September 1996 (Vol. IX, no. 8)

BLESSINGS, friends, as we anticipate the beginning of the autumn season ... an approprate time to pause in the Silence ans ask: "How am I endeavoring to spiritualize my work? Does my work reflet the deepest aspirations of my heart?"

If my prayer life is strong and deeply rooted, then I will be better able to carry an equally heavy load of work, to bear the weight of our sisters' and brothers' pain and suffering, because it will not be me carrying the load, but God.

~ Aidan Costello in SOUL-MAKING by Edward Sellner
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Our society has forgotten that all of life can be a work of art, even the most mundane-seeming tasks... There is great beauty in cleanliness and order and bringing it into being. Watering the plants is as necessary as cleaning the stove, and vice versa. All these tasks bespeak care for oneself and others, and appreciation of the opportunity to create a temenos -- a sanctuary, a safe and sacred place.

~ from SEEING THROUGH THE VISIBLE WORLD by June Singer
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Perhaps the important matter is that we are who we are and where we are by a maze of reasons unknown to us. Our work is to make our way through our situation with faith and courage and whatever else it takes... In the end we are not only a mystery to one another but even to ourselves. The task is to live the mystery rather than unravel it.

~ from DIARY OF A CITY PRIEST by John McNamee
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Let us, like a painter, take time to stand back from our work, to be still, and thus to see what's what... True repose is standing back to survey the activities that fill our days.

~ from THE ART OF BEING HUMAN by William McNamara
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Through intuitions received in the silence and holiness of your own inner sanctuary, you will get the guiding Light you need in your work.

~ White Eagle
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For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin -- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

~ Alfred D'Souza
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Some goals are so worthy, it is glorious even to fail.
~ Nan Merrill
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The true prophetic message always calls us to stretch our arms out wide and embrace the whole world. In holy boldness we cover the earth with the grace and mercy of God. This is a great task, a noble task... Helmut Thielicke writes, "The globe itself lives and is upheld as by Atlas arms through the prayers of those who love has not grown cold. The world lives by these uplifted hands, and by nothing else!"

~ from PRAYER by Richard J. Foster
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We saw our good life not as a model for others, but as a pilgrimage, for us, to the best way we could conceive of living. We felt a glad responsibility in joining with the stream of onward life, with the whole magnificent enterprise. This was living a life of affirmation, of contribution, of making every act and every day purposeful. To live the good life, we found, was to do the best we were capable of in any set of circumstances.

~ from LOVING AND LEAVING THE GOOD LIFE by Helen Nearing
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Our work is the love of God.
Our satisfaction lies in submission to the divine embrace.
~ Jan van Ruysbroeck
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Doing work which has to be done over and over again helps us recognize the natural cycles of growth and decay, of birth and death, and thus become aware of the dynamic order of the universe. "Ordinary" work, as the root meaning of the term indicates, is work that is in harmony with the order we perceive in the natural environment.

~ Fritjof Capra
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O God, that at all times You may find me as You desire me and where You would have me be, that You may lay hold on me fully, both by the Within and the Without of myself, grant that I may never break the double thread of my life.

~ Teilhard de Chardin
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As we lose our vagueness about our self, our values, our life situation, we become available to the moment. It is there, in the particular, that we contact the creative self. Until we experience the freedom of solitude, we cannot connect authentically. We may be enmeshed, but we are not encountered. Art lies in the moment of encounter: we meet ourselves and we meet our self-expression. We become original because we become something specific: an origin from which work flows.

~ from THE ARTIST'S WAY by Julia Cameron
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The universe is my way.
Love is my law.
Peace is my shelter.
Experience is my school.
Obstacle is my lesson.
Difficulty is my stimulant.
Pain is my warning.
Work is my blessing.
Balance is my attitude.
(The Voice of Silence is my guide.)

~ Guillermo Tolentino
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May you give me work till my life shall end
And life till my work is done.

~ Winifred Holtby
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We receive according to the emptiness of our hearts and hands.

When a young man in Uganda, a great soccer player, had his knee purposely blown out by someone in a soccer game, ending his professional career, he could have chosen bitterness. But instead, he began to help other young men who were aimless and without directions, who were on drugs, in gangs, doing nothing.

First he gave himself to building them up by teaching them to be soccer players. Once that relationship was established, he helped them develop skills and crafts, so that they could make a living and then become responsible fathers and community contributors...You could see how his own soul was nurtured by his desire to contribute, to focus outside himself.

~ from "The Guiding Conscience" by Steven R. Covey in HANDBOOK OF THE SOUL
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Without great solitude no serious work is possible.
~ Pablo Picasso
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Life work

"Life work" means that to which one will devote one's energies. It is the world of the soul, as well as the material work done in the visible world. These categories of tasks are not separate: they are not inimical to one another any more than sweeping the temple, washing the vestments, or cleaning and arranging the altar are inimical to the act of prayer. On the contrary, these tasks are prayer. They are the work of the soul in that they provide a suitable atmosphere for the cultivation of a contemplative and receptive attitude.

Learning how to put your gifts and your power to work

Learning how to put your gifts and your power to work in the most positive manner is what it is all about right now. Many people are just existing, until one day they wake up and find out who they are... We are here on Earth because this is where people have all the possibilities for growing to their fullest potential. As you awaken to another level of consciousness, you will be able to reach out and be a beneficial presence to other people.

Serving

It is within my power either to serve God, or not to serve. Serving, I add to my own good and the good of the whole world. Not serving, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good, which was in my power to create.

You must step back

This is the secret. You must step back, separate yourself from your everyday thoughts and habitual gestures: look at them. It is patient work, like the work of the watchmaker who observes the spirals and gears under the lens, cleans and calibrates. The secret is to retreat deep into oneself until one encounters an almost imperceptible vibration, which then becomes more and more evident, a silent, separate, calm vibration. Those who anchor themselves in this possess serenity all day long.

The more we receive

The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life.

Beginning work with consecration

In an Indian village everything is related to the sacred and nothing is done without some sacrifice... If we are building a house, a hermitage or any other building, the craftsmen will come along and the first thing they will do is choose an auspicious day and hour. When the time comes for work to begin, they are all there for the blessing, ready to consecrate their work. They will not begin any work without that. When the work is coming to its fulfillment, ... there is another blessing because we can neither begin nor complete our work without God... The builder also relates to the cosmos. Building is a total act and therefore, it is totally consecrated.

There are some things that require no work

There are some things that require no work... You don't have to work to achieve a silent mind; you don't have to work to find the old wounds. All these things are a given, once they are uncovered. The uncovering begins wherever you are now, but its goal is always the same -- the revelation of wholeness that unites body, mind and Spirit as one.

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