Christians discover new riches in their work, “for all the paths of the earth can be an opportunity to encounter Christ,” as St. Josemaría Escrivá often said in many different ways. He preached throughout his life that “holiness is not for the privileged few.”
even if no one sees your work, even if no one values it. God sees it and appreciates it; this is enough to make us strive to complete our tasks perfectly, with love.
In many cases, doing what we do well means paying attention to the small details. This requires effort and sacrifice, and when we offer it up, it becomes pleasing to God. Paying attention to details for the love of God does not diminish the soul, but rather enlarges it because it perfects the work we do and, by offering it for specific intentions, we open ourselves to the needs of the whole Church; thus, our task takes on a supernatural dimension that it did not have before. In our professional work, as in other aspects of everyday life—family and social life, leisure—we are always offered this double opportunity: carelessness and sloppiness, which impoverish the soul, or the small work of art offered to the Lord, an expression of a soul with an interior life.
Perhaps the Lord wants us to see, in this time of prayer, details that require a change of direction or pace in the way we work. Do I live in an orderly manner, tackling tasks according to their true importance, and not guided by whim or convenience? Do I delay the completion of my work for no reason, simply because of a lack of intensity or punctuality? Do I interrupt the task at hand for any excuse, perhaps wasting other people's time as well?
With the help of the Virgin Mary, let us end this time of meditation with a concrete resolution that will move us to carry out our work more perfectly and help us to remember the Lord more often: “There, from your workplace, let your heart escape to the Lord, next to the Tabernacle, to say to him, without doing anything strange: My Jesus, I love you.”
HCD
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)