Daily I receive an inspirational/educational email from Reverend Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church in Southern California; also author of Purpose Driven Life and Purpose Driven Church…two great reads. One of the things I love about Rev. Rick’s emails is that they are ALL related to real life issues, things we face every day. Related, I believe that we as Catholics can learn much from our non-Catholic Christian Brothers and Sisters while maintaining our Catholic orthodoxy. Rev. Rick is a good example of that. You can get information at https://pastorrick.com.
His January 16th email was titled, Your Work Does Not Prove Your Worth. It’s repeated below in its entirety…because it’s that good. And very consistent with my message. You can also find it here.
When you find yourself stuck in a cycle of overworking, you need to remember your value to God.
This is the exact opposite of basing your worth on your work, your career, or your full-time role. It is countercultural and may require a major change in your thinking, especially if a little voice in your head keeps saying, “You’ve got to prove you matter.”
One of the reasons people can’t relax is that they confuse their work and their worth. They confuse their net worth with their self-worth. They think, “If I work really hard and succeed at work, then I am valuable. If I’m not productive, then I’m not valuable.” That’s a lie! But in Western culture, our identity often revolves around our work, so we overwork in an attempt to prove ourselves. We believe that if we achieve a lot, then we must be worth a lot.
But your significance has nothing to do with your job, your career, or your achievements.
You don’t have to prove your worth. God says that you are already extremely valuable. You’ll never be more valuable to God than you are right now; you’ll never be less valuable to God than you are right now.
How valuable are you? Your heavenly Father created you; Jesus died for you. And if you are a follower of Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in you.
God doesn’t create anything without purpose or intention. The fact that you’re alive means God loves you and wants you alive. You’re priceless. You’re a masterpiece.
It’s not what you do that gives you worth but who you belong to.
Did you know that God has a tattoo of you? Isaiah 49:15-16 says, “Can a mother forget her little child and not have love for her own son? Yet even if that should be, I will not forget you. See, I have tattooed your name upon my palm”.
Are you perfect? Absolutely not. Are you broken? Yes. Are you a sinner? Yes. But are you of infinite value? Yes! And you are deeply loved by God.
He already proved your worth on the cross.
Loved the above from Rev. Rick, which is why I’m posting it…very succinct. We all need to remind ourselves of these things. Hope this helped.
I have a brother in Christ and very good friend, Pete Diulus, who I’ve known and served with in ministry for many years. Every year, Pete shares a Christmas message. Although all are very good, this year’s really spoke to me, so much so that I wanted to share it with you (with Pete’s permission). Here you go, in Pete’s words.
God speaks to us in many ways. Often, we look for the big, flashy signs. The truth is that God more often speaks to the world in gentle whispers than he does in big events like fires, thunders, and earthquakes. I’d like to share with you the story of a place where “gentle whispers” spread the joy of Christmas every day of the year.
If you’re a bit like me… you want the very best for your loved ones. Maybe even more than you want for yourself. We all want to find our place in the world, where we can connect meaningfully with others, share our unique gifts, and make a positive impact. Finding this place isn’t always obvious or easy. Just imagine… the person you love has worked hard to develop their skills, only to find that there is “no place for them” in the job market.
Patrick, a dynamic and loving young man who lives with autism, wanted to find a “real” job. He enrolled in the local community college’s food service program, and working extremely hard, he excelled and graduated.
Unfortunately, Patrick and his parents, Mike and Terri, discovered an ugly truth about the job market for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The unemployment rate for adults with IDD is ridiculously high. They found that employers seemed hesitant to hire a hardworking and motivated person like Patrick because the little extra help he would need might be disruptive to business. For years, the family prayed for a way to share the joy they experienced, both through Patrick and in serving others.
Like Terri and Mike, my wife, Carol, and I have longed for a meaningful employment opportunity for our son, Jonathan, to share his unique gifts. Since he graduated high school ten years ago, Jonathan has worked in a variety of volunteer “gigs,” including sorting, packing, shredding, and assembling. Jonathan and I have also volunteered together, visiting peoples’ homes to offer Holy Communion. I saw the positive impact Jonathan was having on the folks we visited, just by being who he is and sharing his unique gifts.
Unbeknownst to us, Mike and Terri’s prayers were answered by the patron saint of caregivers, Brother André Bessette. Brother André Bessette was a “gentle whisper” of a person. He was a frail and sickly child. He was poor, uneducated, and thought to be illiterate. Orphaned at 12, he struggled to hold down a job because of his poor health. When he was finally accepted into the Congregation of Holy Cross, a religious order that is best known as educators, the only job he was qualified for was “doorkeeper.” For the rest of his life, this was the only formal position he held.
Brother André turned this position into something remarkable. With his kind, humble, loving, and prayerful ways, he sought to bring Jesus to everyone he met. So, as a doorkeeper, he welcomed the sick, lonely and the suffering with open arms.
When Brother André passed away in January of 1937, over one million people braved the Montreal cold to pay their respects to the “Miracle Man of Montreal.” This “gentle whisper” of a person showed us how to humbly serve Jesus and each other in a kind and joyful way.
Brother André’s story inspired Patrick, Mike, and Terri to open a coffee shop – Brother André’s Café – to be staffed by adults with IDD. The idea was born from the desire to make a positive difference in the lives of people who might otherwise struggle to find employment… and create connection with the community and the wider world.
Mike and Terri shared the idea with Father Chris Donley, a Pittsburgh diocesan priest and cofounder of Move a Mountain Missions (MMM). Father Chris saw the project as a natural extension of MMM’s mission “to be Jesus for the most vulnerable all over the world” and invited Mike and Terri to launch Brother André’s Café as a part of Move A Mountain Missions.
But opening a Café in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic simply wasn’t possible. Determined to find a way forward, the grand opening was postponed, and the team quietly launched Brother André’s Cafe online in November of 2020. The storefront opening at Epiphany Catholic Church followed in October 2021, and our son, Jonathan, was hired to work there.
Every time that I drop off Jonathan for his scheduled shift, I’m impressed by this wonderful, hardworking group of people. The team at Brother André’s has turned a simple cup of coffee and homemade baked goods into a specialty experience. Father Chris refers to these 13 employees as “the Baker’s Dozen.” Each has created their specialty drink, has starred in Brother Andre’s ongoing video blog, and continues to cultivate their skills and new friendships.
As we celebrated the official 1st Anniversary of Brother André’s Café this year, I paused to reflect on the remarkable series of “gentle whispers” that connected my family with Brother André’s. We’re a part of an extended family now… proud parents sharing challenges and triumphs as we watch our sons and daughters work together… seeing their passion and joy overflow into the world.
We are profoundly grateful for that moment when Father Joe stopped us after Mass and asked, “have you heard of Brother André’s?” For us, this was a realization that truly, there are no coincidences…every person has a place and a calling.
Brother André’s inspiration is ideal for the Café, whose employees and supporters are also like God’s “gentle whisper,” transforming the simplest thing into something remarkable. It is a continuous privilege to be associated with these amazing individuals and their families.
I would urge you to stop by, have a cup of coffee and one of their incredible cookies, and “experience the joy” at Brother Andre’s Café. You will “witness the face of Jesus” in the smiles of “the Baker’s Dozen.”
Mark here…I loved this story and wanted to share it with you. If you’d like more information on Brother Andre’s Café, want to look at a menu, or make a donation, please go to https://brotherandres.org.
As always, please feel free to contact me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com with comments, concerns, questions, or prayer requests.
God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
My wife, kids, and grandkids are all healthy. So is my mother and mother-in-law, my brothers, and their families. We just celebrated Thanksgiving, all of us together, and it was a great blessing. So what I’m talking about here has nothing to do with anyone being sick or dying. No relationship issues or financial crises. And while our country is “going to hell in a handbasket”, that’s not what the title of this blog is referring to either.
I’m in a rut. Things are not fun at work. It’s nobody’s fault, but instead the realities of a post-COVID world, especially when you’re in the events business…which is the case for our conference ministry. And additional challenges compound things. I love where I work and its mission. I love my department and all its outstanding people. But currently it’s a grind. Add to that the discernment I’m going through related to my personal ministry, as noted a couple weeks ago.
I’m reminded that this too will pass. One of my teammates just stated that “it’s a season”. Among the dozens of quotes I remember from my Dad, one of my favorites is, “nothing is ever as good as it seems and nothing is ever as bad as it seems”. All of these resonate with me. So does the stuff I’m constantly preaching, although not always easy to apply (or see) when you’re in the middle of the storm.
A friend asked me what I think the Lord is trying to show me (teach me) in the moment? He suggested that I take it to prayer. Ha!!…go figure. You’ve seen me write about the “attitude of gratitude”, indicating that everything happens for a reason:
For a greater good
For the opportunity to glorify God
To help us be our best
Not always easy to appreciate in the moment, I believe it to be absolutely true. As such, I need to ask what God is trying to show me? How is this experience going to help me in the long run? What skills is He wanting me to develop? What is the greater good? How will He be glorified through this experience?
I also talk about humility, understanding that it’s not us, but God working through us. There’s an old saying that is attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola, “pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you.” Many think the phrase captures the Ignatian spirit: turning it all over to God in prayer and then working tirelessly and urgently to do God’s work.
Both of the above (gratitude and humility) relate to surrender…giving it all over to God and following His will for your life. As noted in previous blogs, my experience is that our willingness to surrender is dependent on trust…trusting our Lord, trusting is His absolute and unconditional love for us, knowing and internalizing that He put us on this earth for a specific purpose, with special and unique talents. Trusting that He wants the absolute best for us and knows (more than we know) what will make us happy.
I refer to all of this as the Path to Peace…Surrender, Gratitude, Humility, and Love. Although I wrote a book and talk about it often, I still need reminded. Not new concepts, the best ways are prayer, the Sacraments, particularly the Eucharist in the Mass and Confession, and fellowship. I need to double down on all three…which I’m doing.
I don’t do this often, but please pray for me and my teammates during this time, as we try to rebuild our conference ministry. If you feel so called, please come and/or bring your kids. Steubenville Conferences are absolutely life changing and I’m not overstating that.
I’ll pray for you during this Advent season. As we prepare for Baby Jesus, our Lord and Savior, let us recall our faith, in good times and bad, knowing how much God loves us…and always remembering what great things God wants for each and every one of us.
I’m now almost 60, entering what seems like a different season of life. Life you, I’ve experienced many seasons in the past, each with their joys and their challenges. Although not always the case, a different season sometimes means a different direction. And sometimes a tweak to a current direction.
Attending Mass recently, I saw an old friend, a Deacon who is quite busy doing ministry having retired from his full-time professional life. When he asked me if I had considered the same, it got me thinking. I retired from the professional world 10 years ago, when I started work for Franciscan University of Steubenville. As Vice President of Outreach and Evangelization, I can’t imagine leaving for at least another 10 years. Not that there aren’t challenges…there are a lot, especially coming out of COVID. But I’m invested in the mission, love the University, and continue to be desirous of doing ministry. I feel that I’m where God wants me to be.
Related to the above and on a personal basis as well, I continue to be passionate about sharing the love of Christ, that gift of encounter that changed my life forever. That’s why I continue to do these blogs and the occasional talk, sharing my story and the lessons I’ve learned…all real-life stuff to help people no longer be overwhelmed, instead leading lives of peace, joy, and fulfillment.
With the Steubenville Conference Office being part of my organization, my summers are very busy. Easily bored, I’d spend weekend time other times of the year on ministry stuff, some University related and other for my personal ministry. Still being passionate about it all, something is changing. Not my focus…I still want to work for the Church and do ministry, but the intensity. I don’t want to run as hard as I used to. I love my wife, who is my best friend…and I want to be spending more time with her, sometimes just hanging out, while at other times doing the things we enjoy doing. We kid around that we’re all we got…Thank God!!!
BTW, as I’ve indicated before….you don’t have to be in ministry to do ministry. In fact, I believe most often more can be accomplished outside the Church than from within. EVERYONE, whether they know it or not, deeply yearns for the love of Christ. You, me….we can do that everywhere.
So what’s the point to the above, other than being a stream of consciousness in my life. First, as I reflect, including on the more challenging parts of my life, I live in this place of gratitude for all the seasons of my life. I’ve been blessed abundantly in many ways. And even in the tough times, I firmly believe that all is per God’s grand plan for my life, helping me to be my very best. “No pain, no gain…no Cross, no crown”. As I’ve said before, I wouldn’t be who I am or doing what I do…without all those experiences. Praise God!!!
Second is “surrender”. For the longest time, I thought it was “Mark’s will be done”. I had it wrong. Today I endeavor to live “God’s Will be done”. I recently read an ebook by Bishop Barron on discernment. He points to several things, including prayer, reading Scripture, and participating in the Sacraments, all to help us understand God’s Will for our lives. He states that what God wants for you and me is the path of greatest love. Love as per the Catechism is willing the good of another. The Bishop poses some questions for each of us:
What makes love more prominent in your life?
What makes it easier in your life to love?
What path will open the greatest capacity for love?
What’s the demand of love in the present moment?
What is the path of greatest love?
Your answers to the above, according to the Bishop, are what God wants you to do. With this as guidance, how do I take my life and discern where specifically God wants me, what He wants me to do? For me, not necessarily changing the big things, but the holy moments in life. How about you? How can you apply this to your life?
Whether it’s a new season or mid-season, an attitude of gratitude is a great thing. And my lived experience is that following God’s Will is the only path to peace, joy, and fulfillment.
As always, feel free to contact me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.
God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
