Created in his image and likeness, God gives us an assignment. “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 “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—by God, the Holy Spirit, through our work.”  He poses the question of 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 camp fires, 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.”

DeKoster supports his view of work by relying on the Parable of the Sheep and Goats. (Matthew 25:311-46)  While this parable is usually considered to be about the universal judgment of all people taking into account how they have loved and served others, DeKoster contends that Jesus is talking not only about specific people who are in need, but also about providing food, drink, clothing, shelter, healthcare and other needs to society [creation] at large. This involves all the basic occupations that make up civilization.  Farming, transportation, grocery stores, restaurants, public utilities, drilling, pipe-laying, plumbing, textiles, retailing, construction, medical services, health insurance, social services, education, communications, etc.  He says, “The fabric of civilization, like all fabrics is made up of countless tiny threads—each thread, the work of someone.”

All work that contributes to the production of goods and services for others, unless it is immoral, is part of God’s plan for creation.  As the parable says, our reward (inheriting the kingdom) was prepared for us “since the creation of the world.”  Thus, work has always been a part of God’s plan and his intention for his creation.  What surprises people in the parable is that in working at providing the basic necessities for others they are serving God himself.

Like the people in the parable, most us may be surprised that in doing our work we, too, are serving God. In working as an attorney for a large corporation 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. Even my summer jobs in high school and college of serving on a road asphalt crew and a laborer in a cement plant were “threads” making up the larger fabric of God’s creation.

Every day we have the opportunity to be the Father’s present-day incarnation by reflecting his love, integrity and service to the people and circumstances we encounter in our work, and move the civilization arising out of God’s creation forward until he is “all in all.” This is our mission.

In connection with the command to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and your neighbor as yourself, an expert in the law asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus uses the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37) to answer the question. After sharing the parable, Jesus asks the expert which of the three persons who passed by the man who fell into the hands of robbers was his neighbor, and the expert had to acknowledge that it was “the one who had mercy on him.” It was not the priest or the Levite, but a Samaritan, the person who would have been considered an outsider by the Jews of this time.

We face this same question whenever we encounter someone in need and have to make a decision how to respond. It could be a panhandler on the street, the person standing by a broken-down car on the side of the road, an intellectually disabled person having difficulty in the checkout line before us, a work colleague being treated unfairly by his or her boss, or a work subordinate who has violated company policy, to name just a few examples. It could also be someone as familiar and close to us as our spouse, one of our children or a close friend. There are no limitations in Jesus’ words on who we should love and show mercy.

At one point in my career I commuted on the trains to Grand Central Station in New York City and had to walk a block to my company’s headquarters at 42^nd and Lexington. Nearly every day I would be confronted with people asking for money. Some could get pretty ugly, cursing at me if I looked at them or didn’t look at them, or if I did not respond to their entreaties for a dollar or two. Sometimes I would respond by offering to buy them a cup of coffee. Most of the time, I would just pass by quickly.

On one occasion, as I was entering St. Matthews Catholic Church, a block east of Grand Central, to attend a weekday mass, a much disheveled looking man asked me to help him. I blew right past him in my rush not to be late for mass. After getting inside, I thought to myself, “What did I just do? What was I thinking?” When I went back outside, he was bent over the bumper of a car, vomiting. “No way,” I thought and started to walk on to my office. But then something turned me around and I walked back and offered to buy him breakfast at a restaurant next to the church.

His name was Richard. He was from Hartford, Ct. He had been playing in a band, but was laid off and started drinking, was beaten up and robbed. He was a mess. We tried to get him connected up with the Salvation Army. A couple of days later I saw him again on the church steps. He was waiting for me. He was all cleaned up, had fresh clothes and was headed back to Hartford.   I was overjoyed, but my joy was short-lived. A few days later, there he was again on the church steps, his clothes all tattered; he had obviously been drinking again. I told him I was going to buy him a train ticket to Hartford and to meet me at 43^rd and Lexington at 10 AM. He never showed and I never saw Richard again. Perhaps my response to Richard needed to be more aggressive, more like the Samaritan.

Upon further reflection, I believe the answer to the question of who is my neighbor is not so much a matter of trying to discern who our neighbor actually is, as it is striving to see people with God’s eyes and to hear them with God’s heart, whether they are strangers, work colleagues or our closest family and friends. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16)

The world seeks peace among nations. Individuals seek peace in their lives, but peace seems to elude the world, and based on the number of prescriptions written for antidepressants each year, peace seems to elude many individuals as well.

Jesus’ first words to the disciples following his resurrection were, “Peace be with you.” (Luke 24:35; John 20:19) Three days earlier the disciples had seen him die a tortuous death. Their hopes and dreams that Jesus was the Messiah they were expecting were dashed. Since Jesus’ arrest, they feared for their own lives and hid behind locked doors. Their world had been turned upside down. The last thing they expected to see was a resurrected Jesus in their midst. So, Jesus’ first word to them was “peace.”

Jesus’ first word to us is also peace in the midst of the challenges and difficulties we face in our day to day lives. “My peace I give to you,” he says in John 15:27 – the peace of God – the ultimate gift!  Jesus says it is a peace the world cannot give.

What does this peace look like? A few years ago I heard those dreaded words, “You have an advanced and aggressive form of prostate cancer.” I was devastated. Yet within hours I began to experience the peace of Jesus. I was prompted to let friends and family know and ask for their prayers. As I started to receive the assurance of their prayers and concern, I began to experience God’s love and peace. Their prayers and love sustained me through my surgery and follow-up therapy that lasted three and a half years. Heartfelt prayers and good medical practice are a powerful combination for healing. See Sirach 38:1-2, 6, 12. It has been over seven years now, and I am at peace, a peace that the doctors and the world cannot give.

Like the disciples, I needed to realize that Jesus was in my midst in order to receive his peace. He was with me in the actions of my wife, my children, and my brothers and sisters in Christ through numerous acts of love. He was with me as a good brother led the doctors and nurses circled round my pre-op bed in prayer for the surgery. He was with me through children who left their families to spend time with me. He was with me through my wife who was a constant support, always present. He was with me in my quiet times as he whispered to my spirit.

Jesus says, “I have told you these things so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

If we calculate the amount of time we talk versus the amount of time we listen, what would be the ratio? Would it tilt toward talking or listening? James exhorts, “Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak.” (James 1:19) A good friend of our family died last year who had an uncanny ability to listen. If you would ask her how she was doing, she would quickly turn the conversation back to what was going on in your life.

Last Sunday, I experienced the blessing of taking communion to a 95 year old gentleman, a widower who lives alone in the house that has been his for more than 40 years. In response to my question of “How are you doing today,” I heard about his wife of 52 years who died a few years ago; about his son who is a priest; about the many missions he flew in World War II and the Korean War; how he was a consultant to Congressional committees overseeing the Air Force, and finally, about his current health issues. What a blessing it was not to talk, but just listen.

We have the opportunity to listen wherever we are — at work, at home, or social gatherings. If our desire is to learn and grow in each of these venues, we soon realize that we don’t learn much from talking, but we do from listening. As an attorney for a large corporation, I found that I was able to serve my corporate clients better by listening more. At home, I serve and love my wife and children better by listening more. At social events I honor our guests by listening more. While my experience is sometimes spotty in some of these areas, I try to change course as soon as I realize that I am talking too much.

We can also listen even when we are alone. The Lord loves to put thoughts in our minds about various things going on in our life so long as we are open to hear him. When Moses was giving his last instructions to Joshua and the Israelites, he said, “Love the Lord your God, and listen to his voice and hold fast to him.” (Deut. 30:20) Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice.” (John 10:22)

I have often allowed the noise of everyday life to drown out God’s voice, particularly when I am in my car, listening to music, talk radio, or sporting events. Today, I am trying to listen to the radio less and the Lord more. He says, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) Like Elijah, who went up on Mount Horeb to hear God, he did not hear him in the powerful wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, but in a gentle whisper. God loves to speak to us as a gentle whisper in our thoughts. Are we listening, or is the noise getting in the way?

Psalm 100 exhorts us to “Sing for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” Thirty-five other psalms begin with this same encouragement according to my cursory search. (Psalms 8, 30, 33, 34, 47, 48, 63, 66, 84, 89, 92, 95, 98, 101 – 108, 111, 113, 115, 117, 118, 134 – 136, 138, 144 – 150)

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

Several years ago, our daughter Emily, who was born with Down syndrome, demonstrated 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 forward. When she realized that she was coming to me for communion, her face lit up with that big bright beautiful smile of hers, she held out her cupped hands to receive the host and started running toward me exclaiming loudly, “Daddy!” She didn’t worry about what other people thought, for there is no guile in her, only purity of heart. It was an expression of complete and total love.

As I was blessed to witness her response and give her the consecrated body of Christ, the following thought came into my mind: This is how God must feel when we unreservedly express our love for him, full of joy in praise, worship and song, intent on devotion and devoid of any concern about what others may think.

As the Psalmist says, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.” (Psalm 8:2) 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. “Shout with joy to God, all the earth!” (Psalm 66:1)

When we read Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on the water and Peter’s attempt to get out of the boat and walk toward him, we tend to dwell on Peter’s apparent lack of faith which resulted in his sinking until he called out to Jesus to save him. Peter says, “Lord if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” (Mt. 14:22-33) Peter did so, but when he started to experience the wind and the waves, he began to sink.

Still, of all the disciples, Peter was the only one who had the courage to attempt to accept Jesus’ offer to walk on the water toward him. He was the only one willing to get out of the safety of the boat. To the others, they no doubt thought it was foolish and reckless.

It is a normal thing for us to seek safety and comfort, but sometimes the Lord calls us to step out of our safety and comfort to do something for him or to take an action for ourselves that is beneficial, even though to us, it may not appear so at the time.

When I was in my mid-forties, I was offered a new assignment by my employer to oversee the delivery of legal services for our marketing, refining and supply operations in Asia, Africa and South America. It was a great job and would have certainly furthered my career, but would have required a move back to New York from our U. S. headquarters in Virginia. We had three teenage daughters at the time and a two year old son. Our daughters were all doing well in school, were involved in Young Life, a Christian outreach to high school teenagers and had great peers for friends.

For three days, I agonized over the decision. While I didn’t think I would be fired if I declined the assignment, I knew it would have a negative impact on my career. There was a lot of pressure from my superiors to take the job and to decide quickly. The corporate culture fostered success, and moving up the corporate ladder was something highly valued. You were expected to accept promotions, not turn them down.

After three days of prayer, consultation with colleagues, and lengthy discussions with my wife, we discerned that I should decline the offer. I had to get out of the boat of my corporate security and comfort to walk on the waters of going against the corporate culture at the time.

The decision did have a negative impact on my career for a number of years, but when I look back today and see all that has happened in the lives of our children and all the blessings we have experienced in our family, I am absolutely confident that this decision was God’s will for our family and for me professionally. Our children went on to complete their education and have since married wonderful Christians who are all raising Christian families. For myself, my career eventually got back on track, and I was also led to become active in Christians in Commerce, a workplace ministry encouraging Christians to live out their faith in their work. There is more, but too much for this space.

Is the Lord calling you out of your boat of comfort and security? Jesus says, “Come.”

How much faith do you have in the name of Jesus?

In Acts 3, Peter and John are entering the temple by the Beautiful Gate at the same time a man who had been crippled form birth is being carried there to beg. He asks them for money and Peter responds, “Look at us…Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3: 4, 6) Peter then takes his hand and lifts him up. His feet and ankles instantly become strong, he jumps to his feet and he begins walking, jumping and praising God. When the people recognize him as the man who had always been begging they are filled with wonder and amazement.

When Peter said, “Look at us,” he wanted to get the man’s attention because what he was going to do was not the usual response of throwing a coin in a cup. This time was going to be different. Peter was going to give the man not what he asked for, but what he needed. He needed Jesus and healing. Peter gave him both.

How much faith do you have in the name of Jesus? On a personal note, I have seen prayers in the name of Jesus: heal a hole in the heart of our daughter, Emily; restore vision loss in me from glaucoma; find wonderful Christian spouses for our four married children; hold my prostate cancer in remission despite a doctor’s prognosis; to name just a few examples.

In the workplace, I have seen prayers in the name of Jesus: turn a negative work environment into a positive one; enable a person to forgive a business partner who defrauded him of thousands of dollars; result in a company deciding to forgo short term profits for the long term good of the company and its employees; heal a colleague’s brain tumor; lead a legal adversary to surrender his life to Christ before he died.

Jesus says, “I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” (John 14:13) When we pray in the name of Jesus we create an opportunity to bring glory to the Father.

Bringing glory to the Father through the name of Jesus is not something that is confined to the early Church. Jesus’ words are meant for us today as well.

Pray for something in the name of Jesus today and bring glory to the Father!

Throughout human history, people have been searching for meaning and purpose for their lives. Even ancient civilizations seemed to sense that there had to be more to life than food, shelter and clothing. Their observations of the natural world around them indicated a power and force greater than themselves.

In Jesus’ parables about the kingdom of God, he says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45-46)

The fine pearl is Jesus. Are we willing to sell everything we have to acquire a friendship with Jesus? Selling everything may include giving up old ways and acquiring new ones. The list can be long and varied. Changing our focus from self to others, finding balance between the demands of career and family, stepping back from gossip and engaging in right speech, listening more and speaking less are just a few examples.

When I met Jesus in a personal way in my mid-thirties, many of my priorities began to change, particularly with respect to balancing the demands of career and family. Previously, career had usually taken precedence. One habit accompanying the dominant concern for career was joining work colleagues at a local watering hole after work on Fridays instead of going home and having dinner with my family. Thereafter, I gave up that habit. Several months later I joined them once again, and since I had been very open in sharing about my renewed faith, one colleague sarcastically asked, “What are you doing here? You don’t belong here.” I said, “You’re right,” turned around and left, never to engage that habit again.

If the pearl is friendship with Jesus and coming to know God, then there are also some new things we need to take on. Friendships don’t just happen without time together and coming to know the person involved. Previously, my time in prayer was confined to Sundays at mass or saying grace at meals. Subsequently, God gave me a desire to spend time with him every day, and I changed my schedule to spend about 30 minutes with him every morning before breakfast. Over the last 37 years, we have been meeting for coffee nearly every morning. Previously, I hardly ever read the Bible. Now it is a part of each day’s prayer time. While I am still very capable of sinning, reading Scripture daily helps me come to know God better and take on the mind of his son.

The irony in all of this is that the things I have given up to acquire the pearl of great value — Jesus’ friendship — do not seem to be all that much of a sacrifice. Instead, as the parables say, there is great joy in finding the treasure.

Does busyness choke out your relationship with God – spending time with him in prayer, reading scripture and seeking his will in your lives? In explaining one aspect of the parable of the Parable of the Sower, Jesus says, “Still others, like seed sown among the thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word and make it unfruitful.” (Mark 4:18)

There are many kinds of thorns – worries, ambition, wealth, recognition, position, possessions and busyness, to name a few. The Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, but he did not let the pain of them deter him from his mission.

Busyness, as much any other circumstance, makes the word in many of us unfruitful. We rush to get dressed in the morning and have our breakfast before we rush to work. At work, there is often more to do than the time available, so we rush from one task to another. After work, we rush to take our kids to practice or a sporting event. We then rush home for dinner because we have a meeting after dinner at church, school or some other place, or we need to help the children with their homework, or we have a brief case full of work. Even when we are not in fact being rushed, we have a sense of being rushed.

All of this rushing crowds out God. Intimacy with him is sacrificed. The noise of busyness keeps us from hearing the whisper of the Holy Spirit and understanding the Spirit’s call each day. Notice that Jesus says the outcome is that the word in us becomes unfruitful. The rich guidance of the word goes unused. Jesus’ desire for us is just the opposite – “I chose you and appointed you to bear fruit, fruit that will last.” (John 15:16)

Life will always have its demands. Do we let these demands choke out God’s word and presence in us, or do we invite him to join us in their midst? I used to pray a lot in hallways and elevators as I went from one meeting to another, acknowledging God’s presence and asking him to go before me. There seemed to be more fruit when I did and less when I didn’t.

God’s presence is available to us in the midst of our busyness. Offer up your schedule to him at the beginning of each day. Remember his words, “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20)

Have you ever experienced a colleague who challenges you at every turn? He or she always questions your ideas and suggestions, attempts to upstage you in front of the boss and gossips with co-workers behind your back. I had such a colleague.

In my prayer time, I asked the Lord what I should do and was led to Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the dark powers of this world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” It occurred to me that my problem with this colleague was not necessarily him per se, but with the spiritual forces of pride and division that were working between us. I started to pray and ask God to bless this person and our relationship. Over the next few months, the discord, dissension, petty sniping and competitive nature of our relationship faded and we began to work together in a more cooperative and professional manner.

In 2 Chronicles 20, we read that Jehoshaphat, King of Judah was facing a vast army from Moab and Amon that was coming against him and all of Judah. Jehoshaphat declared a fast and inquired of the Lord. The Lord said, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (2 Ch. 20:15) Jehoshaphat instructed his men to sing and praise the Lord. Suddenly the men of Moab, Amon and Mount Seir turned on each other and began to destroy one another. When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooked where they were to do battle, they saw only dead bodies. There was no army left to battle.

When we face conflicts with people that involve pride, division and deceit, whether coming from the other person or us, or a combination thereof, the likelihood is that spiritual forces are at work stirring the pot of conflict. As a result we should seek a spiritual solution of praying against pride, division and deceit. For the battle is God’s, and he is equipped to handle it if we seek his help.

St. Paul goes on to say that we should fight these conflicts with the “full armor of God,” including truth, righteousness, faith, the word of God and the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 6:13-17) In other words, we should not try to fight pride, deceit and division in others with our own pride, deceit and division, but rather with prayer, truth, righteousness, faith, God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit, which is Christ in us.