Finding Purpose In Work | Fr. Mike Schmitz

this talk is every because everybody's working and one of the realities of course is that we know that the our lives are going to be spent working in fact um they've done research the average American Works roughly 90 000 hours of their entire life that what you can expect for the rest of your life is working roughly 90 000 hours the average American which is just over half of your Waking Life is going to be spent at work you guys don't seem to be happy about this um which I I get because I mean they even talk about the 40-hour work week I don't know if you know this but 86 percent even you know it's 40 Hour Work Week 86 of American men work more than 40 hours a week and 66 of American women work over 40 hours a week we work a lot even though since 19 these are the stats to get you involved okay so um so you're like he knows what he's talking about he's cited some statistics so even though since 1950 the average American has increased their productivity by over 400 percent so since 1950 we're working even more because in 1960 only 20 of the American families had both moms and dads at work and right now there's over 70 percent of American families having both moms and dads not at work just because they want to but working because they feel like they need to we spend a lot of Our Lives working and we're not the only ones in Japan they have over 10 000 people die annually due to overwork 10 000 people every year in Japan die from work it's actually they die so often that there's actually even a Japanese term they it's called Karoshi because it happens so often no that's tragic and sad but did you know that the average American works over 135 hours per year more than the average Japanese person in the country where they have 10 000 people a year die of overwork they have this term Karoshi the average American works over 135 hours more than the average Japanese person but wait it gets worse the average American will work over 260 more hours per year than the average person in the UK and this is the worst one I just think it's just so devastating the average American will work over 300 sorry over 499 hours per year more than the average French worker 499 hours per year in the average French person you know what that is that's over that's over three weeks of 24-hour days that you'll be working that the average French person is going to be eating their baguettes and their Brie and like down at the beach and nice like the three weeks every single year and yet they did a research they did a study back I think 2000 2016. and only 10 of Americans said that they were even engaged with their work only 10 percent feel that they were engaged by their work there was another UH 60 percent that said they tolerated their work and 30 percent of Americans said they absolutely hated their work hated their job this thing the thing that they're going to spend doing the the half over half of their Waking Life they're going to spend doing 30 openly hate their work so what do we do how do we approach work because I think a lot of us we might approach work like like that we say like oh my gosh this is the thing that once I graduate there I go I'm gonna work for the next however many years until I maybe hopefully get to retire and then maybe if I have something saved up I can actually start living my life is that a Christian view of work in fact I think for many of us many Christians even we can look at work and think like work is just a curse work is what happens as a result of the Fall if we were thinking that we would actually be more we'd be less Christian and more pagan so the Pagan idea of work right is the Greco-Roman idea vision and even the Eastern Middle Eastern vision of work was this was that work was invented by the gods because the gods didn't want to do it so they just invented human beings to be slaves that was it that's why they're that's why that's not only why work exists that's why you exist human beings exist so simply be slaves for the gods because the gods have so much better things to be doing than work question is that the Christian view of work the answer of course is absolutely not in fact the Christian view of work goes all the way back to the judeo Fusion Vision of work which is in Genesis chapter one what happens in Genesis chapter one we don't see the god creating human beings to do work that he didn't want to do what would the first the first ACT first picture of God we get is what God is a sorry read my mind you guys you finished my sentences God is a worker on the first day God created he built something on the second day God created he did something on the third day he creates on the seventh day God rested from all his work the judeo-christian vision of God is not that God creates human beings to be his slaves because he didn't want to do work the judea-christian vision of God is that at his heart God is a worker and who here is made in God's image and likeness couple of you yeah exactly [Applause] likeness that just as God is a worker you're made to work in fact that what's the first commandment the very first commandment that God gives to human beings is cultivate and care for this Garden he puts him in the garden right he says okay cultivate and care to the for the garden basically he's saying go to work cultivate and Care actually those are two Hebrew terms the two Hebrew terms are Abu da and Shamar to work and to guard that's what those two words mean are these two words to work and to guard and even before the fall God says here's what I've made you to do in the garden I need you to abbada and Shamar I need you to work and to guard what that should remind us of is that in the beginning work is not a curse in the beginning in fact in the beginning you're made for work if you're made in God's image and likeness that means you are made in fact I'll say it more like this from the very beginning Genesis chapter 1 and 2 reveals that were made for three things were made for labor were made for leisure were made for love we're waiting for these three things I mean for labor for leisure and for love these are three ways we get to actually exercise the fact that we've made a God's image in likeness the horrible thing is that as we know um in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter two here's God who's good makes this world good makes you and I like him good everything's good and if that was the end of the Bible if Genesis chapter 2 was the end of the Bible the Bible in the air be very much shorter but also they'd be great we know the Bible doesn't end with chapter two it goes on to chapter three what happens in chapter three is there's the fall and in Genesis Chapter 3 The Fall twists these three good things that you're made for it twists slaver it twists Leisure and twists love in a way that actually is devastating to all of us if you think about this um how was how is Leisure Twisted well what's your experience of leisure what's my experience of leisure is either it's one of these two extremes are either our experience of leisure is um I don't know how to do it right so I just like oh I have some time off let me just scroll how many times have you gotten done scrolling or binging on something I mean like wow I feel so rejuvenated that was Recreation like no never we don't know how to Leisure that's crazy on the other hand what's our other vision of leisure other vision of leisure is just collapse like maybe this happened to you like two weeks ago it got done with finals and it was just like get me home I can make it hi Mom and Dad like that that was it see this Twisted vision of the thing you're made for you're made for a Leisure this Recreation and yet we either don't do it right or we just simply collapse the other I mean love has been Twisted duh where we either are indifferent to others are we lust after them right we either ignore others or we use them there's a bunch more talks on that throughout the course of this week so I'm not going to dive into that anymore but through this twisting of leisure this twisting of love and there's also this twisting of Labor so that either labor is merely toil it's fruitless it's meaningless or it's what gives us our identity it's everything this is who I am in fact Genesis chapter three let's we're going to hover over there for just a second here in Genesis 3 what does God say he says from now on the to the man you will toil toil is a fun word not only fun to say just toil there's kind of two syllables in it but there's not really at the same time just you guys toil isn't it kind of fun to say okay that was not in my notes I just kind of got the feel and the spirit you know um but there but there's either work is toil or it's my everything either it's fruitless and it's pointless or it's my identity and think about this okay just to hover over toil for a second toil is work that feels fruitless and I know you've you've been in that situation right where where you've tried so hard and there's nothing like whether that's like you study you're taking that that like um organic chem class you're just like I am studying there's so much of this physics class like I'm putting so much time into this and there is that the the the what this is what is this the needle the needle has not been like the needle has not changed at all like I've been putting so much time into this and there's no fruit from it you've all experienced this amen or even that sense of like maybe you're someone who like leads a Bible study maybe you're someone who's been inviting your friends to mass you're like I just keep trying I keep inviting people and they say sure or they know where I spent respond to my texts and it seems so fruitless toil is work that it seems like it does nothing orange feels pointless or you show up and it feels seems like it does nothing it seems like it means nothing so fruitless means it's work that seems like it does nothing pointless is work that seems like it means nothing I remember the first time I ever heard the term busy work because I I kind of came from a place where I just kind of trusted all my teachers that if they assign me something to do I'd be like oh this must be worthwhile and we're talking to students who are like this is just a bunch of busy work like what what is that what is busy work well busy work you don't have to me you don't need me to describe it but busy work essentially is that work that we appears to us to be simply toil right it means nothing it is pointless that I could spend all my time doing this and It ultimately will mean absolutely nothing so how do we look at work is it merely toil is it merely fruitless and pointless or is there some work that actually can mean something so so to look into this I just wanna we realize Okay so Leisure has been Twisted Libra has been Twisted loves have been twisted and yet at the same time going back to relationships there are certain kinds of relationships they're not necessarily the best but they're still good just like there's kind of work that's not necessarily the best but it's still good so okay keep this in mind there are such thing as you know of as toxic relationships right there's some relationships you just no you they don't deserve your heart they don't deserve your time you should get out of those things those are such a thing as toxic relationships just like there's some work work that is dehumanizing there is some work that actually strips you of your humanity and you stay away from that slavish work you're not made to be a Slave can strip you over Humanity it's just like toxic relationships to stay away from them there's slavish work you don't need to spend that time but there's other kinds of work I mean think about relationships I mean there are useful relationships has anyone here ever read the book by Dr SRI men women and the Mystery of love a couple of you yeah so I recommend it highly in it and he talks about different kinds of relationships one of the kinds of relationships we have are useful friendships useful relationships that's like people you're on the same team and you realize yeah we're why because we're going to work together to accomplish a goal that's our friendship our friend it's not bad it's good it's just useful you're in the same study group why because it helps us all get a better grade we're not going to study together we're not going to spend time with each other if we're not going to help each other no again it's not bad but it simply is a useful friendship just like there's some work that is like we have to do it because we have to do it the sewer is backed up someone has better fixed that that is work that just needs to get done it's useful work or even work job work that pays the bills that's useful work that's not a bad work that's not bad at all it's like okay no I'm doing this job why because it's good to do or it's worthwhile to do it needs to get done or because it simply pays the bills I have a brother-in-law who um years ago had this job that all he would do from eight o'clock in the morning to four o'clock at night with a hour half hour lunch break with you would just do data entry for insurance company he would sit at the computer and just look at the file and like type it into a computer like oh my gosh Tanner that must be awful he's like no I love it he's like no one talks to me all day kind of an introvert no one talks to me all day and at four o'clock at 401 I get to turn down that turn off that computer I do not have to think about work until the next day at 8 A.M perfect it pays the bills useful work not a bad thing but a certain kind of thing amen so there is toxic relationships slavish work there's useful relationships useful work there's also Pleasant friendships these are people that basically you're with them because why we have fun they make me laugh I make them laugh we have fun if we ever gets deep it doesn't really ever get deep it doesn't need to get deep this is simply a pleasant relationship this is a fun friendship that's not bad it's good but it's a certain kind just like there are certain work there's certain jobs that no this doesn't need to get done this isn't paying the bills why are you doing this work because it's fun I spent 10 Summers of My Life as a camp counselor not because they counselors a lot of money in fact um I think we did the we did the math the other counselors myself we we earned something like 22 cents for per hour so unless you're independently wealthy it's like not not going to be something you necessarily get to do but that was simply a fun job I did the work because I found it enjoyable so there's toxic relationships slavish work you store relationships useful work there are Pleasant friendships and there's also Pleasant work but there's also this thing called virtuous friendships these are friendships that make you better and they make the other person a better person and in the same way there's work some kind of work that is Meaningful work and in fact you say like this it's human work not just useful not just fun but what some science social scientists have called connected work so we we live in a culture right now that has divorced what you're doing in your work from the end that we've kind of fragmatized our world and so I mean think about this if you were someone working 100 200 years ago on a farm you were part of that entire process from we're gonna till the ground we're going to prepare their land we're going to seed the land we're going to water and grow the land we're going to harvest the crops you were part of the whole thing now what do you do I mean somebody I just I punch these numbers and that's it pass them on to the next person I put do this number and I pass on to the next person I do this we've fragmented our lives so much we don't have human work because we don't have connected work but human work is connected work in fact there are some social scientists who have talked about this they said they said for human work to really be human work it needs to involve three things one it needs to have a meaningful goal secondly there needs to be some kind of purpose behind it and third every worker needs to be able to make decisions that actually matter so these three things so it needs to be connected to a goal it needs to have some kind of purpose behind it and you need to feel like you can make decisions that actually make a difference so some examples um there were a group of people who their job was to call alumni from a university and ask them for money so here's the thing you're going to graduate with a mortgage called your tuition um and and then after you pay that off or even sometimes while you're paying that off you will have some people who are at the University who are calling you saying hey I know that you're paying us this amount of money every single month but would you be willing to give us even more money so that we can right so these are the people their job is to call alumni and raise money well they found that if they would if they before they make the call they would invite a student and a current student who would give their testimony and the story would be I would not be able to attend this University if it weren't for the scholarships that I've received from this University these scholarships are made possible because there are alumni that are willing to support me being here and if they simply had that current student come in and give their testimony about this is what it means for me to be able to go to school is if there are people who are willing to support the scholarship that I can get paid they found that if they've heard that one testimony before they make a call that the productivity of that call the amount of money that they'll raise is increases by 170 percent why because it's connected to a goal it's not just I'm randomly calling a number and asking someone if they want to support University of whatever it's I'm asking someone are you willing to help this person who would not able be able to be able to attend this University to be able to attend this University amen so ask me so meaningful we're connected where human work has to be connected to a goal secondly there's got to be some kind of meaning behind it some kind of purpose in fact there was a hospital I heard about and this Hospital we're so United in their mission to help people get better to help sick people get better that even the janitors were invited and on this mission not just in theory but in practice how they ran this hospital was if there was a janitor and they were in the area and a nurse or a doctor physician assistant someone take caring for a patient needed help that the janitors had agreed like you just asked me I'll run into the room I'll do whatever you asked me to do grab this help this because the janitor said like no yes for the most of the day I clean these rooms most of the day I just I pick up the mess but this work is purposeful this work is Meaningful because they say I'm here to help sick people get better that's why I'm here I'm here to help sick people get better so human work is connected work right so it has a goal secondly there's meaning and thirdly has some autonomy like you have the ability to make decisions in fact last little story before we move on to the next thing is uh I'm sure you've all heard of the Ritz Carlton Hotel chain um at one point the Ritz Carlton I've read about this they had given every one of their employees the ability to use up to two thousand dollars of discretionary funds to solve any guest's problem so if you're at the front you're working at the front desk and uh there's a guest who comes up and says I have an issue um I didn't get this on this flight can you help me out rather than say I'm so sorry you didn't get on this flight um good luck that the person at the desk can say actually how much is your flight 500 no problem we'll take care of that for you without having to consult anybody they were entrusted they were entrusted by the people who are in charge of the whole place to say if you can make a guests stay even more even better you can make a decision up to 2 000 degree dial dollars of discretionary income and not have to ask anyone for permission That's How Deeply we trust you imagine imagine that kind of trust from the people who are employing you to be able to say what wait a second I guess you actually get to make decisions that are part of this Mission part of this goal that's meaningful that actually helps people that's human work that's what it is to have to do connected work and it's much more important you know Adam Smith I know some of you are economics Majors some of you are history Buffs and you know who with Adam Smith is the father of modern economics his thought was that human beings are so Twisted so fallen so lazy that the only way you can get us to do anything is if if you incentivize Us by paying us more you can get human beings to do anything provided that you give them enough money that only goes so far because of course we all realize that what we all want is not money we all want meaning we need money but we're made for meaning and we know this that when you have good work you realize work is not a curse it's not a result of the Fall toil pointless fruitless work back our experience of that can be the result of the Fall but not good work so again one of the one of The Temptations is as a result of the Fall work is simply toil fruitless pointless or or work is what gives me my identity and this is one of those things that Jesse is so interesting I mean empty work gives rise for the desire for work that allows me to be human makes sense the more disconnected I feel from work the more I need to do work that allows me to be human that allows me to be me but what happens is maybe this happens to you I think it's happened to our culture is that it's also given the rise to the desire for work that is me being me and if that makes any sense to you yet um basically this work that gives me my identity um there's a man his name is Robert Bella where rubella wrote a book called habits of the heart way back in the day and in it he described this thing so this isn't like a gen Z thing is it a millennial thing it's not a Gen X thing this is way back for the Boomers Robert Bella wrote this book and he said what's what's happened in our culture is this rise of what he called expressive individualism and expressive individualism is this thing of like um my work should simply be a reflection on myself that my work should simply be an outgrowth of me again me being me in this world and so I heard this other column that talked about you have heard of the term Yuppie right you'll be back in the 1980s yuppies are people who just wanted to make money and after the yuppies were hipsters right hipsters are people who just want to be themselves that I just want to be me this article talked about this next iteration if the Yuppie just wanted to make money and the Hipster just wanted to be me they use this term called the yucky and the yucky was someone who wanted to make money by just being me that kind of person who says like I I'm I'm so unique that I should be paid for simply being myself I'm so unique that I should simply being paid for pursuing my passion and that can happen that is that's something that can actually infect our thoughts just hey pursue your passion years ago before Steve Jobs had died he gave a commencement address at a university and in the course of this University address he said to all these college graduates he said listen what you need to do is you if you want to be happy you need to pursue your passion you need to find your passion and pursue your passion how many of us have heard that you want to be happy you need to find your passion and pursue your passion there's fascinating after this there was another author another another reporter who did an article on Steve Jobs and said okay well that's interesting we have all heard that we all think that's true and they ask the question what if Steve Jobs had done that himself like what if Steve Jobs when he was in college what if he pursued his passion would he be Steve Jobs so they went back and looked at Steve Jobs life Steve Jobs passion back when he was in college age was not Electronics it was Zen Buddhism in fact Steve Jobs was passionate about one thing and that was Zen Buddhism the reason why he actually worked with circuit boards and worked to design what ultimately became Apple was because he wanted to make money to Simply pursue his pursuit of Buddhism even further so if Steve Jobs had taken Steve Jobs advice of find your passion and pursue your passion we wouldn't have the computers we have we wouldn't have we want this wouldn't exist if Steve Jobs had taken his own advice of find your passion and pursue your passion there's someone I think who's even wiser and maybe this is my assessment this is my opinion completely opinion someone wiser than Steve Jobs his name is Mike Rowe I don't know if you've heard of Mike Rowe micro had a TV show back in the day called Dirty Jobs and a dirty jobs that he would do yeah yeah I'm with him and so what micro would do is he he would follow these people all around the country who were doing these jobs that no one else wanted the Dirty Jobs right that people would think I would never ever do this over the course of the I think eight seasons that 30 jobs is on he said he discovered some one thing in common with every person who was doing these Dirty Jobs number one most of them were wildly successful number two most of them were incredibly happy and number three none of them had a passion for what they were doing originally none of them none of them got into transporting liquid fertilizer AKA animal feces across the country because they're like passionate about fertilizer they just what they did was they looked for an opportunity they looked for an opportunity they pursued the opportunity they got good at it and then they found a way to be happy they did not pursue their passions they looked for opportunity they pursued the opportunity they got really good at it and they found a way to be happy I know a family uh based out of Nebraska and uh I know I know and I was talking with this this husband and wife and they had a they had a company that basically made pet food and they were very successful they were very happy and neither of them had a passion for like I want to feed domesticated animals with the fruit of the earth it was like oh there's an opportunity let's pursue that let's get really good at it let's help people feed their pets wealth happiness not pursue passion seek the opportunity pursue the opportunity get really good at it and find a way to be happy um John Acorn John Acorn is a leader in the field of positive psychology and in his research one of the things he discovered was that only 10 percent of human happiness is a result of external circumstances only 10 percent of our happiness on a daily basis is the result of external circumstances my job our relationship status where I live only 10 is based off of external circumstances and yet for so many of us one of the things we try to control more than anything else is oh my gosh what kind of job will I have where would I live who will I marry how many kids will have all these external servants that says they're important obviously only 10 of our happiness is based off of those external circumstances which reveals something to us it should reveal that you're in more control of your happiness than you might think you have more control over your own happiness than you might think and I don't think necessarily that we'll be happy by this what Robert Bella called expressive individualism the yucky I get paid for being myself but there's something more important something more powerful remember Bella said this and he wasn't even Christian he said it's a rediscovery of a thing called vocation that if you actually want to have a fulfilled life it's a rediscovery of something called vocation we all know we've all heard the term vocation we typically think in the world we think vocation is your job in the church we think vocation is one of the big four right priesthood religious life contradicting a life or marriage But ultimately in Christian circles vocation simply means I've been called out of myself by another that's that's basically what it is to have a vocation means I've been called out of myself by another so my work is my vocation right I it's no longer where I get my identity it's where I bring my identity your work is no longer where you get your identity it's where you bring your identity again just like my girl had said it's not finding your passion it's seeking the opportunity pursuing the opportunity getting good at it and finding way to be happy another way to say it was like this involves two steps one is looking up and then second is looking in number one looking up hearing the call what is the need of the world and number two looking in realizing that you already have a self you already have a worth you already have an identity and think about Jesus before Jesus does any Miracles before he does any great thing before Jesus does any of his mission to save the world he gets baptized by John and the Jordan and what does the father say over him he says this is my beloved Son with whom I'm well pleased Jesus doesn't get his identity he doesn't get his birth but what he what he already has your work and my work is not about self-expression it's about self-donation it's not where I get my identity it's where I get to give myself away it's the vocation looking up and saying okay what does the world need looking in and saying do I have what it takes to meet that need do I have the ability to make that need and do I want to this is really important not only looking out and saying okay what does the world need what's the opportunities what are the Opera what's the call and looking in and saying do I have the ability to reach that call see a need fill a need also do I want to remember hearing a story about Whitney Whitney Houston back in the day when Whitney Houston was just a young girl uh I think her godmother was Aretha Franklin so nice bloodline and nice people around and Whitney Houston at one point said to her or godmother Aretha um I want to be a singer and Aretha Franklin said here's a question wait you have to answer this do you want to be a singer or do you want to sing those are two different things she said if you want to sing you have a great voice you can sing every Sunday in the church choir every Tuesday every Wednesday we have praise and worship you can sing if you want to be if you want to sing you can sing if you want to be a singer that doesn't just mean singing it means being part of the industry means doing all the things all the other things that no one wants to do when they want to sing but if you want to be a singer very different than just I want to sing same thing is true for all of us want to help people okay don't be someone who professionally does that for the course of your life or do you want to be someone who lives a certain way and uses their free time to help others I mean that's a bad example but just like that sense of I have to ask that question and answer that question what is the need look up and they'll look in do I have the ability and the desire to fulfill that need and to do without fear there's this incredible movie Back in the Day called Chariots of Fire which is super boring just spoiler super boring if you're not you don't run the 400 meter dash you will be completely bored by this by this movie but there's two men in this movie one is Harold Abrams and one is Eric little both of them are incredible world-class 100 meter dash sprinters and at one point Harold Abrams his character says basically he says it seems so unfair 10 seconds to prove that my life means something and so we saw it seems so unfair 10 seconds to prove my life means something this might be some of us saying are you kidding me I get 40 years 50 years to do some work that that can show that I mean something that I that my life is worth living hell Abrams said 10 seconds to move that my life means something he says I'm not only afraid of losing I'm afraid of winning because even if I win who am I afterwards a lot of you who are student athletes you know this experience a lot of you are former student athletes you know this experience even more acutely that that sometimes happens in that senior year where your sport was in the fall and your whole identity has been like yeah I'm on the football team I'm a football player I play baseball I play volleyball whatever that sport is and then all of a sudden it's done and the second you step off the court for the last time second you step off the field for the last time it's not I'm a football player I'm a baseball player I'm a basketball player it's I used to be a I used to swim in college I used to be a runner I used to do whatever in college I used to I'm not that anymore I'm afraid it seems so unfair contrasted with Eric little who Not only was an incredible athlete was also a Christian dedicated to Jesus Christ who himself in the whole course of the story he was the number one seed in the entire world for the 100 meter dash but they ran the 100 meter uh Heats on a Sunday and as a Christian he said I can't his work was running and so he's like I can't work on Sunday so he refused to do 100 meter dash instead he said he moved to the 400 spoiler he wins the pawn to mirror Dash but the point is not that if you get what the Lord says he'll give you the gold medal that's not happened that doesn't true look at the cross but it is to say this difference Eric little knew who he was whether he stepped on the track or not Eric little knew that who he was his identity came from Jesus so that even if he lost he still won Harold Abrams his identity came from his work so even if he won he still lost so last couple things human work everything you do has dignity because you're doing it that's why because you're a human being made in God's Dimension likeness because of that everything you do has worth because you have worth again if you react to ask the Greeks if one of the Gods became a human being what kind of human being would they become they would say you that person will become a philosopher king that's that's what they saw as the highest yeah the Romans if one of the Gods became a human being what kind of human being would they become they become a Statesman because you had to become involved in politics and they would they would steer the course of the polity question when God did become one of us what was his job he's a carpenter he was a worker what does that mean well a couple things here's what it doesn't mean sometimes if you want to picture Jesus and Joseph in a carpenter shop like you know carving wood kind of sitting back like it's all dusty and like there's wood particles in the air and Joseph's just kind of carving like a little whatever like a little boat they got a chair that's fine you can have that image but the actual Greek word that is used in the gospels for what Joseph was and what Jesus was as far as occupation is the Greek word tecton which can mean carpenter But ultimately simply means laborer and sometimes it's used to designate people who work with wood but it's also used as designate people who work with stone you know when Jesus was growing up about two to four miles away from Nazareth there was a Greek city that was being built and it's very likely very possible that Jesus's whole life growing up before between he was when he was able to work and his 30th 30th year he would get up every morning with Joseph and they would walk a couple miles to this other town and what Jesus might have done all day is simply Hall rocks from this place to that place all day that's all he did I'm not saying that's what the job was but tecton means someone who would do that someone who did that who simply hauled rocks all day it's called the tecton Jesus is called a tecton was that revealed to us not only the God not only starts out as a worker he continues as a worker it also reveals there's no such thing as work that's beneath you if that's what Jesus the Savior the Lord of all that's how he spends his time the majority of his awake hours simply hauling rocks there is literally no such thing as work that's beneath you because every kind of work you do if we're gonna work I do human work again work is not where we express ourselves it's where we give ourselves because work is not just about what you do it's about who you become that's why again this phrase busy work get it I don't like it I don't think there's such a thing as busy work I don't think there's such a thing as bad yes there is work that's like this doesn't isn't doing anything but it is it is it's doing something in you it's doing something in me so my senior year he's getting bored are you guys okay you guys okay should I keep going or should I stop stop okay just want to make sure just make sure okay okay so um my senior year in college I I majored in theology and I had this class I I apparently I missed it it was a freshman class I didn't take it it was it was class basically for someone who needed a theology credit and I hadn't taken it yet so I signed up the first day very first day of class it was packed I literally had to sit on the ground because so many people had showed up for this class and I remember thinking I've never heard of this professor this is he must be awesome must be incredible the second day of class no one was there there was a handful of people because I realized then what everyone knew was this teacher this professor his class was so easy you didn't have to show up for class once you just had to show up they show up the first day to get when the tests are being given show up on test day you'll get an A that's all it was but I'm the kind of person who like shows up because I feel compelled and so I stood up for every class and he was the worst teacher I've ever had in my entire life so bad so bad and also Not only was he a bad teacher like there was nothing worthwhile that he ever taught out loud in public with his voice but also there's this group of guys who did show up every day for class I don't know why they showed up because they talked all through class like literally not like remember they were like we're having an open conversation normally and I'd be looking over it kind of beat that person like after one of these classes I remember I was going to go up to talk to the he was a monk he was a priest and I'm going to say father just please the girl ahead of me was saying the same thing so I was like okay I don't have to say anything and he said I shouldn't have to say anything this is in kindergarten I shouldn't have to tell them to not be not talk during class I'm like yeah but you do you know kind of so there were times and I'm sorry about this I have to confess this there were times he was a very slight man they're very small human being and in his habit those were even smaller kind of thing I remember I had these like rage Daydreams of like walking up to him and like grabbing him by the side like picking him up and like breaking him and it was just I was so I was just I'm sorry I brought it to confession it's okay we're good but there was this I was so so angry at him and yet every time I looked at him with disgust every time I rolled my eyes every time I just kind of like whatever he'd always meet with patience he always met me with just this piece he took my negative attitude and every time I offered this negativity he was just like I'm open to you he didn't teach me a thing about theology he did teach me about how to be Jesus he did teach me he didn't teach me a what he didn't teach me a single single what what he taught me what a good who looks like that's why all work is not just toil it's not fruitless it's not meaningless your work doesn't give us our identity work is the place we show up and become a different kind of person Saint Paul to the Colossians he says whatever you do work at it with your whole heart as for the Lord whatever you do there's no such thing as work that's beneath you whatever you do work out with your whole heart as for the Lord because he's your audience this is the last thing there's a there's a movie in a play called the Man For All Seasons about the life of Saint Thomas More and at one point there's this man who comes up to his name is Richard Rich um and he wants to be really famous he wants to be very powerful he wants to be very influential he wants to be a politician and he thinks that if he gets close to Saint Thomas More that he's going to be on that track and he says Thomas Sir Thomas what should I do with my life what should I what where's what kind of area of of work should I go into and St Thomas More looks have been says Richard I think you'd be a good teacher Mr says a teacher what good is that he says well a person like you could could educate people who need to be educated you can care for people you need to be cared for you could actually help people from going to this place of not knowing to a place of knowing you could help people become the people they're meant to be and Richard Rich stops and he says but so what if I did so what if I was great at this Who would know and St Thomas More looks at him and he says well you would know your family would know your friends would know your students they would know and and God would know it's not a bad audience work is not a curse we're made for work there's no such thing as work that's beneath any of us but it's that process of work it's process of giving ourselves that transforms us into the people who are meant to be provided that whatever we do we work out with our whole heart as for the Lord amen thank you so much [Music]

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

Views: 57,498

Keywords: work life, work life balance, work life balance presentation, what is the purpose of work, how to find a job i like

Id: c54hTgH-Oog

Length: 45min 7sec (2707 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 03 2023