IPLW-Faith, “Assembly #2,” pp. 79-115
I know that it has been a very long time since I wrote any reflections on Msgr. Giussani’s book, Is It Possible to Live This Way? Vol. 1: Faith. It does not mean that I have not been reading it — OK, it does a little — but it is more because things got busy, first with Holy Week, and then I had some trips away. I am not going to try to summarize what I have already discussed about this book. For that, just see my previous blog posts on this book: they started in January of this year.
The next section is the second Assembly. Again, this is when the participants in these talks, after a time of reflect, asked questions of Msgr. Giussani. Often they were questions concerning clarification of some point that he made in his talk (this last talk was all about Freedom). I am not going to go through all the questions. However, there is a section in the Assemby, pp. 101-104, in which Giussani discusses the significance of work. I thought that this was very interesting, especially in the light of the unemployment problems that the USA is experiencing right now.
For Msgr. Giussani, work is an “essential expression of man’s life and its the essential way he imitates God.” We will value our work the most when we are able to give all our energy to doing what God wants us to do. As has been mentioned in this chapter on freedom, freedom is one’s relationship with one’s destiny. Now we all have the same destiny. As the old Baltimore Catechism says, “Why did God make me? To know, love and serve Him in this life, and to be happy with Him in the next.” We are made for happiness. That is our destiny. The only way in which we will perfect, or achieve, that happiness is when we are in perfect communion with God in heaven. In this life, we are on a journey. Everyone is heading to the same destination, yet along the way God has different tasks for us to do. Not to earn our way into heaven, but to perfect the Mystical Body of Christ, the community of the faithful.
Our work needs to be modeled on the work of Christ Jesus. And what was the work of Jesus? His great work was obedience to the Father. Ultimately, what matters is not what particular work we do, but rather that we obey God in our work.
One of the worse things is for a person to be not working. Of course there are circumstances beyond their control which might cause them to be unemployed, but a person must find work. Too often people hold out for the ideal job, but in doing so they are putting the value of life in the work. The value of life is not in any particular job, but rather the value of life is obedience.
Msgr. Giussani insisted that members of the “Adult Group” (much of what would later become Memores Domini, the secular institute that follows the charism of Communion and Liberation) find work. He did not want them sitting around with their hands folded while others worried about them. If you cannot find the work you want, take whatever work is available. It does not even matter if one is paid for it (well, of course it matters if you are the breadwinner, but the money is the the primary value).
I have even known people who, when they were unemployed (say due to a layoff), who made finding another job their job. They got up at the time they would normally get up for work, shower, shave, dress for their job, and then go to “work”. Maybe they set up a particular space in their home where they put in their 8 hours. My one sister, after she was laid off, her company paid for them to go to an office with a placement company, where she had her own cubicle, and she needed to work on her resume, attended workshops on job interviewing, had to identify a certain number of potential jobs each week, etc. I thought this was a great plan, of truly making looking for work a full-time, though temporary (while they were on severance pay) job. The key is not letting others look for work for us, but for us to look at the means and conditions that God is gracing us with for finding work. We search, with the help and support of the rest of the Christian community. “Until you find work that you like — that expresses you — it’s love and obedience to the Father to accept even work that expresses you less and that you like less.”
Right now, I have one friend who I know is looking for work. He really does not know what God is calling him to do right now. Of course there are people in my parish who are facing the same difficulty. How do I support them during this time? How do I help them see the presence of Jesus right now in their lives?
June 6th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Father JC,
Often people define themselves by the job or “work” they do,when really it is only one aspect of us.Our total being is in loving & serving.
Sometimes we are forced to be away from our work( temp. lay offs, medical conditions etc..)
I think that at these times God is asking you to stop & take inventory of your life. it may mark a change you need to make or just a time to grow closer to Him.
August 8th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Dear Fr., Thanj you for your thoughts. I stumbled upon your website today and am puzzled by your remarks. You seem to equate our worth as God’s children to our ability to remain busy, whether it’s fruitful or not. Sometimes God finds us most receptive in our times of failure, vulnerability and inactivity. I believe the scriptures support the notion of taking time alone, time not regimented, to hear God’s voice and discover his desires for us. Also, for many, the struggle to support their families is not new or the result of the current economic crisis. Middle class America is feeling it only now. But most of the world lives — literally — “give us this day our daily bread.” Perhaps we can learn from them.
August 8th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Dear Livia,
I think you are missing the point. There is a difference between busyness and work. Right from the beginning (well, after the Fall), God had Adam and Eve work. Again, the most fundamental work for us to do, is the most fundamental thing that Jesus did — be obedient to God. Most definitely we need time for prayer, quiet time of resting in the Lord, but most of us are not called to me contemplative monks, so we also engage in work. Actually, even the most contemplative of monks engage in work. Look at the movie, “Into Great Silence,” about the Carthuesians, the strictest religious order; they work in their cell. What Msgr. Giussani is saying here is nothing new; St. James wrote in his letter, “those who do not work, should not eat.” The key is not to overly identify your whole self with the particular job, but with doing the will of God. Being open to the reality of the moment, of what God is calling you to do.