When things go wrong, we look for someone to blame. Instead, we should expect things to go wrong because human intellect isn’t capable of fully synthesizing the complexity of issues and what is efficient, isn’t necessarily the right thing to do.

Mass Readings Audio

http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/18_09_16.mp3

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 16, 2018

Welcome to the twenty-fifth episode of By Your Life. Thank you for joining me. If you haven’t already, please subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, or on the right side of the page so I can send you notifications when each new episode is posted. And please forward to a friend you think would benefit from 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 is my desire to help you live our 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 Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus asks, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mk 8:27) Contrary to what the disciples said, the Catholic Church says Jesus isn’t John the Baptist or Elijah or just another great prophet. Jesus is True God and True Man, Emmanuel, God with us. Peter somehow knew this because he responded, “You are the Messiah.” (Mk 8:29) But, Jesus isn’t asking us what Peter thinks, what the Catholic Church thinks, what other Christian Churches think, or what society at large thinks. He is asking us, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29 – emphasis added.)

This is a basic question—the basic question—of our faith. What does our response mean? Do we in one moment confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, (Phil 2:11) and then, like Peter in the Gospel, put restrictions on what that means? Do our words and deeds—the real profession of our faith—draw the rebuke from Jesus that Peter got? “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Mk 8:33)

Of course, we all think as human beings do! We are limited by our humanity in that way. But we are challenged by our faith to think differently.

Over 50 years ago at the conclusion of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI issued a Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes. (I encourage you to read this document in its entirety.) In the introductory statement, he describes the “profound and rapid changes… spreading by degrees around the whole world.” He writes of the advances in biology, psychology, social sciences, technology, media and social communication that are changing the way man understands himself and lives in relation to others. It is amazing how this 50+ year-old document could have been written in 2018.

Today, like in 1965, there is an abundance of wealth, resources and economic prosperity, and at the same time, increasing hunger, poverty, and illiteracy. Discord exists in families, between men and women, between generations, between races, and between nations with different ideals and ambitions. This is not just true globally, it is true in our places of work. Pope Paul VI summarized that as a result of these dynamics we have created “mutual distrust, enmities, conflicts and hardships. Of such is man at once the cause and the victim.”

Think about that, for a second. Man is both the cause and the victim of his problems. There is good news and bad news in this. The good news is that if we are the cause, then we can be the solution too. However, the bad news is man’s inability to be the solution. Why? Because we think as human beings do, and as Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

The limitation of human thinking the Holy Father described is caused by an “imbalance between modern, practical intellect and a theoretical system of thought that can’t master the sum total of its ideas.” In other words, we are incapable of fully synthesizing all the complexities of any issue. We also suffer from “an imbalance between a concern for practicality and efficiency, and the demands of moral conscience,” or what is efficient, isn’t necessarily the right thing to do. In addition, we have an imbalance between a focused view on any activity and a more comprehensive view of reality, or as the saying goes, we can’t see the forest for the trees. Our ways of thinking are limited.

Pope Paul VI writes that these imbalances are rooted in the heart of man. We wrestle with internal conflict of what is right for us and right for others. We struggle with the tension between knowledge of our own limitations and our desire for higher ambitions. We recognize that we do what we shouldn’t and don’t do what we should. Unfortunately, contributing to these problems is that we believe that we can overcome all this by our own ingenuity alone.

Gaudium et Spes addresses major issues facing man in this modern age and offers solutions. The Church reminds us, in the midst of all this change, “there are many realities which do not change and which have their ultimate foundation in Christ, Who is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.”

In the first reading, Isaiah points to this same solution when he said, “the Lord GOD is my help.” (Is 50:7) We probably believe this too, but how often do we solicit His help when faced with practical business decisions? If my frame of reference is indicative, not too often.

Many years ago, I worked with a privately-owned company to facilitate a strategic planning session. I had worked with this team for about a year and we started by identifying their core values. Among others, they named “Faith in God” as the most significant shared value of the company. Over the course of the year, they referred to this value and the others as they focused on creating a values-centered culture. So, when we met again for another strategy session, it made sense to me that we should ask God to bless the work we were about to undertake. I stopped for a few moments of silence to allow the members of the team to ask God for guidance.

The controller, who also acted as HR manager, nervously started texting and then abruptly left the meeting. I knew that she had young children and I thought there must be some kind of emergency that called her away, so I continued facilitating the session. It was a good session and they were able to identify their strategic priorities for the following year.

What happened next, took me by surprise. Following the meeting, I received a scathing email from the controller telling me how inappropriate it was to pray at a company meeting and that I had put them at risk of lawsuits, etc., etc., etc. It is interesting that she didn’t really understand that “Faith in God” was one of their core values and that core values are those non-negotiable principles that guide your behaviors and decisions. The controller wasn’t comfortable allowing God into the workplace.

What about you? Do you place limitations on where, when, and how God can be present in your life? Do you, like Peter, proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah. (Mk 8:29) and then proceed to try fit Him into your own definition of what the Messiah should be. “Messiah” means savior. Is Jesus your personal Lord and Savior, but professionally you try to go it alone?

Bishop Robert Barron wrote, “Jesus is someone who has rescued us, saved us, done something that we could never, even in principle, do for ourselves.” This same Jesus spent a good deal of time in the marketplace. He recruited business people as his apostles and many of his parables reference common business issues. Shouldn’t we invite Him into this part of our lives?

But, not all companies have outwardly stated that “Faith in God” will guide their decisions. In fact, most don’t. Those that do will start their meetings with prayer and ask God to guide and bless their work. Most likely, you are part of an organization that doesn’t publicly profess faith in God, but that doesn’t mean you have to abandon your faith when you walk in the door. In fact, that is all the more reason to live your faith at work. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (Mt 9:35-38)

I know that our modern culture frowns on living your faith in the marketplace. Unfortunately, we live in a time when God is being pushed back into the four walls of the church. You are free to worship all you want within those walls, but don’t bring your beliefs with you when you go out into the world. We live in fear of offending someone with our beliefs, so we retreat, remain silent, or even worse, question the Truth.

You don’t have to preach to practice your faith. At the end of each Mass, Catholics are charged to go forth, to go in peace, to go out into the world, to live our faith, and share it with others. Imagine a world where the 1.2 billion Catholics did exactly that! Imagine what it would be like if every office, shop, factory, school, hospital, government and places of work of every type were staffed by people who honored Christian values. Talk about “Great Places to Work!”

Which brings me to Sunday’s second reading, the continuation of St. James letter we’ve heard read the past two weeks. He writes, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (Jas 2:14) St. James writes of giving food and clothes to the poor, and this is good. I’d like to extend the challenge to all things and especially at work. Do you allow God to come to work with you? Do you allow your faith to change your way of thinking about the challenges you face every day? Do you honor God by how you do your work every day? Do you demonstrate your faith by your works at work?

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us step out in faith in ways we have been uncomfortable to do until now and call on the Lord God as our help in solving our daily problems.

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 and may you glorify the Lord by your life.  Amen

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