Monday Musings - Guest Blogger - The "Thankless Job"

[I am honored to welcome Rev. Mr. Adolph Uryniak as my guest blogger today. Ordained to the permanent Diaconate in 2006, the good Deacon resides in New York State with his wife, Sue, their three sons and precious grandchildren. He fuels and sustains his passion to evangelize by spending much time each week before the Eucharistic Lord he loves and serves so well.]

"The Thankless Job" by Deacon Adolph Uryniak

Adoration Chapel-St. Agatha's Parish

Luke's Gospel (17:5-10) prompts two thoughts on which to focus our attention. First, Jesus is asked by His apostles  'to increase their faith', to which He responds:  ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed…’ and then, a bit later, the admonishment “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

Faith, along with Hope and Love, that is Love in the sense of agape or unconditional love, form the Theological Virtues which are directed immediately toward our relationship with God as being infinitely trustworthy and lovable and hence a worthy object of total commitment throughout our life.

The second thought reminds us that in growing in our commitment to God by growth in service through the Theological Virtues of Faith Hope and Love, we are just doing what we are supposed to do, in other words we are engaged in a ‘thankless job’.

As part of our human condition we generally expect compensation or recognition for what we do. However, not as man sees does God see, hence the possibility of thankless jobs, and in Luke’s Gospel Jesus burdened the Apostles with this one: serving His fledgling Church.

If you take a moment, I’m sure that you can come up with a list of thankless jobs. It would probably be a short list. Think about the item at the top of the list.

For the two or three of us that may be stumped here is a clue: the frequent lament of a person holding this job might well be ‘they never write, they never call, they never stop by and visit.’. Got the idea of a ‘thank-less job’? It may be thankless but it’s also priceless. Let’s move on.

Today I’d like to do a bit of recruiting on behalf of another ‘thankless job’, which is also priceless . While some ‘thankless jobs’ are full time jobs, this one is a part time job, only an hour per week, and you get to choose the hour.

There are two locations available in our area. [If you are visiting here, you can no doubt find an Adoration Chapel not far from your home.]

Now on to what’s involved, besides keeping the doors open. Luke tells us that  Jesus’ exhorts the Apostles to grow in the Theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love, Faith specifically and Hope and Love, indirectly. The Adoration chapel places us in the presence of God through the exposed Holy Eucharist, affording the opportunity to grow our relationship with Him, face to face. A possible way may be to just open the Bible, read a few pages, put the Bible down and meditate upon its meaning .

The ways to grow our connection with our Creator, in His presence, are limitless.

All that remains is to find the hour that works for you. This is a two-step process: find an hour that feels comfortable for you and then make it a habit. Try an hour here and there over a few weeks to see where you feel comfortable, daytime, night-time, weekday, weekend until you find your hour. Don’t rush. When you discover what works for you, return regularly. Returning regularly will become a habit. If it isn’t burdensome, you’ll come to look forward to ‘your hour’ and the time will pass amazingly quickly, and you will progress on your faith journey and finally find and pin down that elusive moment of peace and quiet in your life. If your hour is a burden, simply seek another hour.

There is a bit of urgency about taking on this part time, ‘thankless job’. This time of year, the ‘snow birds’ are preparing to fly south for the winter, leaving several hours in our adoration chapels vacant, which allows for the possibility of having to lock the chapel door behind them as they fly south. Your adopting an hour will help insure that the chapel doors remain open.

By the way: returning to the other ‘thankless job’, take a moment to send an e-mail, make a phone call, or a personal visit. Mom is waiting.