Finding Holiness in a Long Day at Work

With supernatural intuition, Blessed Josemaria untiringly preached the universal call to holiness and apostolate. Christ calls everyone to become holy in the realities of everyday life. Hence work too is a means of personal holiness and apostolate, when it is done in union with Jesus Christ. – Pope John Paul II in his homily at the beatification of Saint Josemaria

Making work a means of personal holiness…I stink at this.  One of the things that my parents instilled in me was to take pride in your work and to always do your best. Also never give anyone a reason to think that you aren’t pulling your weight or putting in 110%.  Unfortunately, at least for me this can at times cause me to be very robotic about my work.  So much so that I can get lost in the end goal, focused on finding everything wrong with a product and verifying that everything has been fixed.  I’ve found often times that this leaves me drained and irritable. Two traits that definitely don’t point to a life of personal holiness…

St. Paul tells us to Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)  I struggle with this too and often have a hard time finding Jesus in my day to day grind. I have reminders on my desk such as a crucifix to help, but maybe it’s time to start being more proactive in my duty to do “whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

The question is how is this accomplished?  Starting off the day with prayer to focus us on the Lord might be a good place to start.  There are tons of free and paid apps for both iOS and Android that have thing such as the daily readings and reflections.  If you are lucky enough to have a parish near you that has daily Mass around lunch time, participating in the Sacraments is a sure fire way to keep focused on the Lord.  Take a break!  I have a really bad habit of working straight through lunch and not coming up for air until either the job is done or my mental and physical tanks are on empty.  In short spurts this might not be a bad thing, but over time this kind of pushing can take a told on our spiritual lives as well. If you fall into the same habit that I do…Stop!  Go take a walk and enjoy the silence of being away from it all even if it’s only for a few minutes. If you are so inclined take along a prayer book or mp3 player and say a rosary or divine mercy chaplet.  These are only a few suggestions and bits of advice that I more then anyone need to try and start implementing. I welcome yours suggestions in the combox below, maybe together we can all do a little better in striving to make our works a personal means to holiness.

Saint Josemaria Escriva pray for us…