Think about your daily duty. Do you know what it is or has something else taken it's place?Are you happy? Do you feel a sense of peace and joy? Do you feel you are doing what you are meant to do? This is not necessarily what you want to do but what you should be doing from the gut....not the same thing....at first. Until acceptance takes over. The world may be telling you one thing and your gut may be saying something totally different and you may not even understand and you may feel confused. Have you ever had that happen?
Listen to it ......the gut.
Daily Duty you ask? What's that?
Listen to it ......the gut.
Daily Duty you ask? What's that?
I don't know if that's just a Catholic term or not but since I am a Catholic girl that's where I learned it. Daily duty is our daily vocation from God, what we DO each day that forms the rhythm of our life. I am a wife and mother so my primary daily duty is the care of my husband and family and all that goes with that. That is where I find my joy, peace and where I work out my salvation in this life. It isn't the only realm in which I do these things but it is the primary realm.
One of the things that sticks out in my mind regarding this and how simple yet big it is, is when I think of Mother Teresa. She had a call. Her call was not to pick up and care for thousands of dying people in the streets of Calcutta and then all over the world. It was to pick up one on that first day....and every day thereafter.
One of the things that sticks out in my mind regarding this and how simple yet big it is, is when I think of Mother Teresa. She had a call. Her call was not to pick up and care for thousands of dying people in the streets of Calcutta and then all over the world. It was to pick up one on that first day....and every day thereafter.
It was doing her daily duty each day, one day at a time.
This is how lives are changed.
This is how families are changed.
This is how the world is changed.
It is my thought that people don't like the ordinariness of daily duty anymore. The mundane thought of daily duty over and over is just too boring. Years ago a week of work or chores took on a rhythm that played out over and over and over. This repetition had a security, a familiarity that was lovely. It is in the mundane, in simplicity that God can show us a person or situation that may need us or our attention and skills. In this God also shows us Himself.
Our work is where we interact with people, have challenges, meet goals, press ourselves to do more, be more. Hopefully push ourselves to be our best. I always hope, because I am a mother, that Moms out there consider their job a career because it is. We form the hearts and minds of our children. The future citizens of this country and of heaven. This is a high calling. In whatever work you do, be it at home or place of business or on a roof or underground, you are called to do your best whether you like your job or not. It isn't what you do it is how you do it.
There is a wonderful encyclical "On Human Work" written by Pope John Paul II that is fantastic. He was a worker. That man worked his tail off and was the working man's pope. Working is a GOOD thing people....it is NOT something to get out of, not something to escape from, not something to look forward to getting away from constantly. This is the wrong attitude and it is so prevalent now. We have a society obsessed with playing 24 hours a day.
Playing is NOT a vocation, not a daily duty. This is a large part of the general unhappiness of our times. Playing is a part of the daily rhythm of life, but it should not hold the importance it does in the times in which we live. It is rather silly.
There is a wonderful encyclical "On Human Work" written by Pope John Paul II that is fantastic. He was a worker. That man worked his tail off and was the working man's pope. Working is a GOOD thing people....it is NOT something to get out of, not something to escape from, not something to look forward to getting away from constantly. This is the wrong attitude and it is so prevalent now. We have a society obsessed with playing 24 hours a day.
Playing is NOT a vocation, not a daily duty. This is a large part of the general unhappiness of our times. Playing is a part of the daily rhythm of life, but it should not hold the importance it does in the times in which we live. It is rather silly.
When people walk around bemoaning that they cannot "find themselves" it is can often be because they do not generally work hard at doing their daily duty. They muddle through, try to get it over with in order to get to the real business of playing. In working hard and well there are abundant opportunities to serve others which can lead one into seeing a path to something real and important. This is how God works. He doesn't just drop notes out of the sky on what to do next in your life. I wish! He will present ways in which you can change people's lives or your own for the better in any number of ways. It is in our daily duty that God opens doors and shows us our path.
It is in our daily duty that we do good for others. When we are not endlessly entertaining ourselves we see the nuances in life, we see others in need. In fact today I had a batch of children at the grocery store (part of our daily duty) and we came across several elderly people in wheelchairs or scooters who needed help. Since I too was in a wheelchair this presented several teaching moments for me, kind, charitable moments for the kids and thankful moments for these old folks who many times are invisible in this fast paced, technological world. The kids helped them reach things and pick up products. I chatted with each of them for quite a while and we discussed several things, lamenting signs of the times and parting with a smile and a "Well, I guess we solved some of the problems of the world!" It was lovely. It could have been 1950, or 1850. We connected because we were not on phones, we were not in a hurry and we recognized that in our daily duty God uses us for others. This has been a theme in our family since our children were little. It is part of our Catholic faith.
We have tried to teach our children it is in the small things in our daily duty that we change the world. St Therese is one of the most popular saints in the church because she says it is enough to do small things with great love because some of us cannot do great things. I am only a mommy of 8 children. I have no big, important job as an attorney in New York city, defending corporations. I am not Mother Teresa feeding thousands. I am not a clergyman bringing comfort to a church full of people. I am a nobody......but I am one person and God has given me a vocation to do something great for Him. It is my job to do whatever that job is with great love. No matter how small my job is, no matter how unimportant the world may think my job is, I am called to do it as well as I can and with the greatest amount of love I can muster....everyday.
This is daily duty.
If I do this. If I do this well. If I do this day in and day out, I will be happy, I will be joyful, I will be content. Period.
It doesn't matter how much money I make (or do not make). It doesn't matter what I wear. It doesn't matter where I live or what people think of what I do. If I do what God calls me to do I will be happy because I am fulfilling what I was born to do.
Life is short. People are important....money and stuff is not. Playing constantly is not. Working hard is a really good thing. Doing small things with great love is a really great thing and in small way I change the world.
~Blessings~
Lisa
It is in our daily duty that we do good for others. When we are not endlessly entertaining ourselves we see the nuances in life, we see others in need. In fact today I had a batch of children at the grocery store (part of our daily duty) and we came across several elderly people in wheelchairs or scooters who needed help. Since I too was in a wheelchair this presented several teaching moments for me, kind, charitable moments for the kids and thankful moments for these old folks who many times are invisible in this fast paced, technological world. The kids helped them reach things and pick up products. I chatted with each of them for quite a while and we discussed several things, lamenting signs of the times and parting with a smile and a "Well, I guess we solved some of the problems of the world!" It was lovely. It could have been 1950, or 1850. We connected because we were not on phones, we were not in a hurry and we recognized that in our daily duty God uses us for others. This has been a theme in our family since our children were little. It is part of our Catholic faith.
We have tried to teach our children it is in the small things in our daily duty that we change the world. St Therese is one of the most popular saints in the church because she says it is enough to do small things with great love because some of us cannot do great things. I am only a mommy of 8 children. I have no big, important job as an attorney in New York city, defending corporations. I am not Mother Teresa feeding thousands. I am not a clergyman bringing comfort to a church full of people. I am a nobody......but I am one person and God has given me a vocation to do something great for Him. It is my job to do whatever that job is with great love. No matter how small my job is, no matter how unimportant the world may think my job is, I am called to do it as well as I can and with the greatest amount of love I can muster....everyday.
This is daily duty.
If I do this. If I do this well. If I do this day in and day out, I will be happy, I will be joyful, I will be content. Period.
It doesn't matter how much money I make (or do not make). It doesn't matter what I wear. It doesn't matter where I live or what people think of what I do. If I do what God calls me to do I will be happy because I am fulfilling what I was born to do.
Life is short. People are important....money and stuff is not. Playing constantly is not. Working hard is a really good thing. Doing small things with great love is a really great thing and in small way I change the world.
~Blessings~
Lisa
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