Workers in Father’s Vineyard

Prayer and work
Advertising is often made for various false ways of prayer, pseudo mystic practices, and the result promises: “You will feel good.” As we have stated, Christian prayer achieves an incomparably higher goal – a conversation with the Father and cooperation in his work. The ancient monks understood her that way, and therefore no one it is not surprising that they literally took the admonition of St. Paul in the letter to the Thessalonians: “Pray without ceasing. And thank (God) for all living conditions. That’s it God wants you in Christ Jesus “(1 Thess. 5: 17-18).
However, spiritual people asked how to do this command when the said prayer’s daily life is disturbed by so many distractions. The only possible answer to this question is the one Origenes gave in his book On Prayer, which I quoted a moment ago: “He who prayed with good things prays without ceasing. “The word” prayer “must therefore be understood in a broader sense 54 words of meaning. Everything we do according to God’s will, he elevates us to the Father. Saying written prayers is only one part of the great “prayer of life,” although essential. The saint also composed in this spirit Augustine’s work 0 the work of monks. He opposes the opinion of certain Syrian monks, called Messalis; it is the “prayer” according to which he should be a spiritual man only pray. Work! That, too, is a good prayer.

The Benedictine motto became the response to this teaching. – ora et labora – pray and work! But let us raise another objection: Prayer is, as we have said, dialogue, conversation with God. Applies to also for work? Sure, but under one condition – if we work towards the same goal. They unite in a family, husband, and wife, as they discuss together. But still, they are more united when they work together to build a common house. Similarly, work connects us to heavenly The Father if this continues the common work of the world’s salvation. They placed this inscription on the grave of a simple worker, the father of a family, and his new son: “If work is a prayer, then you have prayed for all your life. “

God’s will is the first rule of piety. If two people decide to work together, they must agree on what they want to achieve. Popularly, this is expressed by the saying that a car does not move if one pulls forward and the other back. Conflicts in projects destroy even large companies. Conflicts will disrupt peace in families. In God’s life in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, we observe the opposite, a noble example for the Christian life. The second divine Person accepts the will of the first person unconditionally for his own, and this complete acceptance becomes the Son of the Father. Analogously, we also share this great mystery of God. If we do God’s will, we become sons of God.

The passage of the gospel is also understood in this sense, which, if misinterpreted, seems to diminish the appreciation of the Mother of God, Mary. Jesus was told: “‘Your mother and relatives are standing outside and would like to see you.’ But he answered them, My mother and my relatives are those who hear and fulfill the word of God ‘”(Lk 8,20-21). After all, there is no distinction in God’s perfection “Nature” and “will”; it’s the same. And so man, who does God’s will in his life, participates in of divine nature, it becomes almost about loved one’s relatives. We see the peak of kinship with God in Mary with her dignity as the Mother of God. Theologians, however, rightly distinguish a twofold aspect in this privilege. He speaks of “physical motherhood” associated with fact procreation because she gave birth to Christ in the flesh. But his “Fiat” to God’s will became a mother in the spiritual sense; workers in the Father’s Vineyard, she was the first to be counted among those who hear God’s word and act on it. In the above text of St. Luke, Mary’s person does not want to shrink, but Jesus wants to underline that spiritual kinship is higher than bodily. It coincides with the universal Christian vocation to be children of God.
“God’s will! You don’t feel how infinite sweetness is in this word? “often said St. Magdalene di Pazzi. Gerard Mayella had the same invocation on his lips: “God will! God’s will! “When the bee lay for the sick, where he also died, he hung a sheet of paper on the door, on which it was written in capital letters: “Here it does God’s will, what God wants, how He wants it and so on as long as he wants. “