Is work merely money making?
By
THERE’S an amusing story about a priest and a bus driver. They arrived together at the gates of heaven. An angel handed the cleric plain cotton clothes, a wooden halo, and simple living quarters.
But to the bus driver, the angel presented a complete wardrobe of the finest materials, a golden halo, and lavish living quarters.
* * * When the clergyman saw this, he protested: “Why does he get so much and I so little?”
The angel checked the records and said, “It’s because when you were preaching, your congregation slept, but when he was driving, his passengers prayed.”
The driver – through speed driving--was more effective in bringing people to God than the priest! (So, fellow priests, let’s pay more attention to our preaching!).
*** Last Monday was LABOR DAY and, like the above amusing story, every worker or professional should examine how he or she performs his service.
In 1955, Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1st to infuse a spiritual dimension to work and labor legislations.
Jesus Christ underscored the dignity of human labor by working as a poor “carpenter’s son.”
*** How’s work to be viewed? Do we find it as a burden and drudgery? Is it merely for making money or source of income?
For a good number, their job is something they do not enjoy, something they want to get away from. At the beginning of the work week they speak of a “Blue Monday,” and at the end, they sigh, “Thank God, it’s Friday” (TGF).
*** The Christian teaching declares that jobs should be viewed not as a burden or solely a source of livelihood, but as a way of serving one’s fellowmen.
* * * This attitude may appear obvious in the work of physicians, teachers, or social workers, but it should be shared by others as well – whether they be sales clerks, truck drivers, janitors, or garbage collectors.
* * * Finally, serving society should be motivated not only by material profit nor even by a sense of accomplishment, but by a higher motive: eternal fulfillment. Labor ought to be viewed as a prayer and means of sanctification.
This is what a well-known, conservative Catholic Community, “Opus Dei” (Work of God), has constantly stressed and exemplified in daily life.
*** There is a story about laborers working in a building construction. One was interrogated what he was doing; he answered, “I’m mixing cement.”
“How about you?” another was asked. “I’m putting up a high wall,” he replied. Then a third was asked and his reply was: “I’m building a church for God.”
*** The lesson is: “Don’t be shortsighted but set your vision on something higher and nobler, that is, eternal salvation.
As Christ puts it succinctly, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but work for the food that endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27).
* * * INDIGENT SICK. I am appealing on behalf of some indigent sick we are helping like Dante Cabansag and Fr. Ruben Mamuad, SVD who are undergoing hemodialysis thrice weekly. Also M. Maranga, J. Lopez, Rosanna Cayunda sick of pulmonary ailments and hence, cannot work.
*** Thanks to our very generous latest donors: MANNY SANTOS, GERRY “Mr. Freeze” SANTOS, WILLY-LINA ONG. *** For inquiries, e-mail me at:
***
belsvd@gmail.com.
ST. JUDE. Many prayers have been answered through the novena to St. Jude, Saint of the Impossible.
*** Today join our novena at the Shrine of Jesus the Divine Word at Christ the King Seminary on E. Rodriguez Boulevard, Quezon City, right after the 6 p.m. Mass.
A healing prayer and anointing with holy oil will follow.