During a recent family reunion, my elderly mother and I were the only ones at the table without smartphones. We felt left out.
A few days later I read that Pope Francis advised parents to ban mobile devices from the dinner table to help restore the quality of family relationships.
These two occurrences reminded me of the life of our foundress, St. Jeanne Jugan.
Editor’s note: During this Year of Consecrated Life, this is the seventh in a series based on the Second Vatican Council’s document, Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life) written by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, former abbot primate of the Benedictine order who now resides in Madison.
In this commentary on the decree of the Second Vatican Council Decree On the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life, we have reflected upon the meaning of Religious Life expressed by the council fathers.
The fathers gave special attention to the two main expressions of Religious Life in the Western Church: 1) the contemplative and/or monastic life; 2) the active and/or missionary life.
In the previous installment, we reflected upon the contemplative expression of Religious Life. This seventh reflection will consider the council’s teaching on the “active” or apostolic expression of the special call to Religious Life.
Work is part of everyone’s life, whether it’s paid or unpaid. Yet how often do we think about how we witness to our faith through our work?
As the editor of a Catholic newspaper, I have more opportunity than others to integrate my work with my faith. But it is still a challenge to keep a faith perspective in every aspect of my work.
For some insights on this topic, I recalled a statement made by the state’s bishops in 2001. It is called Making Wisconsin Work Well: A Labor Day Challenge by Wisconsin’s Roman Catholic Bishops (still available on the Wisconsin Catholic Conference website at www.wisconsincatholic.org and well worth another look).
Editor’s note: During this Year of Consecrated Life, this is the sixth in a series based on the Second Vatican Council’s document, Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life) written by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, former abbot primate of the Benedictine order who now resides in Madison.
In this commentary on the Second Vatican Council’s Decree On the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life, we have reflected upon the general principles underlying the very existence of all Religious Life.
These include patterning the life on the doctrine and example of Jesus; giving a sign on earth of the heavenly Kingdom; binding the vowed individual in a special way to the Lord; and openness to the action of the Holy Spirit.
We often hear it said that having a job gives people dignity. That is not quite right. The dignity inherent in every human being is a gift from the loving God who created us.
This human dignity is ours when we are too young to work. And we retain it when we are too ill, too disabled, or too old to work or when unemployed.
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Labor Day offers us opportunities to reflect upon the value, blessings, and crosses of work from the perspective of Catholic spirituality. Since we spend much time working and commuting to work, such reflection is important.
In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” By our work, we honor the gifts and talents we received from God. Our work helps us to co-create with God by transforming creation in ways that benefit humanity, reflect Christ-like values, and bring creation to its completion and fulfillment.
When we make crutches or rosaries, or write about poverty, we ought to feel good because our work benefits others. When we prepare meals, grow crops, or repair computers, we should be proud because our work serves others.
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear Friends,
“Night is coming, when no one can work,” we heard in the Gospel reading of this past Sunday (Jn 9:4).
Jesus told his disciples: do the works of God while it is still day, “night is coming when no one can work.”
No one can work and, I might add, no-thing can work. And I would suggest that night has come.
Even as we’ve just marked the Sunday that we call “Rejoice Sunday,” we acknowledge that we have to rejoice in the truth. God gives us the grace to rejoice in the truth. And the truth is that the night has come and so no one and nothing can work — but the splendid Light of the Resurrection will make that night as bright as day!
The story of the man born blind, which we encountered in the Gospel reading, is in many ways an allegory for our very own culture and our very own society. It is a culture and a society of death. A culture upon which night has descended, so nothing works.
To the editor:
Tony Magliano’s reflections on Pope Benedict’s Day of Peace message in the January 10 Catholic Herald is relevant to this time and place. As noted by the pope, inequality has been increasing for decades as a result of selfish and individualistic deregulation of financial markets.
Deregulation caused the financial crisis of 2008 and recession. Millions lost their jobs, families lost their homes, and $16 trillion in household wealth evaporated. But since then, 93 percent of new wealth has accrued to the richest one percent.
A week later followed the economic column in the Catholic Herald by Anthony Esolen about some of Pope Leo XIII’s views on socialism in his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. The pope denounced socialism because it deprives working people of the gains of their wages in the form of private property.
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear Friends,
As I write this column, we come quickly upon the Labor Day Holiday. It is, in some ways, a rather bittersweet milestone for me each year, as it signals the soon-to-come end of the days of warmth and sun (although this year any break from the extreme heat is not unwelcome!), and before we know it, we’ll be in the midst of winter.
At the same time, with increasing speed each year, Thanksgiving seems to rush upon us after Labor Day, and then Christmas — which is surely a blessed time.
Labor Day, however, allows us a breath and an opportunity to examine our efforts and, I would propose, to reapply ourselves to using our work — no matter what it is — to sanctifying the world around us. Each and every one of our labors, whether it be raising our children, working as a teacher, a salesperson, a lawyer, or a mechanic, should become a means by which we encounter God and witness to His concern for the world — and that’s my first point.
Labor Day invites workers to reflect upon their work’s spiritual value. This is important because most active adults spend the majority of weekday hours they are awake working, commuting to work, preparing for work, or resting from work.
Many retired persons including priests, also work in various ways. I know!
