I
am reading “God in Action” by Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I, Archbishop of
Chicago. It has been on my bookshelf for
several months, but with the upcoming elections, it seemed like a good time to
read it.
Yesterday,
I read the chapter subtitled, “Business as a Vocation from God”. For me, the words leapt off the page. He writes, “There’s a distinction and a separation
in law between religious institutions and political institutions, but not
between faith and society; the first 150 years of this country’s history bears
witness to health interaction between the concerns of society and the influence
of faith.” [i]
Cardinal
George goes on to write that secularism, (my pastor may make the case for relativism),
has become the public religion. Any areas
dealing with faith are considered private and no longer have value in the
public spheres, especially the market place.
This becomes a significant problem as the gift of faith calls us to
something beyond what and what we currently are.
He
then references the Trappist monk Thomas Merton[ii]
in discussing “false selves” – masks that we use when interacting with others. We might have the “boss mask”, the “mommy mask”,
the “pious mask”, etc. The masks
represent a role that we play in various parts of our lives.
Yet
as we spend more time with God, His unending and merciful love unifies everything
in our lives, including our work, making us integrated persons who are free to
act according to His will for us. As we
answer the call to follow his will, as our faith grows and deepens, faith no
longer is a mask, or something that happens at a certain time and space, but is
grafted into ourselves.
My
“take away” from this reading is this: once our unified selves enter the business
world, tension is then created because we may be asked to take off our “faith
masks” to conform to what is expected in specific situations. Our work, the way that God calls us to use
the gifts He has given us, will be transformed when we bring our unified selves
to the market place. As we labor, not in
drudgery, but in joy, conducting our actions in His name, others will
notice. We will bring His love into the
marketplace and who knows that will result!
Thank
you Cardinal George for allowing me to realize that business is one place that
I may put “God in Action”.
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