People never forget their first job. Mine was as a bus boy at a high-end restaurant called Jim’s Steakhouse. I learned how to bus tables and serve everyone, including the waitresses, all with very different personalities, with a smile.
After a few months, I began to see the challenge of restaurant life. Some of the regulars would come only to complain each week about the smallest thing. Others had several special demands for their table. I was told specifically about the TLC service for the high-paying customers, which meant paying more attention to their table no matter what. Some nights, business could be slow. I learned right away from the other employees what to do on the slow nights: look busy…look like you are working. This is what St. Paul is speaking out against in the second letter to the Thessalonians.
During this period of history, Christians were so focused on the second coming of Christ that they began to neglect their daily duties and responsibilities. St. Paul calls them back to reality: Yes, wait for the Lord with vigilance, but stop being idle. He writes, “We hear that some among you are conducting themselves in a disorderly manner” – that is, some of you are walking in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Busybodies are active but do not get anything done. We might think of idleness as laziness, not doing any work at all. However, idleness can refer to a deeper struggle.
Ask yourself if you have experienced any of the following struggles recently: weariness, melancholy, feeling overworked, discouragement, instability, activism, boredom, depression. These words are familiar to us. However, there is one word that has almost disappeared from our English language that describes the spiritual struggle we face each day: acedia.
What is acedia? Quite simply, it is a “lack of care.” There were days when working in high school and college that I simply went to work and did not care about my job or the quality of work I was to do. This is the spiritual problem of acedia. The early monks called it the “noonday devil.” How often we run out of steam or enthusiasm for doing our work right around the lunch hour! Acedia is a vice that tempts us to settle for looking busy without getting any real work done. It is not as simple as being lazy like a couch potato, sitting and starring at the TV or our screens all day. No, the way acedia looks today is a busyness that accomplishes little. We look busy and stay busy to avoid the real work of life – the real work of holiness.
Let me explain. A teacher recently observed students in a library, with their laptops open, and their screen cluttered with several programs running all at once. Many were streaming videos, audio files, a game or two running in the background, and earbuds pumping sound into their heads. They all looked busy. They all looked active. But what real work was being accomplished? We might say, “Well, we are a culture perfected at multi-tasking.” This observer said it is more accurate is to say that we have a become a culture of “multi-slacking.” We spend an enormous amount of energy doing a lot of little things with little attention. We attend to much and invest little. With so many tasks, few things can truly be done well. Yet, we seem to be addicted to this way of life and the constant need to be stimulated and be busy about many things all at once. The result is the collection of experiences mentioned above, all describing acedia. It gives way to spiritual sadness and restless distraction. We so often would rather be multi-tasking than working on holiness and prayer.
St. Paul reminds the Christians of Thessalonica that holiness does work. We see this when we embrace to the responsibilities of our daily lives both in our homes and in our lives, with great attention.
Think of it. We would rather be busy on our phones than do laundry, cook dinner, set the table, pray in our rooms, say a rosary, write thank you notes, or clean out the garage. We would rather hit the snooze on the alarm several times then face the day’s demands. Acedia is the avoidance of necessary tasks that are good for our bodies and souls. Instead, we give in to an inner sadness of quiet discouragement. We avoid prayer but will watch Netflix for hours. We skip over our daily duties and slack off, take shortcuts to avoid the work assigned. We would rather not study, but jump into social media. We are so willing to waste time. The result is avoiding that which is necessary: a relationship with God and investing in the relationships with friends and family. Acedia leaves us hollow, isolated.
What is the cure? St. Paul tells us: work. Holiness does work.
We can believe that our jobs and the daily duties are somehow an obstacle to our relationship with God. Whether we are in an office, caring for children at home, working in a laboratory, factory, or restaurant, or are retired and volunteer, as long as our job is not immoral in nature, our work is our daily path to God. We can bring our work to God. Instead of falling into the temptation to mediocrity, we choose greatness. This is refusing to settle for the lesser good, the easy way out, or the path of least resistance. It means rolling up our sleeves and getting to work on what we would rather avoid.
Let us call to our minds our daily work and responsibilities. Holiness does work for God. We offer up our daily duties with a prayer for God’s strength and assistance. Holiness does work. Instead of giving ourselves over to looking busy but secretly feeding our distractions, we resolve to meet the Lord in everyone of our working days. Holiness does work.
We can look to St. Joseph for guidance. He is known, among many other titles, as the worker. He spent his earthly life as a humble carpenter and most importantly, he brought Jesus to his workbench. This is our weapon against acedia. We invite God into all of our work and duties. Work was one of the ways in which St. Joseph lived out holiness. He also taught Jesus to work. Our Lord worked for most of his life as a carpenter before his three years of ministry that led to the cross on Cavalry. Holiness does work. Holiness embraces hardships and toil with the strength of God.
Holiness does work. We choose to be good workers who are joyful, helpful and friendly at the workplace. Holiness does work. At his workbench, St. Joseph trained Jesus in His trade. At his workbench, St. Joseph had the Savior always at his side. Joseph brought human work closer to Jesus, and he is the model for us about how to truly work in holiness. We should bring our work closer to Jesus. Joseph worked. Jesus worked. Holiness does work. So let’s get to work and be holy!
Father Lucas Rossi is the pastor of St. Michael Church in Gastonia. This is adapted from a homily he delivered for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.