclude
that we and everything else in our life including our work can also be
considered as sacred. We should not just stop at affirming that human
life is sacred and should be respected. We have to go all the way to
affirm also the inevitable corollary that our work is also sacred.
As image and likeness of God, we live and do everything, including
our work, with God always. Even without realizing it, the objective
truth is that our life, and everything in it, is always a life with
God.
Our work therefore is not just ours. It just does not correspond
to some purely natural and human needs. It is by definition a work
with God. We need to be most aware of this truth, so we can also
consciously and freely work in sync as much as possible with God’s
will and ways, as is proper to us as God’s image and likeness.
This truth of our faith, of course, does not do away with the
distinction between what is sacred and what is mundane. This
distinction has to be upheld, but always keeping in mind that the
distinction does not erase the basic unity that exists between them,
since everything comes from God and also belongs to God.
Sacredness does not belong exclusively to liturgical acts, for
example, or to some personal prayer, involving some incense and ritual
exercises. It can also be said of our ordinary work involving blood,
sweat and tears. But obviously the sacredness of one is distinct from
that of the other, only in form but not in essence.
For us to be able to see the sacredness of our work, we need to be
driven first of all and always by faith and an abiding piety. Our
usual problem in this area is that when we do our work, we often set
aside, or at least put in second place, the considerations of faith
and piety and just allow ourselves to be ruled wholly or mainly by the
worldly principles of what is efficient, effective, profitable,
popular, etc.
There is a great need to bring our faith and piety down to the
middle of the world all the way to its grime and worst conditions, and
not confine them in churches or some sacred place alone. There is a
great need to develop and live an authentic Christian spirituality of
secularity or what in some sectors is referred to as lay spirituality.
The Vatican II thrust as articulated in Gaudium et spes should be
pursued. As concrete consequences of such outlook would be asking
ourselves questions like: what does God want me to get involved in
now, in the short-run and in the long-run? Is what I am doing now
what God really wants me to do? Am I doing things the way God wants me
to do them? How can I relate what I am working now to God’s will and
providence?
The important thing to do is to put God in the middle and on top
of everything that we do. He should be the beginning, pattern and end
of our work. This fundamental, indispensable criterion definitely
would hamper our work.
If anything at all, it would simply assure us that we are doing
what we are supposed to be doing the way it should be done. It
certainly will involve some struggle and self-denial, since we have to
contend with our usual tendency to do our own thing rather than God’s
will and in the way we like it done rather than the way God wants it
done.
We need to overcome whatever awkwardness can come to us,
especially in the beginning. But if we persist, driven by our faith
and love for God and for others, sooner or later working with God will
become second nature to us, and we can discern in our work, for all
the mundanity involved there, a certain sacred character.
In the end, we can see a greater, deeper and more extensive unity
in our life that is based on our union and love for God.
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