I struggle with giving all to God, especially when the main parts of my day are working for a private tech company, making money and living in the American culture. What guidance can you provide there?
So here’s someone saying that, he’s struggling with giving his day to God when he’s working for a tech company, and it’s about making money and living in our culture. So what guidance can you provide somebody who maybe has a job that just doesn’t seem like maybe it’s glorifying God, but how can, I think what’s implied here, how can I glorify God through my day?
Yes. And, we have some really powerful contemporary, more contemporary spiritual masters actually address this question. I think in particular of St. Josemaria Escrivá, who his whole spirituality was basically the sanctifying of the ordinary life.
So you can imagine like the factory worker who’s simply standing at the same place, just doing the same action, eight, ten hours a day. And St. Josemaria says that’s the greatest opportunity for spiritual growth because it’s precisely by that repetition. So it’s okay then that certainly lends itself to, praying at the rosary and to even meditation while one is doing this continuous action.
So I think, wherever God’s providence has us in terms of employment, especially if it’s an employment that’s needed to provide for one’s being or the well being of their family, then I’d say it’s time for some spiritual creativity. The great thing about being Catholic is our spiritual tradition is so vast.
We have everything, right? And truly, there’s nothing new under the sun. So I think that, to look and say what in a spiritual tradition can help? For example, a tech company, I suspect that if He’s most likely working at home, or there’s some type of hybrid place of, type of work will allege itself to all types of things in terms of incorporating or including types of prayer, ascetical practices.
I know when I get in front of my computer, the first thing I want to do is have a soft drink or something, right? So what a great ascetical practice is instead of a soft drink, it’s water, things of that sort. I think there are small ways, creative ways where even a monotonous task or a task that no longer, provokes, a certain level of enthusiasm can still be a great opportunity for the spiritual life.
I’m going to go back to St. Paul’s teaching about, the perfection of freedom is commitment, right? So it’s not we have this in our souls because it’s the gas we breathe in secular society that no freedom is perfected in choice, right? And it’s not if your job is good, it’s you know, within the realm of virtue and goodness and it provides the resources you need in order to provide for yourself and your family then, you know, I say tap into the spiritual tradition and see what can be used in terms of that type of employment for spiritual growth.
Yeah. And even if you’re just working with code all day, I think we can make that into a prayer like, Lord, I offer this for you. And I think sometimes we think that we can only glorify God if what we’re doing is directly ordered towards him, like we’re in church or something.
But as you said, St. Josemaria, everything can become ordered towards God and an act of love for him and our families that, obviously we’re supporting them through our work.
