Morning Offering–very motivating to work with diligence, if it is contributing to the conversion of sinners, the final penitence of the dying, the completion of the purification of the Holy Souls, and an unleashing of the power of the Holy Spirit in all Christians.
Our Father: Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven: with this petition, desire to do your work, conduct your business righteously as God would desire, all for His greater glory. “A.M.D.G.”
Actually, that’s very St. Joseph! Since he was a righteous man. (Mt 2:19)
Browse the wisdom literature for verses that resonate for you. Proverbs is particularly good. Great nuggets about working hard, avoiding evil, not getting drunk, saving money, etc. Dave Ramsey uses quite a bit of Prv in his Financial Peace University program and daily radio show. Prv 31 is great for the virtuous and productive wife.
Ecclesiastes–not good. “All is vanity of vanities” will tempt you to sloth through futility. It’s a good book to see the fatigue of hope in merely earthly promises of prosperity–part of getting ready for Christ in the “fullness of time.”
If anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.
2 Thess 3:10 If you need to motivate a slacker/moocher!
If you are the target of gossip, slander, detraction, office politics, or workplace mobbing–I’ve been there, it’s very painful–browse the Psalms asking for vindication from enemies. Ps 140 for example. They should be easy to find if you have a Bible that uses topical headings for the Pss. My St. Joseph edition of the NAB does.
Re our Sunday Gospel reading: we had a guest priest this weekend, while our pastor is on vacation; and the visiting priest is peace and justice person for the diocese. He preached a homily about the sinner woman who came in to Jesus and washed his feet with her tears because she was forgiven much and therefore loved much. Fr. went deeper on an economic level–one could infer that she was a sinner because she was a dispossessed widow or divorced woman turned out; and that her family were dispossessed of their land because of the outrageously high mutliple taxes, tithes, and tributes they had to pay; debts spiral until their land is taken. Her only way to survive is prostitution. Here is Jesus, whose father is a worker of hard materials (carpenter, stonemason, metal perhaps); a laborer. People ran their own farms if they still owned their land, but apparently Joseph was dispossessed and a laborer; working elsewhere, but returning to his family land for the census. The religious and political leaders were wealthy and powerful and oppressed the poor and the widows and the orphans, and became wealthy off them. An OT prophet calls this “eating the poor.” So, here is this amazing rabbi, coming to preach reconciliation and liberation to this perpetually unclean, desperate woman who couldn’t go anywhere near the Temple; and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount–give to those who ask of you–promised also a new economic relief based on love, for this desperate woman, and it might free her from the prostitution–imagine the depths of her gratitude! And of course, it happened–the sharing of the Christian community in the Acts of the Apostles.
Intriguing! It adds more depth and meaning to the story, not just like she’s some random sinner by choice like a chick on a Girls Gone Wild video. Fr. can get a bit heavy on the economic side, but I don’t think he thought Jesus came to bring us a good economic system. I enjoyed visiting with him at length during the agape feast. I asked him: in your explication of the Gospel today, what about the Jubilee restoration? Slaves freed and land returned and debts forgiven? When did that end? With the Roman occupation? Or would Joseph and Jesus get their land back? Would a woman only be a prostitute for seven years max until the next Jubilee? Fr. said that there is scholarship now saying that the Jubilee restoration never happened. He is writing a chapter for a book on Sabbath economics. We discussed this for a bit, and had an interesting talk about lobbying for a just economic and political system and/or not waiting on systems but personally pursuing generosity and justice. Also about Jesus’ teachings about the rich and how we should live–esp. the Lukan woes and the letter to the church in Laodicea in Rev. It’s a powerful word for America!
Sorry, I’ve rambled. Joseph, if a dispossessed laborer, and a royal descendant of David, worked humbly and diligently to provide for and protect Mary and Jesus. He didn’t curse his bad fortune. What he produced served his fellow man. Work is not a curse; any (legal and moral/ethical) product or service we provide to meet another’s need is a service. It also shares in the creative power of the Creator.
Have fun with your prayers and scripture searching!