St. John Bosco - Doing Ordinary Things Well
Feb 22, 2019 11:34:20 GMT
Post by Admin on Feb 22, 2019 11:34:20 GMT
The Angelus - January 1984
OUR AGE IS AN AGE of publicity and advertisement. Public relations people promote candidates for jobs and professional communicators "sell" people to the public. There is much talk about the "image" we project and how important it is to appear appealing, successful and competent.
We are more interested in what people say or think about us than in what we really are.
We pay more attention to surveys and public opinion polls than to genuine achievement.
We prefer the extraordinary and exciting to the simply and ordinary.
There was no lesson Christ taught more vigorously than that of the true value of ordinary things done well with fidelity and perseverance. He taught this lesson not so much by what He said as by what He did. He spent thirty out of thirty-three years of His life on earth living an ordinary life doing routine daily jobs with fidelity and perseverance. No television crews moved into Nazareth. No journalist was assigned to cover this aspect of the life of God made man!
The life of the Holy Family emphasizes the importance of ordinary family life. All of us need rest, companionship, work, affection and love. These are elementary human needs that are universal and are best supplied in the give and take of family life. But to provide them for others and to accept them from others demands unselfishness, humility, realism and maturity.
When we succeed in doing such ordinary things well we grow in wisdom, strength and grace. We foster a spirit of contentment and security. We create an atmosphere of peace that leads to true progress.
Yet such achievements never make headlines or draw us into the limelight. So we can begin to feel bored with routine and crave excitement of publicity. We forget the importance of what we are doing, the value of what we possess and the beauty of what we have created.
Today's public world is like a big shop with price tags all mixed up. Shoddy goods like pleasure, affluences, high living, are packaged glamorously and carry a high price tag, as if they were of great value. Important things like honest work, fidelity to God's will, stable family life, charity towards others, a strong sense of justice, are marked down as of little worth. So, sometimes, we go for the wrong things. We pay a high price for shoddy goods. When have given much to possess them we find they are worthless and that we are cheated. We experience anger, frustration and bitterness. Too late we discover our own foolishness and lament our mistake.
Time spent with the Holy Family of Nazareth will make us wiser shoppers! The example of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in their humble home of Nazareth be ever before our eyes and in our hearts.
Doing Ordinary Things Well
OUR AGE IS AN AGE of publicity and advertisement. Public relations people promote candidates for jobs and professional communicators "sell" people to the public. There is much talk about the "image" we project and how important it is to appear appealing, successful and competent.
We are more interested in what people say or think about us than in what we really are.
We pay more attention to surveys and public opinion polls than to genuine achievement.
We prefer the extraordinary and exciting to the simply and ordinary.
There was no lesson Christ taught more vigorously than that of the true value of ordinary things done well with fidelity and perseverance. He taught this lesson not so much by what He said as by what He did. He spent thirty out of thirty-three years of His life on earth living an ordinary life doing routine daily jobs with fidelity and perseverance. No television crews moved into Nazareth. No journalist was assigned to cover this aspect of the life of God made man!
The life of the Holy Family emphasizes the importance of ordinary family life. All of us need rest, companionship, work, affection and love. These are elementary human needs that are universal and are best supplied in the give and take of family life. But to provide them for others and to accept them from others demands unselfishness, humility, realism and maturity.
When we succeed in doing such ordinary things well we grow in wisdom, strength and grace. We foster a spirit of contentment and security. We create an atmosphere of peace that leads to true progress.
Yet such achievements never make headlines or draw us into the limelight. So we can begin to feel bored with routine and crave excitement of publicity. We forget the importance of what we are doing, the value of what we possess and the beauty of what we have created.
Today's public world is like a big shop with price tags all mixed up. Shoddy goods like pleasure, affluences, high living, are packaged glamorously and carry a high price tag, as if they were of great value. Important things like honest work, fidelity to God's will, stable family life, charity towards others, a strong sense of justice, are marked down as of little worth. So, sometimes, we go for the wrong things. We pay a high price for shoddy goods. When have given much to possess them we find they are worthless and that we are cheated. We experience anger, frustration and bitterness. Too late we discover our own foolishness and lament our mistake.
Time spent with the Holy Family of Nazareth will make us wiser shoppers! The example of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in their humble home of Nazareth be ever before our eyes and in our hearts.
From Don Bosco's Madonna
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]