Work as prayer

WE should not miss the chance to make our work prayer

also. As long as it is honest work, regardless of whether it is

manual, technical or intellectual, it can and should be part of God’s

providence over us, of God’s continuing work over us.

  

            As such, it is something that would be pleasing to God and

can serve as a way to praise and adore him, thank him for the many

blessings he has given us, or to serve as atonement for our sins and

the sins of others as well as proof of our faith and love for him

especially when we ask for favors from him.

  

            We should never regard our work as purely human with no

connection to God’s will and ways. We should never regard our work as

purely temporal and earth-bound. It has eternal dimensions and

potentials. In fact, it can and should be our usual way to develop and

achieve holiness.

  

            In that perspective, work is no hindrance in our

continuing relationship with God and with others, no matter how

hidden, mundane and secular our work may be. It need not be a break

from our life of prayer and contemplation even in the midst of our

very worldly activities.

  

            We therefore have to broaden our understanding of the true

character of our ordinary daily work. Our work should not be motivated

or inspired by merely human and earthly values no matter how

legitimate they may be.

  

            That’s because if not motivated by love of God and carried

out as an offering to God, and because of that, also as our sign and

contribution to the common good of men, it would not lead us to where

we should be. We can rightfully be reproached by Christ when he said:

“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his

soul?” (Mk 8,36)

  

            We obviously need to readjust our attitude toward our

ordinary daily work. While it can involve dirt and grime, or the

sophisticated technicalities of the arts and sciences, it is actually

something sacred, a part of God’s design for us, and an effective

vehicle for us to relate ourselves to God in an abiding way.

  

            Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that with our work,

as long as it is done with great faith and love for God and others, we

can already touch heaven. It is when our work can also truly sanctify

us, can attract God’s grace to us. We should never think that our work

only has temporal and worldly value.

  

            We have to inculcate the proper understanding of our work

as early as possible, especially in homes and schools, so that the

general culture would be one where the sanctifying value of work is a

given and everyone is working according to that spirit.

  

            As of now, we can say that we are still light years away

from that proper understanding of work. Many of us still do not see

God in our work. We still do not realize that whatever art, science

and technology we discover and make use of, come from God and are

there to lead us to God. We have the notorious tendency to expropriate

them to ourselves, without relating them to God.

  

            We need to see the organic link between our spiritual life

and our life of work, between our piety and our temporal and worldly

affairs. We should overcome the usual dichotomy we have between our

spiritual life and our life of work.

            We only have one life, though with different aspects, each

one with its distinctive character and manner of being that should be

respected. We have to learn how to integrate them together, and not

fragment them.