We must model integrity in the workplace so that others may learn to act with integrity. We all fail, but when we do, we don’t all take responsibility to make it right. Those who do, recognize that creating an environment based on integrity is an extraordinarily profitable strategy.

Welcome to the third episode of By Your Life. Thank you for joining me. If you haven’t already, please subscribe at the right side of the page so I can send you notifications of each new episode.

My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular, business world. It is my desire to help you live your Catholic faith in the marketplace and to trust that it is good for business. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.

In this edition, we will reflect on the readings for Third Sunday of Easter and the application to your work life.

I couldn’t help but notice how Jesus responded when he appeared to the disciples. If it were me, I’d have been pretty frustrated. After all, he’d just spent hours with two of them on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:13-15 He interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them…and their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

After this experience with him, they were so excited that their “hearts were burning within” them, and after making the 7-mile trip to Emmaus, they turned around and went back to Jerusalem to tell the apostles and other disciples about what had happened. Then, no sooner than they had finished telling the others about what had taken place, Jesus appeared to them again. Based on their reaction, you’d have thought this was the first time it happened.

Now, if you were Jesus, wouldn’t that frustrate you? I know that when I tell someone something, I expect them to remember it. When I communicate something that is really important, I expect you to share the same sense of importance. Whether I voice it or not, my thought is “How many times do I have to tell you this?”

But this wasn’t Jesus’s response. Instead, he patiently showed them his hands and his feet. He invited them to touch him. And just to make sure they understood that he wasn’t a figment of their imagination, he ate something.

We need to take a lesson from Jesus.

Studies show that if a person hears something once, they may remember about 50% the next day and only about 2% in two weeks. It is just the way we are wired and how we learn. Unless that “something” we hear is significantly important or has impact, we aren’t likely to remember it.

Think of where you were at 9:00 AM on September 11, 2001. If you are at least 25 years old, because it was a moment of impact, you can probably tell me that it was a Tuesday, where you were, who you were with, and how you felt. Contrast that with September 11, 2017, at 9:00 AM. Unless it was your birthday, the day you started a new job or had surgery, you probably don’t remember any of these details.

Although we know that repetition is important for a message to be retained, after all, that is the strategy marketers use, we don’t think to use it with others – at least we don’t think to patiently use it with others.

Jesus knew how important it was for his mission to have a team of people who truly understood the resurrection. So, he not only told them, “it is I myself,” Lk 24:39, he encouraged them to touch him and he gave them a demonstration by eating fish to confirm what they heard, saw and touched.

As leaders, we should recognize the importance of ensuring that our teammates really understand the message that is communicated and invest in the learning process. And it is a process. As the ancient Chinese proverb says:

This process takes time, and we usually are short on time. However, somehow, we find the time to correct the problems caused by a failure of communication, so maybe we should invest that time up front, and avoid the problems in the first place.

The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles demonstrates the value of Jesus’s investment in making sure that his team “got it.” Peter, in speaking to the people, lets them know that although they had Jesus crucified, God raised him from the dead. He says, “Of this we are witnesses.” Acts 3:15

Peter continues with compassion. He says, “Brothers, I know that you acted out of ignorance…” Acts 3:17 He doesn’t condemn them, he encourages them to learn from their mistakes.

How do you treat mistakes? How do you respond to your own mistakes? Do you punish yourself with negative self-talk? “I’m so stupid! I can’t believe I did that?” Or, do you show a little compassion and think “That was dumb, but now I’m smarter!”

How about the mistakes of others? Are you encouraging to others, so they find the lesson, or are you punishing, so they tend to make excuses? What is the tone with which you deal with mistakes? Mistakes are enormously valuable if we learn from them. But we can only learn from them if we take responsibility and not make excuses.

Peter gives the people a way out from their mistake, “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.” Acts 3:19 So too should we help others accept responsibility for their mistakes, and take the steps to make it right.

There is a final, and very important message in the second reading from  1 John 2:1-5. The message is of the importance of being people of integrity.

When I’m facilitating a team development workshop and I ask the group, what they think integrity means, I often hear things like, “Doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.” or, “Walking the talk.” or, “Honesty.” These are all accurate definitions of integrity. If we look in the dictionary, we’ll find three definitions:

• Adherence to a moral code, (honesty or doing the right thing)
• Steadfastness (something of quality or lasting)
• Wholeness or completeness (from the root of the word—integer or whole number—giving and keeping your word, or walking the talk)

St. John is emphasizing the third definition when he says “Those who say ‘I know him’ but do not keep his commandments, are liars…” 1 Jn 2:4 He puts his audience—us—on notice that saying one thing and behaving differently is sinful, and he is writing so that we “may not commit sin.”

As Catholics, we have a high standard to live up to and this standard is constantly being challenged in the workplace. The pressures to meet deadlines, achieve revenue goals, or cut costs can lead us to break his commandments, sometimes without thinking, or worse, with conscious thought and rationalization.

The good news is that we have an out. We have the Sacrament of Reconciliation available to us so that we may meet the Advocate…Jesus Christ. When we behave badly, for whatever reason, we need to recognize it, repent, retract (undo it or make it right,) and resolve not to do it again. Jesus left us with this sacrament (see last week’s Gospel) as a way for us to continue to grow and be “truly perfected in him.”

We also need to model this behavior in the workplace so that others may learn to act with integrity. We all fail, but when we do, we don’t all take responsibility to make it right. Those who do, recognize that creating an environment based on integrity, where people are encouraged to take responsibility and learn from mistakes, is an extraordinarily profitable strategy.

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us continue to grow and learn from our mistakes so that we may help others do the same.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. 

May God bless you abundantly with the grace to accept responsibility when you sin so you can make it right, and go in peace, glorifying him by your life.  Amen

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Many thanks to Fr. Stan Fortuna for his musical gifts, especially the traditional and contemporary versions of Come Holy Ghost (Come Holy Spirit) that you hear in this podcast. You can find more from Fr. Stan at http://www.francescoproductions.com/ or on Facebook.