Happy Vacation then BOOM

Laborare Est Orare (to work is to pray), detail of a nineteenth century painting by John Rogers Herbert, 

showing Benedictine monks at work.   

How easy it is to do our daily tasks when everything is going perfect. Imagine having a really perfect weekend. You just spent your time with your family and loved ones, maybe watched a movie or went to a swimming party. Suddenly, Monday arrives and an unexpected load of work comes with really tight deadlines. Don’t you just wanna go back in time when everything was chill?

I’m not a master of handling SNAFU (Situation Normal All FreakGD%^ed Up) situations. There are times when I just wanna go YOLO; like Imma pick up my things, run away, and drink beer at my happy place. But there has to be a way to handle the situation properly, without losing one’s cool. There has to be a way to control all the complaints and stress in life, and turn it into something good.

A few days ago, I was with my love and her former teacher in [beep]. Ms. [beep] was telling us that a lot of students nowadays (compared to older batches) do not follow simple rules anymore, like wearing proper uniform. And another problem is that the admin is no longer as strict as it used to be in enforcing school policies, as if discipline is not that important anymore. Back when I was still studying in school (x number of hours years ago.), I couldn't see the value of wearing a uniform, making hair look neat, wearing proper shoes, etc. But now that I’m working as a full time audio guy, I realized that hey, it was all because when you graduate, the world becomes bigger and tougher. If you can’t even handle simple campus rules, how much more in the real world when the rules are more... “unfair”.

So what now? SNAFU days will keep on coming. It will never end. YOU ARE ALL ALONE; NO ONE WILL BE THERE TO HELP YOU. ACCEPT YOUR DOOM! Just kidding! Of course there’s something we can do about it. In my previous blog, like a few months ago, I mentioned this thing called, “sanctifying one’s work”. It’s being made holy through one’s work. I’m not sure if I did mention how, and I’m not going to read it again because it’s too long... lol. But anyway, here’s a line from the Bible that would help us understand better how (and actually why) one could/should sanctify one’s work.

"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24)

In other words, to follow Christ is not an easy task; sacrifices are required. We should deny our desires for comfort, and carry the weight of the cross. This is called Mortification, and it applies to work. If we cannot follow simple rules and complain at just about everything, this will be an even more difficult thing to do. It also CANNOT happen if there is NO VOLUNTARY EFFORT to let go of the things/habits/desires that are keeping us away from Christ.

When we practice the spirit of mortification, we experience joy in suffering. We suffer because it’s not easy and we experience pain, but we are joyful because this is the way to be holy: following Christ. The exact opposite of this is going YOLO the wrong way and just running away from the problem. When we are running away from our daily tasks or when we’re not doing our tasks well--be it light or heavy--we are not fighting the good fight; we are actually throwing our cross away. So man up!

Sometimes, the cross may seem like it weighs more than we could handle. We can always pray, but not for God to take away our cross nor to make our cross lighter, but we should pray and ask God to make us stronger. When we become stronger, the cross will again become heavier, and it becomes a continuous cycle. When we feel our cross getting heavier, this should give us joy because hey, maybe God just wants to accelerate our spiritual growth. Maybe He wants us to be holy ASAP! And most importantly, we should always remember that we are not the only ones carrying the cross. Christ is always present and He is carrying the cross with us. And if we unite our sufferings to His, they will not be in vain. They will surely bear good fruit, which God will reveal to us if not in this lifetime, then in the hereafter.

"Let us work. Let us work a lot and work well, without forgetting that prayer is our best weapon. That is why I will never tire of repeating that we have to be contemplative souls in the midst of the world, who try to convert their work into prayer."
(Furrow, 497)