After creating us in his image and likeness, God gave us an assignment – to work and take care of his creation.  “The Lord God took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it. (Genesis 2:15)

Many people look on work as a curse resulting from the fall, but work was ordained before the fall, so work is a part of God’s divine plan for us.  Our purpose is to take care of creation until God is, as St. Paul says, “all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:28)

Lester DeKoster, in his book, Work, the Meaning of Your Life, defines work as “the form in which we make ourselves useful to others and thus to God.”  He explains, “Culture and civilization don’t just happen.  They are made to happen and keep happening by work.”  He poses the question, what would happen if everyone quit working and answers, “Civilized life quickly melts away.  Food vanishes from the store shelves, gas pumps dry up, streets are no longer patrolled, and fires burn themselves out. Communication and transportation services end and utilities go dead. Those who survive at all are soon huddled around campfires, sleeping in tents and clothed in rags.  The difference between barbarism and culture is, simply, work.  As seeds multiply themselves into harvest, so work flowers into civilization.”  

All work that contributes to the production of goods and services for others is part of God’s plan for creation.  What surprises people is that in working at providing the necessities for others they are serving God himself. 

We may be surprised that in doing our work we, too, are serving God.  In working as an attorney for most of my career, I did not consider early on that my work was serving God, but it was indeed a “thread in the larger fabric of civilization” arising out of God’s creation.  My summer jobs in high school and college of serving on a road asphalt crew and a laborer in a cement plant were also “threads” making up the larger fabric of civilization.  

God calls us to love him and one another. (Luke 10:27) He calls us to be holy as he is holy. (1Peter 1:15) He also calls us to work and take care of our thread in the fabric of civilization arising from his creation. 

Do you realize that you are serving God in your work?

Jim, a Christian friend, mentioned to me a few years ago that he was going to Cuba with a Christian group.  He said that he wasn’t sure what he would be doing but realized that over the years the most important thing he could do was just show up.  He said that he found that God’s grace was at work in any given situation or need. Since then, he and his team have gone on ten of these trips, and their efforts have led to over five thousand professions of faith by individual Cubans. More recently, they have been going to Mongolia with the same kind of results. 

His response reminds me a of the passage in the Bible where the prophet, Isaiah is in the temple and hears the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?”  Isaiah says, “Here I am. Send me!”  (Isaiah 6:8)

Several years ago, I was asked to help start a local chapter of Christians in Commerce, now called WorkLight (WorkLight | Workplace Ministry Helping Christians at Work.  Its mission is “to encourage and equip Christians to be God’s presence in the workplace by the power of the Holy Spirit, exercising faith, integrity and excellence.” I contacted a few close Christian friends, and we invited about 20 men on a weekend retreat. 

The Northern Virginia chapter was established and has been meeting every Wednesday morning since May 1985, albeit by Zoom in recent years.  Over the years, hundreds of men have been invited to experience the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a much fuller way, countless lives have been changed through these retreats and weekly meetings, and many workplaces impacted. 

I didn’t do anything special.  Like my friend Jim said, I just showed up.  God was already there through his Holy Spirit, touching and changing lives.

Are you showing up to be God’s presence to the people in your life?

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; worship the Lord with cries of gladness; come before him with joyful song.” (Psalm 100:1)

Thirty-five other psalms begin with this same encouragement according to my cursory search.  St. Paul urges us to: “Rejoice in the Lord always. (Phil. 4:4)  Jesus in his Lord’s Prayer begins with “Our Father in heaven, hollowed be your name…”  

A number of years ago, our daughter Emily, who was born with Down syndrome, showed me how we should approach the Father with praise and worship.  We were at mass, and I was serving as a Eucharistic minister and just happened to be serving the isle in which she and my wife were coming down. When she realized that she was coming to me for communion, her face lit up with that big beautiful smile of hers, she held out her cupped hands to receive the body of Christ and started running toward me exclaiming loudly, “Daddy!”  It was an expression of complete and total love. 

My heart melted with her response, but then I thought, isn’t this how God would like all of us to approach him – unreservedly expressing our love and joy for him, not worrying about what others might think. 

While I often begin my prayer time each day with some praise, I am not sure I fulfill the expectation of the psalms or the level of commitment suggested by Jesus in his Greatest Commandment to “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Mt. 22:37) How often does my praise come from duty or a routine approach, instead of a joyful heart?

As the Psalmist says, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.” (Psalm 8:2 NIV)

May we follow their example and sing hymns with enthusiasm, offer our prayers and responses with fervor, and seek the Lord with a pure heart.

“When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?  We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” (Mt. 2:1-2)

As we know from listening to the story of the Magi every Christmas season, it was the star that led them to the Christ child.  Saint Leo the Great, Pope from 440 – 461, said we should imitate the star of Bethlehem in guiding and leading people to Jesus.  

Just as God took on flesh and blood through the power of the Holy Spirit with the Virgin Mary, so too, he takes on flesh and blood in us through the power of Holy Spirit.  God calls us to be his presence in the world and to bring that presence to the people in our lives – family, friends, colleagues and even strangers. 

Just before Christmas, Jerry Belt, a good friend of 40 years, died at age 94.  I first met Jerry on a Christians in Commerce retreat in 1985.  From then up to the time of his death he had a passion to introduce people to Jesus Christ.  For the past six years, he spear-headed a parish renewal effort at St. Mark in Vienna, VA, to encourage people to experience a personal encounter with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit through the Alpha program.  Alpha is a series of videos coupled with small group discussion and prayers for people to experience a personal encounter with Jesus and the release of the power of the Holy Spirit.  More than 400 people in our parish have experienced Alpha and the deepening of their faith.

With most people as they grow older, their enthusiasm and energy begin to diminish, but not Jerry’s.  Up and until the last few months, his passion to encourage people to experience a personal relationship with Jesus continued unabated.     

Like the star of Bethlehem, Jerry led people to Jesus.  As we move into this new year, let us imitate the star and Jerry, and by our prayer, example and words, lead the people in our lives to experience Jesus more fully.   

“Lord, now let your servant depart in peace according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples…” (Luke 2:22-38)

Mary and Joseph had taken the baby Jesus to the Temple to offer sacrifice according to Jewish custom, and Simeon, a holy and righteous man, moved by the Holy Spirit, takes Jesus in his arms and offers the above prophesy.  He then goes on to say that Jesus will be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Isreal.”

Like the angel’s message to the shepherds, we hear a similar promise that Jesus came for all people, not just those of Jewish heritage, but all people including Greeks, Romans, and all the people of the earth.  This would include the barbarians to the north of Rome, the Persians to the east, people of the orient, and the indigenous people of the Americas, though it was several centuries before word may have gotten to them. 

Jesus came for our spouses, family members, friends, the obnoxious co-worker at the office or factory, the beggar in the median strip at the stop light, citizens of our international adversaries such as Russia, China, North Korea, and radicals in the Middle East. 

Tragically, as the opening of John’s Gospel recognizes, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”  But then John goes on to capture the great promise of Simeon’s prophesy, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:10-12, NIV)

We receive the same Holy Spirit in our baptism that inspired Simeon, that “overshadowed” Mary with her pregnancy with Jesus, and that came to rest on Jesus’ followers on the Feast of Pentecost.  May we reopen the door of our hearts to receive Jesus and his Holy Spirit for our sake and for the sake of the people and circumstances in our lives. 

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”  (Mt. 1:20)

These were the words of an angel to Joseph in a dream explaining that Mary was pregnant not by any misdeed on her part, but by the Holy Spirit.  The birth of Jesus and our spiritual birth have a common element.  The source of both is the Holy Spirit. 

As we celebrate Christmas this week, let us remember the role of the Holy Spirit – how the creator of all that exists became one of us in the person of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, and how we too can personally experience the presence God through the same Holy Spirit. 

May the Holy Spirit enable us to continue to experience the presence of Jesus Christ more fully in all the circumstances of our lives. 

Dear Christ in Life and Work Readers,

I am excited to tell you about my new book, A Friendship that Transcends, Experiencing a Personal Relationship with Jesus that is now available at https://www.billdalgetty.com. Sixty-five stories illustrate passages from scripture and various experiences encountering God’s presence in all kinds of circumstances.  Here are just a few examples:

1. Praying with an employee planning to have an abortion
2. Experiencing God’s voice after a child is born with Down syndrome
3. Declining a career advancing promotion for family considerations
4. Experiencing physical healing of a child’s heart after the prayer of friends
5. Praying with people who are dying.
6. Seeking God’s will impacting decisions of a large multi-national company 

This book has received a Nihil Obstat from Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Arlington, Virginia Diocese as well as an endorsement from Bishop Peter Smith of the Portland, Oregon Diocese, and words of encouragement from Father Raniero Cardinal Cantalamessa of the Vatican. 

Father Jack Peterson, former Director of Youth Apostles of the Arlington Diocese, said, “While this book speaks from a Catholic perspective, it will appeal to all Christians because of Bill’s passion for inviting everyone to know and love Jesus with all their hearts.”

Thank you for considering. 

God bless you,

Bill Dalgetty

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  (Matthew 11:4-5)

These are the words of Jesus to the disciples of John the Baptist who asked Jesus on John’s behalf if Jesus is the one to come.  Both John’s disciples and Jesus are aware of the prophesy from Isaiah to which Jesus is referring.  As we celebrate the coming of Jesus’ birth and the fulfillment of these words of Jesus in his life and sometimes in ours, let us stop and consider what his coming really means to us.   

If we embrace Jesus and his coming, it means saying yes to a personal relationship with Jesus and experiencing his presence in this life and our life to come.  It means receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in Isaiah 11: 2-3 of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.  St. Paul says that when we invite Jusus into our lives, we will experience the fruit of the Holy Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23 of love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

While we may stumble from time to time, these blessings are available to us when we open the door of our life to Jesus and invite him in.  Angels declared Jesus’ coming to shepherds, representing the lowest and poorest of the Jewish population.  At the same time the Spirit of God led the wealthiest, kings from the East to search for the birth of Jesus. 

The angels appearing to the shepherds said that the good news they were proclaiming was for “all people,” not just the Jewish people but people of every race, creed and population – people from the East and people from the West.             

As we celebrate this Christmas season, let us extend a personal invitation to Jesus asking him to come into our lives.  If we are a practicing Christian, let us renew our invitation seeking to renew a relationship that may not have the intensity that it once had.  If we have never extended the invitation, let us do so now in the quiet of our hearts and spirit. 

Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20)

In today’s world if we had an important announcement, we would hold a press conference at a noteworthy location like the nation’s capital with various news reporters and TV networks beaming the message across the land, coupled with postings on all the internet social media.

God took an entirely different approach in announcing that he would become one of us in the person of his son, Jesus.  First, he speaks through the prophets in sometimes obscure ways hundreds of years in advance to people who could not possibly be alive when the event takes place. 

On the day of the grand event – the birth of his son, Jesus – he sends a group of angels not to the temple in Jerusalem to speak with the leaders of the Jewish faith, but to a group of obscure shepherds in the remote hills outside of the small village of Bethlehem.   While Luke reports that the shepherds made known the message they were given, and “all who heard it were amazed,” the number of people who heard this news from these unlikely heralds had to be minimal. 

Next, he uses John the Baptist, not to announce the birth of Jesus but to prepare people’s hearts for the coming of his public appearance.  Instead of John going to where the people were, he went out to the desert, and the people came to him.  Mark reports, “People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him.” (Mark 1:5) 

Think of how powerful the Spirit of God must have been working in John to cause people to make the strenuous journey, walking for two or more days over rugged roads from Jerusalem and other parts of Judea to the Jordan River!  Even the Pharisees and Sadducees made the trip.

God tells us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” (Isaiah 55:8) We see a foretaste of the power of the Holy Spirit working in John the Baptist which he says Jesus will pass on to us. 

Come Lord Jesus!  Come Holy Spirit!

“Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

These were the words of the angel Gabriel in his appearance to Mary explaining how she could become pregnant with Jesus as a virgin, and how her cousin, Elizabeth, was already six months pregnant even in her old age with John the Baptist.

What a beautiful statement for us to remember when we are seeking God’s presence and action in our lives.  However extraordinary this occurrence may have been in the history of mankind, the words of Gabriel reflect a truth that nothing is impossible in furtherance of God’s will.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus makes a similar statement when healing a boy who was possessed by an evil spirit after the disciples were unable to do so.  The father of the boy pleaded with Jesus, “If you can do anything take pity on us and help us.”  Jesus said, “Everything is possible for him who believes.”  The father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.”    

We can relate to the father of the boy because we do believe, but we also struggle with our unbelief.  Let us spend some additional time in prayer with the Lord this Christmas season, for “Everything is possible for him who believes.”  (Mark 9:23)   

Will you spend some extra time with the Lord this Christmas season?