Note to God

how we can better turn work into prayer, which is not just a matter of including some small acts of piety while we work. Our Father has explained it to us in so many ways. Let us re-read his words: “So go about your work in the knowledge that God is watching:  laborem manuum mearum respexit Deus  ( Gen  31:42), God saw the labour of my hands. Our work therefore has to be holy and worthy of him: not only finished down to the last detail, but carried out with moral rectitude, unselfishness, loyalty and justice. In this way our professional work will not only be upright and holy, but will be, on that account, prayer as well.” [22] In our work we often experience our limitations and defects. But if, in spite of everything, we strive to work “in the knowledge that God is watching,” we will be able to hear Saint Paul’s words as addressed to us:  in the Lord your labour is not in vain  ( 1 Cor  15:58); as our Father summed it up: “nothing is ever lost.”

At the beginning of his Pontificate, Pope John Paul II declared: For me, prayer is the first priority. Prayer is the basic prerequisite to service of the Church and the world... Every believer should always think of prayer as an essential and indispensable component of one’s vocation. It is the ‘opus divinum’ which precedes and overshadows every work We well know that faithfulness to prayer, or its neglect, is a test of the vitality of spiritual life, apostolate and Christian fidelity (John Paul II, Address 7 October 1979). 

the more serious or hopeless our illness is the stronger our faith has to be.  If we have faith in Our Lord, in spite of our failings ­or, rather, with our failings - we shall be faithful to our Father, God; his divine power will shine forth in us, sustaining us in our weakness (ibid, 194). What a great comfort it is for us to know that Christ is near us!

Revelation: Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”

If you were to find a gold coin, would you ask yourself ‘Why has no one else found it?’ Of course not. You would not hesitate to take it as your own. Likewise, whenever you find a brother in need, realize that you have found something more valuable than any treasure - the opportunity to care for another (St John Chrysostom, Contra ludeos, 8).