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The Toil of Righteousness
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Rich
Aug 2, 2023, 5:47:50 AM8/2/23
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The Toil of Righteousness
"Most people would desire--if it were possible--to obtain at once
the joys of lovely and perfect wisdom, without the endurance of toil
in action and suffering. However, that is impossible in this mortal
life.
In the discipline of the human, the toil of doing the work precedes
the delight of understanding the truth."
--St. Augustine--Against Faustus 22, 52
Prayer: Lord, you truly gave me free will, but without you my effort
is worthless. You give help since you are the one who created, and you
do not abandon your creation.
--St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 26 (2), 17
===============
AUG 2 – ST PETER FABER, SJ
PRIEST, CO-FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, PATRON SAINT OF BUSINESS?
On Dec. 17, 2014, Pope Francis signed the bull of canonization
recognizing Faber as a saint, and the relatively low-key elevation--no
ornate Mass in St. Peter’s Square for poor Faber--is in keeping with
his relative obscurity in the Jesuit pantheon. Faber was among the
handful who co-founded the Jesuit order in the mid-1500s, but he never
quite attained the renown of St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis
Xavier. No Jesuit church is complete without some triumphalistic mural
or statuary of Loyola or Xavier. But Faber? He is usually one of an
indistinguishable line of black-robed Jesuit extras, looking
plastically pious at stage left of the mural.
His ministry was vital but not headline-grabbing. He was an
extraordinarily capable spiritual director who reinvigorated clergy
and bishops who had grown decadent, and patiently drew wavering
Catholics back to the fold at a time when the Protestant Reformation
was sweeping Europe. In an interview with La Civiltà Cattolica,
Francis praised Faber’s style, his “dialogue with all … even with his
opponents … his simple piety … his careful interior discernment …
capable of being so gentle and loving.” Faber’s patient but
ever-persistent outreach, his “frontier spirit” so to speak, embodies
the culture change Francis is trying to engender in our church at
large.
But how does Faber become my patron saint of business?
Once, on a mission to Mainz in Germany, he was appalled by its
widespread poverty. “Having arisen in the quiet of the night to pray,”
he wrote, “I felt strongly inspired to do my very utmost to provide
for the needy and homeless sick wandering about the city of Mainz.”
Faber, estimating that there were some 6,500 beggars in the city,
concluded: “Perhaps if we [Jesuits] had a flair for business … and we
had not such a [spiritual] harvest to be reaped … we could concern
ourselves more with this problem.”
Faber’s vision of the positive role of business is remarkable. He
wrote two centuries before Adam Smith lifted a pen, during an era when
the Catholic church generally looked askance at business. Yet in a few
short phrases, Faber crystallizes a profound and profoundly
challenging philosophy of business.
First, business, when done well, plays an unparalleled role in
enabling individuals to support themselves and their families with
dignity. Faber’s reaction upon seeing so many beggars? Not “We need a
soup kitchen” but “We need businesses.” Of course, charity is also
essential: Jesus told us we’re going to hell if we don’t clothe the
naked and feed the hungry. But Faber also perceives the unique role of
business in creating positive, systemic, long-term societal change.
Second, Faber recognizes that great businesspeople have a “flair.” The
imagination to identify unmet needs, the willingness to try something
new and bear the risk of failure, the scrupulous attention to detailed
execution, the ability to inspire team members, and a hundred other
things all mark the flair of good business people. These are talents,
gifts from God, and ought to be recognized as such. It is not a sin to
succeed in business by employing these talents fully.
But Faber implicitly challenges business people that their talents are
only being used well when they maintain a proper perspective on life.
Business and money-making are not the highest ends: “If there were not
such a harvest of souls to be reaped,” Faber writes. Our destiny lies
beyond this world, and we’re here for purposes beyond what we can
sell, trade, build, buy, flaunt or own during this short earthly
sojourn. That includes, if we are businesspeople, remaining aware that
our every business decision impacts, for better or ill, the lives of
employees, customers, shareholders and communities.
Faber’s vision of business is an ennobling, inspiring one.
Entrepreneurs with a Faber-style flair for business don’t think only
of “enhancing shareholder value” and making themselves
hog-whimperingly rich; they hop out of bed each morning feeling
blessed to help fellow citizens use their talents, support their
families in a highly dignified way, and alleviate poverty in their
communities.
Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, also has plenty to
say about the role of business, launching salvos, for example, at a
business culture that sometimes turns money into a modern-day golden
calf. Catholics and pundits more generally have rushed to react with
predictable party-line tropes. Republican Catholics tsk-tsk that the
pope really doesn’t understand how markets work; Democratic Catholics
reduce the pope’s agenda to nothing more than an endorsement for more
aggressively redistributionist tax policies. But a close read of his
exhortation reveals challenges and affirmations for all Catholic
parties and tribes in this debate.
In fact, the pope, like Faber, is calling businesspeople and all of us
to ponder our human vocation in much more fundamental ways. After all,
that’s what great leaders do, whether popes or entrepreneurs with a
flair for business. They try to inspire us to transcend our ideologies
and differences and coalesce around a higher viewpoint.
Saint was the first Jesuit ordained
St. Peter Faber, who was born in 1506 in what is now France, shared
lodgings with Ignatius and Francis Xavier at the College of St.
Barbara at the University of Paris. Faber was the first of the Jesuits
to be ordained a priest and he celebrated the Mass in 1534 during
which St. Ignatius and the others took their vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience.
Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro, editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, who
conducted the interview with Pope Francis published in Jesuit
periodicals in September, asked Francis about his favorite Jesuits.
The pope began “by mentioning Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier, but
then focuses on a figure that other Jesuits certainly know, but who is
of course not as well-known to the general public: Peter Faber
(1506-46),” Spadro wrote.”
“Take care, take care, never to close your heart to anyone.”
— St Peter Faber, SJ
by Matthew
https://soul-candy.info/category/august/page/2/
Saint Quote:
“I have often repented of having spoken.
I have never repented of silence.”
- bl henry suso
Bible Quote:
"Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of
Judgment fearlessly.." 1 John 4:17.
<><><><>
Prayer:
Moderate, O Jesus, my eagerness to know so much, and correct my
negligence in doing so little for salvation, since Thou wilt not judge
me according to what I have known, but by what I have done, or
neglected to do, to obtain it. Can I apply my thoughts to know Thee
thoroughly, and not admire and love Thee? And can I truly know myself,
and not despise and hate myself? O life unknown! life hidden in Jesus
Christ, in God! what an excellent means art thou of sanctification and
salvation, yet how little art thou practiced amongst Christians!
Grant, O Lord, that all may know, esteem, and love it, and be directed
by it. Amen.
--Thomas à Kempis, From the Imitation of Christ
"Most people would desire--if it were possible--to obtain at once
the joys of lovely and perfect wisdom, without the endurance of toil
in action and suffering. However, that is impossible in this mortal
life.
In the discipline of the human, the toil of doing the work precedes
the delight of understanding the truth."
--St. Augustine--Against Faustus 22, 52
Prayer: Lord, you truly gave me free will, but without you my effort
is worthless. You give help since you are the one who created, and you
do not abandon your creation.
--St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 26 (2), 17
===============
AUG 2 – ST PETER FABER, SJ
PRIEST, CO-FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, PATRON SAINT OF BUSINESS?
On Dec. 17, 2014, Pope Francis signed the bull of canonization
recognizing Faber as a saint, and the relatively low-key elevation--no
ornate Mass in St. Peter’s Square for poor Faber--is in keeping with
his relative obscurity in the Jesuit pantheon. Faber was among the
handful who co-founded the Jesuit order in the mid-1500s, but he never
quite attained the renown of St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis
Xavier. No Jesuit church is complete without some triumphalistic mural
or statuary of Loyola or Xavier. But Faber? He is usually one of an
indistinguishable line of black-robed Jesuit extras, looking
plastically pious at stage left of the mural.
His ministry was vital but not headline-grabbing. He was an
extraordinarily capable spiritual director who reinvigorated clergy
and bishops who had grown decadent, and patiently drew wavering
Catholics back to the fold at a time when the Protestant Reformation
was sweeping Europe. In an interview with La Civiltà Cattolica,
Francis praised Faber’s style, his “dialogue with all … even with his
opponents … his simple piety … his careful interior discernment …
capable of being so gentle and loving.” Faber’s patient but
ever-persistent outreach, his “frontier spirit” so to speak, embodies
the culture change Francis is trying to engender in our church at
large.
But how does Faber become my patron saint of business?
Once, on a mission to Mainz in Germany, he was appalled by its
widespread poverty. “Having arisen in the quiet of the night to pray,”
he wrote, “I felt strongly inspired to do my very utmost to provide
for the needy and homeless sick wandering about the city of Mainz.”
Faber, estimating that there were some 6,500 beggars in the city,
concluded: “Perhaps if we [Jesuits] had a flair for business … and we
had not such a [spiritual] harvest to be reaped … we could concern
ourselves more with this problem.”
Faber’s vision of the positive role of business is remarkable. He
wrote two centuries before Adam Smith lifted a pen, during an era when
the Catholic church generally looked askance at business. Yet in a few
short phrases, Faber crystallizes a profound and profoundly
challenging philosophy of business.
First, business, when done well, plays an unparalleled role in
enabling individuals to support themselves and their families with
dignity. Faber’s reaction upon seeing so many beggars? Not “We need a
soup kitchen” but “We need businesses.” Of course, charity is also
essential: Jesus told us we’re going to hell if we don’t clothe the
naked and feed the hungry. But Faber also perceives the unique role of
business in creating positive, systemic, long-term societal change.
Second, Faber recognizes that great businesspeople have a “flair.” The
imagination to identify unmet needs, the willingness to try something
new and bear the risk of failure, the scrupulous attention to detailed
execution, the ability to inspire team members, and a hundred other
things all mark the flair of good business people. These are talents,
gifts from God, and ought to be recognized as such. It is not a sin to
succeed in business by employing these talents fully.
But Faber implicitly challenges business people that their talents are
only being used well when they maintain a proper perspective on life.
Business and money-making are not the highest ends: “If there were not
such a harvest of souls to be reaped,” Faber writes. Our destiny lies
beyond this world, and we’re here for purposes beyond what we can
sell, trade, build, buy, flaunt or own during this short earthly
sojourn. That includes, if we are businesspeople, remaining aware that
our every business decision impacts, for better or ill, the lives of
employees, customers, shareholders and communities.
Faber’s vision of business is an ennobling, inspiring one.
Entrepreneurs with a Faber-style flair for business don’t think only
of “enhancing shareholder value” and making themselves
hog-whimperingly rich; they hop out of bed each morning feeling
blessed to help fellow citizens use their talents, support their
families in a highly dignified way, and alleviate poverty in their
communities.
Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, also has plenty to
say about the role of business, launching salvos, for example, at a
business culture that sometimes turns money into a modern-day golden
calf. Catholics and pundits more generally have rushed to react with
predictable party-line tropes. Republican Catholics tsk-tsk that the
pope really doesn’t understand how markets work; Democratic Catholics
reduce the pope’s agenda to nothing more than an endorsement for more
aggressively redistributionist tax policies. But a close read of his
exhortation reveals challenges and affirmations for all Catholic
parties and tribes in this debate.
In fact, the pope, like Faber, is calling businesspeople and all of us
to ponder our human vocation in much more fundamental ways. After all,
that’s what great leaders do, whether popes or entrepreneurs with a
flair for business. They try to inspire us to transcend our ideologies
and differences and coalesce around a higher viewpoint.
Saint was the first Jesuit ordained
St. Peter Faber, who was born in 1506 in what is now France, shared
lodgings with Ignatius and Francis Xavier at the College of St.
Barbara at the University of Paris. Faber was the first of the Jesuits
to be ordained a priest and he celebrated the Mass in 1534 during
which St. Ignatius and the others took their vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience.
Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro, editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, who
conducted the interview with Pope Francis published in Jesuit
periodicals in September, asked Francis about his favorite Jesuits.
The pope began “by mentioning Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier, but
then focuses on a figure that other Jesuits certainly know, but who is
of course not as well-known to the general public: Peter Faber
(1506-46),” Spadro wrote.”
“Take care, take care, never to close your heart to anyone.”
— St Peter Faber, SJ
by Matthew
https://soul-candy.info/category/august/page/2/
Saint Quote:
“I have often repented of having spoken.
I have never repented of silence.”
- bl henry suso
Bible Quote:
"Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of
Judgment fearlessly.." 1 John 4:17.
<><><><>
Prayer:
Moderate, O Jesus, my eagerness to know so much, and correct my
negligence in doing so little for salvation, since Thou wilt not judge
me according to what I have known, but by what I have done, or
neglected to do, to obtain it. Can I apply my thoughts to know Thee
thoroughly, and not admire and love Thee? And can I truly know myself,
and not despise and hate myself? O life unknown! life hidden in Jesus
Christ, in God! what an excellent means art thou of sanctification and
salvation, yet how little art thou practiced amongst Christians!
Grant, O Lord, that all may know, esteem, and love it, and be directed
by it. Amen.
--Thomas à Kempis, From the Imitation of Christ
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