On Work
Francis Fernandez:
"Our Lord wants those who follow him in the midst of the world to be people who work well. They must be known for the quality of their work, which will have the prestige of excellence, and be thoroughly competent in their job or profession. They cannot be slapdash in their approach to their work. They must be people who will stand out visibly motivated by noble human objectives, because one's work, of whatever kind it be, is where we must practice the human as well as the supernatural virtues."
"To work well we must first of all work hard, using our time well. It is difficult, impossible even, for a person to live a spirit of sacrifice and remain spiritually alert, practicing the basic human virtues, unless he uses his time well."
"God wants from us human work that is well done. This means our working hard, with order, skill, competence and a striving for perfection; it means a completed job with no rough edges, no flaws or blemishes. It means serious work and an end-product that not only looks good, but is good. . . . The Christian brings something new to his work. . . he does it for God. He presents it to him as a daily offering that will have eternal value. But the qualities it has are those of any honest work--it will be responsible, competent, hard work. A job done in this way dignifies the one who does it and gives glory to his creator."
"Since we want to follow Christ closely and imitate him, we must add a greater perfection to our work, always keeping in mind the Master who has done everything well." (Mark 7).
"To finish off what we do often means taking care of minor details, of the little things. This demands an effort, demands sacrifice, and when we offer it, it is pleasing to God. Taking care of the details for love of God does not diminish the soul. It ennobles it, because it perfects the work we are doing, and when we offer it up for specific intentions we share in the needs of the whole Church. In this way our job takes on a supernatural dimension it previously lacked."
"In our work, as in other aspects of ordinary life such as in family and social commerce, in periods of rest and leisure . . . we always have this choice--carelessness and shoddiness that impoverish the soul, or the little work of art offered up to God as the expression of a soul with interior life."
(Maybe I should've entitled this, "Something for Monday Morning")
