What Does It Mean For Me In My Daily Work?

By Dr. Tom Bausch
Management Professor

On occasion I have the opportunity to attend the 6:15 a.m. daily mass at Gesu. Father Ken Herrian, S.J., always concludes by adding to “Go the Mass has ended”, “and to do the work the Lord has for each of us today”.  I have found myself considering how that phrase ties into Peter’s words to Cornelius from the Acts of theApostles.  “I begin to see how true it is that God shows no partiality.  Rather, the person of any nation who fears God and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him.” (Acts 10.34-35)  God shows no partiality toward any person, for he has infinite love for each one of us and begs us to accept His love so we can be with Him.  And so we must show no partiality to any person.

God’s love is ours to embrace freely and is never forced on us.   This love is present for each of us be we man or woman; heterosexual or homosexual; Pope John Paul, Saddam Hussein or George Bush; Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew, Animist, Jain, Protestant or Catholic; virgin or prostitute; saint or sinner; young or old; AIDS victim or leper; U.S. soldier or Iraqi soldier; drunk or person who totally abstains.  Each one of us has the dignity of being a Child of God.  He loves each of us without partiality and has a passionate desire for each of us to accept His love.  And so what does this mean for each of us?

Peter goes on in today’s reading to say: “Jesus went about doing good works and healing all who were in the grip of the devil.”  If each of us is Jesus, and through Baptism and the Eucharist each of us is part of the Body of Christ, then our job each day is to is to be with Christ and through our good works with Him to open people to the love of God and to heal those in the grip of the devil in our world and circumstances.  Our work is to help every person in our lives in the family, workplace, classroom, meeting, athletic club and tavern to realize that they hunger for God and to open doors so that they are able to feed on the love and forgiveness of God that is always present. 

Does this mean that we ignore what is wrong and unjust?  Of course not!  It is essential as we discipline the child who is misbehaving, help the secretary with a drinking problem, fire the person who is harmful to our organization, flunk the student who has been cheating, support the promiscuous person with AIDS, and deal with all of the other messy situations into which God puts us “to do good works and to heal” as we “do the work he called us to do today.” 

Maybe each of us could be living more reflectively during Lent by examining each day with two questions.  Where did I find God today?  Without partiality, how did I help others in my life today to open themselves to the love of God?