St. Josemaria Escriva: A theology of workSt. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. Whenever this writer mentioned the name of this modern-day saint to his friends their usual reaction was: “Who is he?” I would then explain the saint’s theology of work which is the centerpiece of his teaching.Work is God’s gift to us. Through work we actualize ourselves even as we earn our livelihood. Using our hands and minds to create or produce something is part of our life on earth. It is part of God’s plan for us. This is the reason why He gave us two hands so skillfully crafted that with them we can do many things: Hold objects, manipulate machines, play the piano and do a thousand other things. So work we must if only to survive. Let him not eat who does not work, warned an elder among early Christians. To be idle is to starve, physically and also spiritually, for idleness is far from Godliness. To St. Josemaria, however, working is not just a matter of blindly doing something like a beast of burden. Our work must be performed with faith, hope and love. He says: “When you sincerely desire to live by faith, hope and love, the renewal of your commitment is not a matter of picking up again something neglected. When there is really faith hope and love renewal means staying in God’s hands...” If we have faith we will not falter in doing our work, aware as we are that God is watching us. Despite the difficulties we encounter in our work areas we will persevere because we know that someday, somewhere, something good will come about. Hope never deserts him who has faith. Love should ideally be part of our work. Work done with a full heart is always better than one half-heartedly accomplished. Because he loves what he is doing, a person uses all his powers and talents to come up with an output worth his name and pride. And even if what has been accomplished is of little importance, still the accomplishment counts much if it was done with love. “Anything done out of love is important however small it might appear,” says the saint. When work is done with love it becomes more than work; it becomes a prayer and thanksgiving expressed not in words but in deeds. Thus the worker makes his activity into a sacred offering to the Almighty, sanctifying it and also sanctifying himself. Given this thought, excellence becomes the aspiration of the Christian worker. If he is an encoder, he strives to produce clean and error free printouts. If he is a teacher, he exerts extraordinary efforts to make his students learn. If he is a carpenter, he turns out magnificent and beautifully fashioned woodcrafts. If he is an engineer, the structure he builds will be both beautiful and durable. All these, if done in dedication to God, are forms of prayer as pleasing to Him as those recited in prayer places. Here are pertinent quotes from St. Josemaria: “You can be sure that it is through the circumstances of ordinary life, ordained and permitted by the infinite wisdom of divine Providence that we come close to God. But we shall not attain our goal if we do not strive to finish our work well; if we do not sustain the efforts we put in where we began our work with human and supernatural zeal; if we do not carry our work as well as the best we do, and if possible even better than the best...” We can all become saints just by staying where we are and doing just ordinary work, if we offer what we are doing, no matter how insignificant, to our Heavenly Father. E.C. Dioko. June 26, 2004 http://www.josemariaescriva.info/article/st-josemaria-escriva3a-a-theology-of-work |