WORD 2day: Joy and the Holy Spirit

Saturday, IV week of Easter: 2nd May, 2015

Acts 13: 44-52; Jn 14:7-14

The disciples were filled with joy and holy spirit, says the first reading today. It becomes hard to connect that this is the ending note of a passage speaking about the rejection and insult of the apostles by their own fellow Jews. Elsewhere too we would read that they returned happy that they were able to suffer for the sake of the name of  Jesus (cf. Acts 5:41). However it would make sense once we read and understand what Jesus tells us in the Gospel today: whoever believes in me will do the works that I do and will do greater ones than these. The apostles seem to have inherited it from their Master to consider themselves blessed for having to suffer for righteousness sake, to thirst for justice. 

It has become a normal experience for me to be laughed at, when I speak to groups about standing for truth and facing the consequences. Be it groups of youngsters or groups of consecrated people, they smile when I say stick to the truth and stand for the right wherever you are. They would smile and conclude with saying, 'then that would be the end of us"...meaning that they would lose any future if they did it! It would be like, they telling me: that sounds good when said, but living it is not feasible. I appreciate the honesty of these people, but constantly question myself: when will I be matured enough to shake the dust off my feet and walk!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

St. Joseph, the Worker: 1st May, 2015

The 3 Dimensions of Work

Gen 1:26 - 2:3; Mt 13: 54-58

Every work that we do should have three dimensions to it,to make it truly holistic! On a day such as today, it is right that we dwell on this aspect of Work. 

The First dimension is the Self: work as a self expression of the one who works. Everything that I do, should become part of what I am. I should be able to see at the end of the work, in the outcome, a bit of me. The beautiful example is given in the first reading today,where we see God at work and at the end of it all, God found that it was good; God found that God was present in the works that God had created.

The Second dimension is the Other: work should add to the common good. Every work of mine should add to the common good in some way or the other, directly or indirectly. A carpenter for example is someone who expresses his or her self in a product that would serve the common good; or a sculptor or an engineer or a teacher... 

The Third dimension is God, the author of all work: work should be a participation in the divine design, the eternal plan, the creative mission of God. The psalm brings out the crux of it, invoking the Lord to give success to the work of our hands. It is in the eternal plan that our work draws its meaning and success. At  work, we partake in our role as co-creators with God the Creator!

Having said all this: let us ask a question. How many of us are involved in a work, an occupation, a livelihood that reflects all these 3 dimensions? Where is the place of "money" within this grand picture of 3 dimensions? Are our thoughts about our work and our calculations about out career, fitting into this framework? Or have we moved far far away from any such holistic thought pattern?