LIFE MARRIAGE & FAMILY: Working towards eternity
By Mark Griffin, Director of Life, Marriage and Family
St Benedict had a motto, “Ora et Labora”, which means “Pray and Work”. This concept of prayer and work going hand-in-hand is at the heart of the Benedictine rule of life, and one that we would all do well to adopt.
Ultimately, we are not made for this world. We have been placed here to prepare ourselves for eternity with God. This preparation requires a lot of work and, not knowing when God will call us to Him, we don’t have a moment to lose.
There will be times on the journey when we will need to stop for a rest. We are weak and fallen, so time for recreation is essential. However, the focus of our lives should be to work towards eternity.
To be sure that we are focusing on the eternity that God has planned for us, we need to be in constant communication with Him. Hence, the need for us to pray as we work. We need to ask God what work he requires of us at any given stage of our lives.
We should not think of work as a ‘career’, but rather as a ‘mission’. If we consider the mission aspect behind our career work, we might even realise we are not actually doing the work which God is asking of us.
All of our work, whether it be career work or work at home, should be offered in service. If the only one we are serving is ourselves, this is the very definition of selfishness. We will actually derive the most benefit personally if we first ensure that our work is directed towards making a gift of ourselves.
With this model, everybody wins! Offering work, first and foremost in the service of others, will foster in us the virtues needed to strive towards eternity in heaven.
Parents and teachers should be instilling in children, from as early as possible, this idea of service being at the heart of the work we do. When service is at the heart of family and community life, society will flourish.
They should also find ways for children to be productive and active in the beauty of God’s creation, rather than in an artificially created environment. Too often we see (or don’t see) children tucked away, connected to one device or another, being completely unproductive while the world is passing them by.
This is nothing like the activity for which they were created but is, unfortunately, well established as the ‘norm’ of our culture. Is it any wonder that we are increasingly hearing of loneliness, depression and anxiety within our youth and young adults. The antidote to this is active service, (i.e. work).
We will not find joy in this life, and ultimately the joy of eternity with God, if we are not fulfilling our purpose in life. Just as Adam was put “…in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15), so, too, are we placed in our own “garden”, and we are expected to “till and keep” what has been entrusted to us.