Good Works

As we pause this day in the United States for the last holiday of the summer season, it might be good for us to reflect on the gift of work.  Tobit tells his son, "Perform good works all the days of your life and do not treat the paths of wrongdoing. For if you are steadfast in our service, your good works will bring success, not only to you, but also to all those who live uprightly." (Tobit 4:5-6). Unless we have such a fantastic job that it is actually fun to go to work, we rarely think of our work as a means to eternal life, but as St. Paul says, "Eternal life to those who seek glory honor, and immortality though perseverance in good works!" (Rm 2:7). The author of Tobit and St. Paul add this spiritual dimension to our labor and prayers for this day encourage us to use our work not only to "get the job done," no matter what it is, but to enhance our relationship with God and our neighbor.  O God...., you give the gift of work as a blessing and as task. In whatever work you have given us to do, small or great, grant that we may serve with love and praise with joy."  The Collect for today's Mass asks, "grant that all men and women may find work that befits their dignity joins them more closely to one another, and enables them to serve their neighbor."  There is definitely more than a pay check involved in work when seen in this light.  May we use this day of rest to come to a deeper appreciation of our jobs, our vocations, really, and return to them with renewed vigor and a deeper sense of our sharing in God's on-going work of creation.
Bro. Rene