Mass Readings Audio
https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2021-05-30-usccb-daily-mass-readings
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – May 30, 2021
Welcome to the one hundred and sixty-sixth episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. (Year B) The Trinity is a central mystery of our faith and being a mystery, it something that we cannot comprehend and human words and cannot explain. Although we try, no matter how many words or how well chosen, there will always be more. Theologians speak of the Trinity as Love – God the Father who is the Lover, the Son who is the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit that is the love between the Father and Son. This description is beautiful and helps, but as St. Augustine said, “If you understood him, it would not be God.” God is ever greater.
For our purposes, I am going to rely on one aspect of Church teaching in relation to the Trinity that has direct implications to our work life and that is that the connection between Holy Trinity and the family. The Catechism says, the “family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communication of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.” (CCC 2205) The Catechism extends the relation of family beyond our domestic families and into the greater community, saying, “Human communities are made up of persons. Governing them well is not limited to guaranteeing rights and fulfilling duties such as honoring contracts. Right relations between employers and employees, between those who govern and citizens, presuppose a natural goodwill in keeping with the dignity of human persons concerned for justice and fraternity.” (CCC 2213)
With this as a background, let’s reflect on the readings for the Holy Trinity Sunday and the implications for us in our work lives. Exactly how are we supposed to achieve these “right relations between employers and employees, between those who govern and citizens” if we lack the “natural goodwill” that Church teaching presupposes and how do we get it back so that we maintain “the dignity of human persons” and concern “for justice and fraternity”? While the answer is complex and I don’t believe is something you can ever fully master, we can make progress by following the principles from our Sunday readings and the book The Collaborative Way.
I’ve mentioned the book The Collaborative Way by Lloyd Fickett and Jason Fickett, in episode 102 and episode 153 of By Your Life. This business parable offers advice for any group of people who share a vision or mission and want to work together to achieve their common goal. Practicing the five commitments of The Collaborative Way® results in extraordinary teamwork and an enriching and satisfying work environment.
The first and most important fundamental of The Collaborative Way® is clarity of a shared purpose. For the disciples, Jesus was clear when he said, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19-20) Most companies’ strategic plans are clear about what they want to see in the future. The question is, do they also have clarity of who they need to be as an organization to get there? As the Catechism says, “Governing [human persons] well is not limited to guaranteeing rights and fulfilling duties such as honoring contracts.” It “presuppose a natural goodwill in keeping with the dignity of human persons concerned for justice and fraternity.” In other words, accomplishing what you want to accomplish presupposes you are who you need to be.
And so, The Collaborative Way® suggests five commitments to create the organization that moves forward to accomplish its purpose. The first of the five commitments is Listening Generously.
Listening Generously
Listening generously is something more than active listening. Yes, it involves giving our full attention to the speaker, but it is also learning to listen for the contribution in each other’s speaking versus listening from our assessments, opinions, and judgments. It is listening with curiosity and a willingness to be influenced to the other person’s point of view and not waiting for an opening to argue our point or thinking of our rebuttal. This openness is founded on a belief that the other person has dignity and therefore their perspective is worthy.
Speaking Straight
The second of the five commitments of the Collaborative Way® is Speaking Straight. If an organization has clarity of purpose, it must also have clarity of who is doing what by when. Speaking straight is to speak honestly and making clear and direct requests. I had a boss who called this “What are we going to do next Tuesday?”, meaning let’s get specific about moving towards our common goal.
An important aspect of speaking straight is being willing to surface ideas or take positions that may result in conflict when it is a necessary step towards reaching our objectives. Avoiding difficult conversations is not speaking straight.
In our second reading, St. Paul describes the beautiful relationship we have as children of God through adoption. But he’s speaking straight when he said we are “joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rom 8:17) There is no getting around what it is going to take to be glorified with Christ… we must suffer with him.
Being for Each Other
The third commitment of the Collaborative Way® is Being for Each Other. Note it doesn’t say “Being There for Each Other”, but rather being for each other. The difference is subtle but important. “Being there” implies something more temporary as in “I will go there for you, but then I come back to where I am.” There is nothing wrong this being there for someone when they need you. In fact, that is a good and noble response. But that is the distinction. Being there is responsive whereas “being for each other” is a more permanent and proactive mindset of supporting each other’s success. It is operating from the point of view that we are all in this together and that any one of us cannot win at the expense of someone else or the organization.
For this reason, being for each other involves not only providing rigorous support when needed, it requires looking for each other’s greatness and fostering its development.
Jesus is being for us. He told us “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20)
Honoring Commitments
The fourth commitment of the Collaborative Way® is Honoring Commitments. This obviously involves being responsible for our commitments, but it is much more. First of all, you can’t keep a commitment if you don’t make a commitment. “I’ll try” language is a non-starter because organizations need people to make and keep commitments that forward the mission.
There is another important dimension to honoring commitments in The Collaborative Way and that is how we hold others accountable for their commitments and support others in fulfilling their commitments. The key here is when someone makes a commitment to you and you accept it, you now share that commitment. You are now accountable for helping the other person succeed. If they fail, you fail. There are no excuses or using current circumstances to invalidate someone or their commitment.
Our first reading and our Gospel emphasized the importance and the value of honoring commitments. Moses said, “You must keep his statutes and commandments that I enjoin on you today.” Deut 4:40) and Jesus said, “observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:20)
Acknowledgment/Appreciation
The fifth commitment of the Collaborative Way® is Acknowledgement and Appreciation. Too often there is an expectation that acknowledgment and appreciation is a top-down process, and as a result, many people are sorely disappointed. Instead, in a collaborative environment, each member commits to be a source of acknowledgment and appreciation for the team; this includes giving, receiving, and requesting acknowledgment.
A friend of mine recently shared with me how he made it a practice to always pass along a word of praise that acknowledged a person’s capabilities or appreciated their contribution. He made me think about how this habit is something I needed to create. We often think it, but we less often say it. It is so simple to do, but so seldom done.
Our readings remind us of the importance of acknowledging and appreciating God and all he has done for us. “The LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and there is no other” (Deut 4:39). Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own. (Ps 33:12) In our Gospel, Matthew wrote, “When [the disciples] saw [Jesus], they worshiped. (Mt 28:17) But they also doubted.
We all have doubts. We doubt ourselves, God, and others, but nothing clears up doubts faster than acknowledging and appreciating what you have accomplished, or another has done for you. Acknowledgment and appreciation squelches doubt and fuels motivation to keep you moving forward.
Operation Trinity
On this side of eternity, we will never fully understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity, but as people created in the image and likeness of God, when we are in community, whether it is in a family, team, or other organization, and we operating at our absolute best, that is when we most reflect this mystery of the lover, beloved, and love. Or, in terms of The Collaborative Way®, that is when we are maker of the commitment, receiver of the commitment, and honor the commitment. That is when we are the giver of appreciation, the receiver of appreciation and the gift of appreciation itself. And that is when we live being for each other, when the greatness of the individual and the community are mutually nurtured.
Let’s pray in the words of the psalmist:
May God bless you abundantly this week as you collaborate with Him and each other in accomplishing your purpose and may you glorify the Lord by your life. Amen.
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