Faith Life at Work

Every Tuesday at our church (St. Anastasia), we have a Mass at 7 pm. Every First Tuesday of the month after Mass, we have Young Adult Night. We gather in Meeting Room B and typically have pizza, a talk, and some trivia (or other game).

Since Fr. Jim had forgotten to ask the Catholic Trivia guy to come out this evening, he devised a quick game of Modified Family Feud, using answers from Family Feud episodes from, like, the 70s or something. (Who replaces a TOASTER if it is not broken?)

Anywhoo, after our quick game where we never really heard who won, we heard a talk by Denis Veneziano, our resident Italian architect and part-time language instructor. His topic was “Holiness in Your Daily Work.”

Disclaimer: This is the cover of a book I have sitting on my desk at work. I’ve been meaning to read it for a couple years now. There is no review of this book in this post because lazy and haven’t read yet.

I jotted down a few notes, then a few more, then decided that I had enough fodder to create a blog post and share with y’all, so here you go! 🙂 In bullet points, because my coffee is not working yet.

Genesis 2:15 states, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” This tells us that work is not supposed to be seen as “a necessary evil,” but something which adds to the dignity of man as being in God’s plan for our lives. Denis continues to point out that even Jesus worked for most of His life, and He is our example of what it should look like to live a perfected human life.
Because of this, we should ask ourselves: What pride to we take in our work? Do we see the work that we do in a supernatural light? As promoting, or capable of promoting, the Kingdom of God and sanctifying ourselves and those around us?
Beware of “professionalism” — where your work becomes the end purpose of your life. It can be important, but it is a means. Your work is just one part of your life. You certainly shouldn’t give it inordinate preference over other aspects of your life. But don’t go to the opposite extreme either and not give it its due importance.
How can I use my time at work to sanctify myself and others?
- I can pray before I start my work — dedicating my work day to God and asking His help.
- I can dedicate individual hours during the workday for a specific person or intention. This can make the entire day into something of a prayer.
- I should show interest in my coworkers and try to help them as much as possible. Before being a worker, I (and they) am a person.