ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF CALGARY
  • Blog
  • About
  • Give
  • News & Events
  • Ministries
  • Contact Us
  • Parish Finder
Picture

A book review: Sanctify Your Daily Life

5/1/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
​“Work is man's original vocation,” wrote St. Josemaria Escriva. “It is a blessing from God, and those who consider it a punishment are sadly mistaken.”[1] This theological reality is communicated to us early within scripture. In the second chapter of Genesis, prior to the fall of Adam, we are told that the Lord “took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.”[2]

Yet in our contemporary, modernized society, it is even rare for farmers to push ploughs with any regularity. Instead, as technology has expanded, more and more people have found themselves buried under a perpetual deluge of emails and invisibly tethered to their employers through their smartphones. Work as we know it bears little resemblance to the horticultural endeavor blessed in Eden. The passage of time seems to have transported the ennobling task assigned to Adam from the idyllic backdrop of Eden to the figurative Jerusalem of the industrial revolution as described by Blake: “And did the Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills?”[3]

Given the world in which we live, it is easy to understand why many often assume that the sin of Adam has deformed the nature of work in its very essence. The disparity between what was and what is has inclined many to think of work as something which ought to be overcome in order to pursue greater spiritual endeavours.

The Catechism, however, teaches us that “work is for man, not man for work.”[4]
Only through fulfilling both the social and spiritual duties attached to work do will fully cooperate with God’s plan. Rather than presenting a stumbling block to spiritual growth, work offers us solid steps upon which we can ascend closer to the Lord.

To engage in work in a way that will allow an individual harvest its spiritual fruits, one requires a deep understanding of the purpose and nature of work. In “Sanctify Your Daily Life: How to Transform Work into a Source of Strength, Holiness and Joy”, Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski ably guides the reader by clarifying misunderstandings relating to the theology of work and offering concrete spiritual advice in everyday contexts.

Mentor and friend to St. John Paul the Great, Wyszynski demonstrates a personal understanding of the practical challenges of work: monotonous tasks, limited resources, intensifying responsibilities, time constraints, office politics, etc. Writing in post-war Poland, he also anticipated the challenges that have accompanied technological change, warning that as human work moves from a creative endeavor to one of procedural execution, technology descends from a “triumph of the human brain to being its enemy.”[5]

While systematically describing the spiritual virtues which are developed in work, Wyszynski also offers profound insights into the accompanying psychological and sociological hurdles which are present within our hearts, our minds and our work communities. As such, the text reads as a stimulating blend of both spiritual treatise and a business ethics guidebook.

Guided by Cardinal Wyszynski, the reader will come to understand that “the result of all human work should be not merely the perfecting of the thing produced, but also the perfecting of the worker; not merely external order in work, but also inner order in man.”[6]

[1] Furrow, 482
[2] Genesis 2:15
[3] William Blake, “Jerusalem”
[4] Catechism, 2428
[5] Page 27
[6] Page 141
Picture

Written by Theodoric Nowak, Director of Social Justice & Outreach Ministries
2 Comments
Marilyn Taplin link
3/22/2021 06:30:53 pm

“O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, (hate evil) all the earth” (Psalms 96:9). To fear God is to hate evil. When all the earth hates evil, we will have heaven on earth.

Reply
Alvina link
5/19/2021 06:36:40 pm

Great review. Worship is the most noteworthy height of the soul, but then the lowliest surrender of the spirit.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Catholic Pastoral Centre Staff and Guest Writers

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018

    Categories

    All
    Advent & Christmas
    Art
    Bereavement
    Bishop Emeritus Henry
    Bishop McGrattan
    Book Review
    Care For Creation
    Catechetics
    Catholic Charities & Development
    Catholic Education
    Catholic Schools
    CCCB
    Christian Unity
    Climate Change
    Conversion
    Covid 19
    Culture
    Development & Peace
    Devotions
    Diocesan Event
    Discipleship
    Ecumenical
    Elizabeth House
    Environment
    Euthanasia
    Evangelization
    Faithful Living
    Faithfully
    Family
    Feed The Hungry
    From The Bishop's Office
    Fundraising
    Funeral
    Grieving
    Health Care
    Homelessness
    Indigenous
    In Memoriam
    Interfaith
    Jubilarians
    Lay Associations
    Lent
    Lent & Easter
    Liturgy
    Marian
    Marriage
    Mary
    Mass
    Mental Health
    Migrants
    Miscarriage
    Mission Mexico
    Movie Review
    Music
    One Rock
    Online Formation
    Ordination
    Parenting
    Parish Life
    Pastoral Care
    Permanent Diaconate
    Pope
    Pope Francis
    Prayer
    Pray For Peace
    Priesthood
    Prolife
    RCIA
    Reconciliation
    Refugee
    Religious Education
    Religious Freedom
    Religious Life
    Resources And Guidelines
    Sacred Art
    Safe Environment
    Saints
    Scripture & Reflection
    Seniors
    Social Justice
    Stewardship
    St. Joseph
    Synod
    Vocation
    Youth And Young Adults
    Youth Ministry

    RSS Feed

GET TO KNOW US
Our Bishop
Offices & Ministries
​Our Staff
Read our Blog
Catholic Community
​Lay Associations
CONNECT WITH US
Contact us
​Careers
​Parish Boundaries

News & Events
Faithfully
​Reporting Abuse
NEED INFO ON
Becoming Catholic
Marriage Preparation
​Vocations
Annulment 
Sacraments Prep
Catholic Funeral
GIVE TO
Diocesan Ministries
Together in Action
Feed the Hungry
Elizabeth House
Your Parish Church​ 
​Other Ministry

Catholic Pastoral Centre  | 120 - 17th Ave SW, Calgary, AB  T2S 2T2 | ​Phone: 403-218-5500 | communications@calgarydiocese.ca
Charitable Number: 
10790-9939-RR0076​. Donate Now.
  • Blog
  • About
  • Give
  • News & Events
  • Ministries
  • Contact Us
  • Parish Finder