By
Melanie Rigney
It is too little, (God) says, for you to
be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of
Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to
the ends of the earth. (Isaiah
49:6)
In
you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your justice
rescue me, and deliver me; incline your ear to me, and save me. (Psalm 71:1-2)
Simon Peter said to
him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you
cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” (John
13:36-37)
Piety
Lord, show
me how to lay down my life for You in little and big ways today.
Study
A women’s
retreat, in another state. During some down time, near the end of the weekend,
several of us started talking about our government jobs and the difficulty we
sometimes found in bringing Christ into the workplace beyond trying to serve as
models in the way we conduct ourselves, in attempting to love our neighbors as
ourselves.
One woman
fished out of her purse a photo. It appeared to be a shrine of some sort…
medallions, icons, rosaries, prayer cards, statuary, even candles. But the
candles were unlit. It turned out she works for the federal government. It all
started with a single image of Jesus, as I recall. People who came to her cube
started asking her about why she had the picture. She told them she was
Catholic. No one asked her to take it down. Slowly but surely, as her
colleagues traveled, they brought back items for her cube. Sometimes, she thought
they were meant as jokes, but none were offensive, so she thanked them and kept
adding the items to her space. There’s been a conversion story or two over the
years, she said, and people, believers in some form of God or not, often stop
by and tell her their problems and ask for her prayers. She always listens and
prayers. She considers it part of her job.
As for me,
my home work space (pictured at right) is pretty Catholic, but at the day job? Not so
much. Then recently, I was working on an oh-so-important project. An essential
phone meeting was scheduled on my day off, at a time that was going to present
a conflict. At first, I simply said that, that I had an appointment and so the
call would need to end by a certain time. I was asked by several people if I
couldn’t reschedule it. Then I thought of that woman and her workplace shrine.
“I’m Catholic,” I said, “and I’m signed up for adoration for an hour. That
means I get to go and sit with the Blessed Host, which we believe is Jesus, and
when the Host is exposed, we don’t leave Jesus alone.” There was silence, then
we moved on. But the next day, the call ended in time for me to get to the
adoration chapel.
The next workday, a colleague came to
my office. He shut the door, then proceeded to tell me about when he was young
and would go to adoration. He also told me a bit about his current faith life
with a nondenominational church. Then he opened the door and left.
It can be
challenging to talk about and show our faith outside of our safe little church
communities. But when we opt for the safe, quiet course, we forego
opportunities to evangelize, to be a light to all nations. Take a chance. Let
it shine.
Action
Do or say
something today at work, at school, at the grocery store or elsewhere that
shows your faith to people outside your usual faith circle.
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