Reflections for the Working Soul: Love transfigures

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Love transfigures

+ RWS 535 February 24, 2013

2^nd Sunday of Lent

Gospel: Luke 9: 28b-36

28 … he said this, he took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. 29 While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.

Pray, pray, pray

By Bishop Precioso D. Cantillas, SDB, DD

The necessity of praying is taught by Jesus to His Apostles and disciples. He showed them how He prayed and brought them to pray. He spent hours, even the whole night praying. He cautioned them to be “keep watch and pray”. It is very clear then that anyone who wishes to follow Jesus must pray, pray and pray. But, how can busy persons, mostly occupied with work, pray always? How can we pray while working?

Without going into a voluminous treatise on prayer, the simple definition of prayer as “union with God” could shed light to our quest in praying even while working. One way of uniting ourselves with God is through our mind, or our intention. Putting the right intention of offering to God every action we do throughout the day somehow makes us and our work united with God the whole day even in moments when we do not think explicitly of Him. The habit of consciously, and attentively praying at the start of the day or of the work is a good practice of uniting one’s life and work with God. Others would celebrate the Eucharist, where they liturgically offer their work and the sacrifices they would bear in union with the sufferings, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Any worker of whatever faith can unite with the God he believes in by whatever mode he is taught by his faith; such union is possible before, during and after his work by giving his mind and heart in his work and to God.

Praying is not taking time out from one’s job; but, it is putting in quality time in one’s activity. The intention or motive for an act is what gives quality to the human act. A work, great or small, is great when it is done for someone great. One is also most likely to do a great job even on a very simple task when he knows that he does it for a great Boss. Even those who may be addicted to work, the so-called workaholics, could transform their addiction to something which could benefit their soul as well. Working then could be praying as Jesus advised us.

Blooming siya!

By Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS

When a glum-faced, old-maidish female supervisor who had always been known as a “supladita” came to work one day smiling, and continued to smile for days on end, we all guessed she must be in love. Something about her had changed— “Blooming siya,” we said, no longer the terror that she used to be. Of course—it is but natural to be in good spirits, and therefore “blooming”, when you are in love with someone who also loves you.

This may be a crude analogy, but this is what today’s gospel reminds me of, where Jesus’ appearance changed as he prayed. Prayer is nothing but an intimate conversation with a friend whom you know loves you very much, according to the very down to earth Saint Teresa of Avila. At prayer, Jesus was in an intimate conversation with the Father, someone He knows loves Him very much. Is it any wonder then that Jesus “bloomed” too in the eyes of His disciples then? If you haven’t yet prayed personally this way, as St. Teresa of Avila suggests, try it. Not only can it erase the frown on your face; it could even lower your blood pressure.

The best thing about this Teresian style of private praying is you can do it anywhere, whatever you’re doing, alone or not. “The Lord walks among the pots and pans,” St. Teresa also wrote, meaning that God is with us as we perform even the most mundane tasks of our day. So, as you earn our daily bread (or rice and fish), have the confidence to keep an ongoing “conversation” with your Friend who loves you very much. If you do it with childlike faith, others will notice in due time that you have changed into a much better co-worker, more pleasant to be with, sensible, dependable, poised, prudent, and therefore, productive. When others say of you “Blooming siya!” you just smile because you know very well that love transfigures.

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What they say about 'Reflections for the Working Soul', the book

Day in and out, the Inquirer brims with news. That's the Inquirer's strength: A frenzy of in-your-face news daily. Almost always the bad news. Then Reflections for the Working Soul happened every Sunday. Suddenly, we had (and have) an oasis of Good News. For reflection. For serenity. Not up there in the clouds. But right here in the dailiness of living and working with real people some of whom can really get on one’s nerves.

Thanks to Bishop Precioso D. Cantillas and Teresa R. Tunay. In three paragraphs or less, they offer a way and an attitude in the workplace not just for Sundays but for my day-to-day lifestyle to keep in touch with what works in relationships, including people one can barely stand working with. They sort out for me what’s important and really counts in life and living in the workplace as a microcosm of the real world.

So, I look forward eagerly to reading the Good News bylined by the bishop and Tunay. Because they speak to me personally about how to be most effective and productive at work while at the same time staying connected to the Good News, and thus staying in a state of serenity and grace. Providentially, their names—Precioso and Tunay (precious and true)—sum up their contributions to the development of the Inquirer as an instrument and institution of the Good News of the Lord.

—Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc
Editor-in-Chief, Philippine Daily Inquirer

From Bishop Rolly Tria Tirona:

Giving flesh and bones to our Christian faith has always been the challenge for every Christian. Translating belief in Christ into Christ-like action is extremely demanded in market and work places. Christian work ethics is the fruit of inspiration and not of pure legislation.

Reflections for the Working Soul, a weekly column of Ms Teresa Tunay and Bishop Precioso Cantillas in a newspaper section catering primarily to people at work, provides that inspiration for the many working people desirous to integrate their belief with their work.

These joint reflections make the Gospel teachings so reachable to busy people. Their insights help working people understand that they do matter in the transformation of our society and of our country. In their reflections, they show that work can lead to contemplation, while contemplation sanctifies and elevates their work to the heart of God.

I salute and congratulate Ms. Teresa Tunay and Bishop Precioso Cantillas for being the instruments of the Holy Spirit to warm and lift up the spirit of our working people.

Most Rev. Rolando J. Tria Tirona, OCD
Bishop Prelate of Infanta
15 April 2007, Divine Mercy Sunday

Carmelite priest Junjun Agruda says:

In the mountains, geologists and miners use the elegant term "angle of repose" to describe the precise angle at which a boulder will rest on the side of a hill, rather than tumble downward. I think of that image as the point at which prayer and action meet. Every so often one of those boulders breaks loose, releasing potential energy in a crashing rockslide that permanently alters the landscape.

The creative ways in which Prayer and earthiness are wedded in these Relfections for the Working Soul forge a spirituality that makes room for piety as well as for activism. Bishop Precioso Cantillas and Ms. Teresa Tunay have grasped the nature of Prayer as partnership with God’s activity on earth. These reflections bring us to that "angle of repose", the place where contemplation and prayerful action meet. Thus in the process, the act of Prayer emboldens us to join the work of transforming the world into a place where the Father’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

—Fr. Mariano Agruda III, OCD
Provincial Superior,
Order of Discalced Carmelites, Philippines

Bishop Stude comments:

Two beautiful minds, talented persons very much respected, committed and sefless in their respective works, have gifted us with an inspiring and interesting book, Reflections for the Working Soul. The skillful authors—Bishop Precioso Cantillas and Ms. Teresa Tunay—make the Sunday Gospels more applicable, much alive in the work world. The inspiring book enhances spirituality in the workplace and imparts refreshing reflections which encourage and challenge one to make the workplace a ‘good soil’ (Mark 4,8) and to ‘bear fruit: some thirty, some sixty,and some one hundred’ (Mark 4,20).

Reading Reflections for the Working Soul is to know that the words of its gifted authors are their works, and their works are their witnessing for Jesus and His Gospels. With our works and in our places, Bishop Precioso Cantillas and Ms. Teresa Tunay take and turn us to ‘see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5,16).

—Monsignor Ruperto Cruz Santos
Bishop of Balanga

From Monsignor Hernando Coronel:

The teamwork between Bishop Cantillas and Teresa Tunay is the application of the Second Vatican Council teaching regarding the transformation of society. A cleric and a layperson combined their personal insights to give light on the values needed in the workplace. Indeed, they have witnessed against a rat race world, a dog-eat-dog milieau, a corporate atmosphere of power and control. Their spirituality of the workplace heralds the values of the Gospel in the business setting, that it is important to pray before deciding, to seek God’s will before acting in the commercial sphere. Theirs is an advocating of building a faith community in the workplace where Christian principles reign and are lived out.

—Monsignor Hernando Coronel
Archdiocese of Manila

Fr. Mario Baclig, SDB, says:

If once we had worker-priests, now we have a genuine worker-bishop. And this book is proof of this. Bishop Cantillas is himself a worker; he grew up in Don Bosco Cebu getting his hands soiled and greasy in the machine shop. When he was nominated bishop, he had all set and ready a pastor’s staff that he had been fabricating for someone else. And now, a published compilation of his thoughts for workers. This is a precious gift for today’s workers, from a worker-bishop!

Teresa Tunay is his partner in this endeavor. She comes with her unique journalistic talent and creativity. But more than that, she brings in a rare sensitivity to the simple and often unnoticed lives of ordinary workers. Her love and concern for young workers has kept the Blue Collar magazine going despite all odds. I cannot wait to get hold of this book. How I wish that workers worldwide would have a similar privilege!

—Fr. Mario Baclig, SDB
Salesiana Publishers

From the late Fr. James Reuter, SJ:

The secret of doing anything well is to love what you are doing —to enjoy your job. If, when you wake each morning, you are eager to meet the challenge of this day; if your mind is filled with it, joyfully, when you are brushing your teeth, when you are in the shower, when you are drinking your coffee. . . . . .your work will be a smash! What these 'Reflections' do is to remind you that your work is an apostolate. . . you are serving the children of God. You might not have silver and gold, but what you have you give—yourself! And that is the most beautiful gift of all. This little book makes you realize that you are serving God. . . every day, every hour, every moment. . . . in the market place. It is worth reading—one set of reflections every day. It will fill your life with love. You will go to work smiling.

—Fr. James Reuter, SJ
Director, National Office on Mass Media for the Catholic Church in the Philippines