There is value in remaining in him so that we can love one another as He commanded. To love is to will the good of another. In business, this means we want others to be successful. In fact, the best thing for our businesses is for every person to be successful. We should encourage, support, and contribute to the success of others.
Welcome to the fifth episode of By Your Life. Thank you for joining me. If you haven’t already, / please subscribe at the bottom of the page so I can send you notifications when each new episode is posted.
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 the Fifth Sunday of Easter and the application to your work life.
When I read the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, I thought about the hiring process. When Saul (or St. Paul) arrived in Jerusalem, the disciples weren’t sure they wanted to let him join their team. After all, wasn’t this the same guy who was on a mission to identify and eliminate anyone who was a disciple of Jesus? That guy certainly would not be an asset to the mission of the Church. The apostles were right to screen this candidate for a fit to their mission and core values.
But then we read that “Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how on the way he had seen the Lord and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.” Acts 9:27
This character reference made the difference for Paul, because afterward, he “moved about freely with them in Jerusalem, and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.” Acts 9:28
Whether you are the job seeker or the employer, referrals and references are essential to the hiring process. In Paul’s case, he never would have been brought on board if it weren’t for Barnabas’s testimony on his behalf. A good reference can make all the difference between two qualified candidates or to even get on the consideration list in the first place. Yet, I find that my clients repeatedly skip this part of the recruitment process. They either think they are such good judges of character after one or two meetings that they don’t need to bother with a reference check, or they are so desperate to find someone to fill the position, they are willing to hire anyone who shows up for the interview.
I also have clients who complain that candidates can’t, won’t or don’t care to provide them with names of quality references. My response is “Don’t hire them!” If a job seeker doesn’t provide a good reference, it is a sign of problems ahead. A good reference is one who can provide examples of how the candidate has demonstrated specific qualities that make them a great fit for the job. In Paul’s case, it was that he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.
As a Catholic Christian, I think it is important to remember that people are deserving of a second chance. If someone makes a mistake in their life like committing a crime, and they repent and make restitution, they should be given the opportunity to have a fresh start. They need to have the opportunity to find a good job. Imagine where we’d be if after his conversion, St. Paul had not been accepted. Most of the New Testament wouldn’t exist! We need to be wise in the hiring process, yet we need to be compassionate too.
Once you hire someone, the onboarding process is just as important. You need place the new employee where they can use their talents in support of the company’s mission and then do your part to help them succeed. This is what the disciples did.
So often, companies bring on extraordinarily talented people, only to squash their creativity because the insiders feel threatened. The apostles certainly could have felt this way. I can just imagine the conversation: “What do you mean, he had seen the Lord and spoken to him? He’s an outsider. We are the Lord’s people. Why would the Lord speak to him? That’s not fair! I didn’t get to see and speak to the Lord.” And on and on…
But that’s not what happened. They embraced Paul. He became one of them. He used his debating skills against the Hellenists. The disciples no longer saw him as a threat and the church…was at peace. Acts 9:31 They knew the competition was on the outside. Instead of waging battles internally, they supported each other in defeating the competition—in this case, the Hellenists—and the church “was built up and… it grew in numbers.” Acts 9:31
What was the key to their success? Acts says they “walked in the fear of the Lord, and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 9:31 In other words, they didn’t rely on themselves, rather they remained close to God.
This message of “remaining in him” is repeated twice in this Sunday’s second reading (1 John 3:18-24) and eight times in the Gospel (John 15:1-8).
If it is important, God tells me twice, just in case I missed it the first time.I always joke that if it is important, God tells me twice because I usually miss it the first time. Based on this measure of significance, the concept of “remaining in him” must be really important!
What does it mean to “remain in him?” In the second reading, John tells us that those who keep his commandments remain in him. (1 John 3:24) And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He commanded us. (1 John 3:23)
What should “love one another” look like in the workplace? Recent headlines tell us what it should not be, but what is the appropriate way to love others at work?
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, “To love is to will the good of another.” CCC 1766 In business, this means we want others to be successful. In fact, the best thing for our businesses is for every person to be successful. We should encourage, support, and contribute to the success of others.
To love is to will the good of another. ~ Thomas AquinasThe best thing for our businesses is for us to want every person to succeed. As logical as this sounds, we all know that this isn’t what happens.
I often encounter companies where purchasing, the warehouse, and accounting spend more time blaming each other for process failures than working together to fix their broken processes. The IT and Marketing departments won’t talk to each other because they each blame the other for the website not functioning. Sales and operations argue about unrealistic delivery schedules, and the list goes on and on.
Loving others can be a big challenge in the workplace. Somehow it is easier for us to volunteer at a soup kitchen or go on mission trips to far off lands than it is to recognize the person who sits next to you at work is hungry for a word of encouragement or the co-worker down the hall is starving for the opportunity to grow, develop and put his talents to use. We are often too busy with our own projects, challenges, and issues and we view others as obstacles to our own success, instead of looking for ways we might help them.
It takes pre-emptive work to overcome this challenge and we can’t do it on our own.
This is why the first commandment is to love God and the second is to love our neighbor. The second without the first is impossible and the first without the second is meaningless.
So, we must begin with the first—loving God. Is He first in your life?
Years ago, I did an assessment of my personal core values. I identified those things that were most important to me. This part of the assessment was not that difficult. I then had to prioritize the most important values so that I ranked them. This was a little more challenging, but still not that difficult. The eye-opening part of the assessment was when I considered decisions I’d made and whether they reflected my values. I had to honestly say that they didn’t. While I ranked God as #1, my family as #2, and health as #3, I had to acknowledge that my decisions were made with work as #1, family as #2 and God a distant 3rd. I had it backward and I knew I had to make a conscious effort to get things in the right order in my life.
(If you’ve never thought about and written down your personal core values, I recommend that you do. To help, you can download the personal assessment on our website www.thevalueofcorevalues.com.)
If you’ve never thought about and written down your personal core values, I recommend that you do.To help, you can download a personal values assessment.
Because of that personal assessment process, I made many changes in my life to put God first and as a result, my family and my work have thrived. Instead of prioritizing my schedule, I now schedule my priorities—daily Mass, daily rosary, novenas, morning prayer, Divine Mercy at 3:00, adoration, and regular Reconciliation, and yes, I care for my husband and 92 ¾-year-old mom and still have time for work. My life is busy, but it is also filled with peace.
As I was preparing this episode of By Your Life, I struggled with what to say and how to say it. These readings are so rich and filled with lessons, yet I had a block. I knew that I couldn’t come up with the words on my own, but if I turned this over to God in prayer, I would be given the answer. So, this morning I started my day as I always do, with a walk, praying the rosary, praying the Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel, and going to morning Mass. I had confidence God would provide. I knew because I am always given just what I need, not a moment too soon, nor a moment too late. As it says in our second reading: “We have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask.” 1John 3:21-22 and again in the Gospel: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” John 15:7 God provides answers to our prayers.
God always provides just what I need, not a moment too soon, nor a moment too late.This is the value of remaining in him. Our prayer lives and participation in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, are how we do it. Jesus said “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. John 6:56 By remaining in God, we can bear the fruit of love for each other.
So, don’t wait until you’re in the middle of a conflict to pray. I’m not suggesting that is isn’t a good idea to pray at those times, just don’t wait for things to reach a crisis before turning to the Lord. Prayer is for your soul what exercise is for your body. You wouldn’t just go run a marathon without training, so don’t approach spiritual warfare without remaining. Wherever you are now, start there and move forward adding a little bit at a time. Find a routine that works for you and then stick with it. Daily Mass may not be possible, but once more per week may be something you can schedule. This is the great thing about our Church – there is always Mass somewhere at different times throughout the day and the internet makes it so easy to find where and when. The Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours is something I’ve recently added to my routine and there’s an app for that. I once heard a priest say, “Pray like you can, not like you can’t.” Find your way and remain in him.
That brings us to one final thought…pruning. We need to clear away the dead, unproductive parts of ourselves so that we can become more productive. When I’m working with clients on process improvement, we talk about eliminating waste. Waste is anything that doesn’t deliver to the customer what they want or takes too much time or uses too many resources to give it to them. Waste consumes time and energy for the wrong things.
When we remain in him in our prayer lives, He will show us where we need pruning. He’s also given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a tool. The graces from this sacrament are the ultimate pruning device. Utilize this gift to cut away old, bad habits so you can replace them with new, better ones. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. John 15:8
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us remain in the Son as branches on a vine, so that planted firmly in his love, we may be his witnesses to the world.
May God bless you abundantly with the grace to remain in him and love one another as He has commanded. 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.
