My job is something I struggle with a lot. If someone looks at my job from the outside, it looks like a good job. I too work in IT. I’m not micromanaged, I can take time off very easily, I have room for a lot of creativity in my job and I pretty much define what I do. We have good benefits, including a children’s tuition benefit.
So why am I unhappy? My ambition. My job does have elements of both racism and sexism and so there is a ceiling on how far I can advance.
So I struggle with either being happy at a pretty decent job even though my salary is stagnant, or applying for a job which may have more opportunities for advancement, but maybe more stress.
Any advice in looking at this dilemma spiritually?
I believe that this is where one must practice the virtue of poverty. St. Benedict would agree that there is no sin in having wealth and possessions, which means doing what one needs to do in order to achieve it. Some Benedictine abbeys are quite wealthy. In fact, thanks to the wealth and generosity of the Benedictines the Franciscans got San Damiano, the Portiuncula and Mt. Laverna. They were all Benedictine properties. The Benedictines gave them to Francis.
The spirit is to have what one needs, not what one wants. The extras are for those who have less. In looking at careers the Benedictine paradigm works very well. It is OK to wish for more, if one needs more and if one is wiling to share the surplus, not horde it. Just to make more money so one can have it, turns money into a idol.
Sometimes, we need to make career changes just to make a greater contribution to the world in which we live. That too is legitimate. One must discern if God is calling us to do this or if it’s just our will trying to drive God.
So I have a couple questions (These are things that have been on my mind for awhile)
1.) How does the Church reach the greater laity with the message of inner conversion?
and
2.) How will the Church teach the laity to do it?
I don’t have a magic answer to your question, but I’ll share two things that happened to me this week.
Sunday, I was sitting in a prayer garden that the local parish has for St. Maximilian. Actually, I was praying. We have a custom of putting up our cowls to block off distractions when we pray, including mass. It only comes off during the Eucharistic prayer and at communion.
I heard what were clearly ladies footsteps coming toward me and I looked up. The woman said, “I just want to say hello.” At this point, I’m breaking my noggin’ thinking, “Who is she?” I often forget people’s names. It’s part of my circulatory problem, not enough oxygen to the brain. I forget certain things such as names and numbers.
She must have noticed the look on my face. She said, “Oh, we have never met before.” To which I gave a sigh of relief. “Are you a monk?”
“No Mam, I’m a mendicant.”
“But you’re a religious, right?”
“Yes Mam, I’m Franciscan.”
Then she hit me between the eyes, “When I saw you there praying, I had to stop my car and come over to say hello. It’s something that I need to do more often.”
To which I responded, “Stop your car or pray?” and I grinned. She laughed and said, “It’s good to see a person who can pray and have a sense of humor. Thank you. You’ve taught me a lot.” The she left.
This afternoon, I interviewed a young man who is interested in the Franciscans of Life. After about two hours of questions and answers from both sides he said, “I never thought that one could return to the 13th century; but you guys have do that everyday. I’ve met a few of your brothers over the past few months. Each of them seems to be here, but not here, if you know what I mean. I bet that if a nuclear bomb exploded next to them, they would not stop what they’re doing.”
I said, "I hope not. They have more important things to worry about, if they survive a nuclear strike. "
Then he asked, “Are you born with this ability?”
I explained that is was a journey of conversion. You practice until you get right. You’ll know that you got right six days after you’re dead.
My point is that teaching conversion is not quite something that you do from a book or in a classroom, but it’s something that you learn by changing one thing at a time. You can certainly read the spiritual masters. That will help. But Benedict himself underwent a conversion process. When he was first asked to be the abbot, he told the monks that this was not a good choice, because he would be too hard on them. He was right too. He was very hard on them. Gradually, he went from being the superior to being the Abba.
Simply brilliant.
I have always thought that this why the Gospel writers mention our Lord’s smashing things up at the money changers. It was remarkable, because it showed him using another emotion (righteous anger) and because it must have been rare.
The image of our Lord that I hold in my heart is of a man (who is God, obviously), not some either aloof autocrat or, even worse, pansy.
When we get too ethereal, we run the risk of forgetting that Jesus is the God-Man. His had an intact and perfect human nature. A perfect human nature is not always somber. A perfect human nature is disciplined. It responds appropriately to each situation. The Christian vocation is to achieve that same type of perfection.
Coming from an Evangelical upbringing, many times, I was encouraged to “seek God” in a myriad of ways by the sermons I heard on Sunday mornings. I would hear the sermons, which would cut straight into my heart, and then I would go home and seek more.
Seeking more would include reading the Bible, buying spiritual books, listening to music that blessed me and kept God on my mind.
Is it not possible for a homily to not only “open the word” but also, teach spirituality/morality?
You have to consider several things. One has already been mentioned. Some priests and deacons are not good communicators no matter how many classes of homiletics they take.
There are also very strict Church rules about sermons. This applies to all forms of the mass in the Latin Rite: EF, OF, Dominican, Carmelite, etc.The homily is not supposed to be catechesis. The homily is to break open the Word of God, not to teach doctrine, morals, traditions, laws, or systems of spirituality. A homily can certainly speak about prayer, conversion, penance, sin, and so forth, as long as it does not turn into a lesson. This requires skill.
I’ve known three preachers whom I truly admire, because they could pull this off. Only one of them is a priest, Archbishop Fulton Sheen. His preaching was not a lesson, but it always gave you something to think about. The other is Billy Graham. He too was an awesome preacher who left you thinking. The third person is someone whom I cannot name, because he may not like the publicity. There is a Cistercian brother (not a priest) who does the priest retreats for our diocese. He’s absolutely great. He’s like leaves you with something to think about and yet, his style is like someone who is thinking aloud. You can tell this man is a contemplative. He just starts thinking about a subject and it rolls off his tongue. The content is always something that you never thought about before.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
