If you think about it, the heart of all business is the desire to generate a return on investment by solving problems for people. We face challenges that others may not want to face, create a solution that overcomes it, and sell it to the world. We use our gifts and personal abilities and the sweat of our brow and combine them to bring some product or service to others to meet their needs, hoping to generate a return greater than what we have invested in the product. There is a great parallel in our spiritual life when we willingly accept the crosses of our life and offer them to God freely, we create value for the body of Christ, and for ourselves. If we look at the troubles and problems we face in our work lives through the lens of the writings of St. Rose of Lima below, we can see a path to the ultimate return on investment for our work.
The following are excerpts from the writings of St. Rose of Lima. May she intercede for all of us to help us truly understand these revelations and live them, so we can generate the ultimate return on investment for our work!
FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY ST. ROSE OF LIMA
“Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: “Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.”
When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: “Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions.
We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the sons of God and perfect happiness of soul.”
That same force strongly urged me to proclaim the beauty of divine grace. It pressed me so that my breath came slow and forced me to sweat and pant.
I felt as if my soul could no longer be kept in the prison of the body, but that it had burst its chains and was free and alone and was going very swiftly through the whole world saying:
“If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! Without doubt they would devote all their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions. All men throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities and torments, instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace.
This is the reward and the final gain of patience. No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men”.
REFLECTION
According to these revelations that Jesus gave to St. Rose of Lima, if we willing accept and offer up the difficulties we face in our careers and our lives, we can create a return greater than anything imagined on earth. We can also share in this return during our life, as the process of truly accepting and offering our sufferings to God liberates us from anxiety and fear and turns the pains into joy, by making them acts of love of God and neighbor. Ask any "fool in love" and they will tell you the joy that comes from sacrificing for the one they love. If this be true of earthly love, how much greater is the potential for joy in accepting our sacrifices for God? The answer according to Jesus: infinitely more!
St. Rose of Lima pray for us to break through the lies of the devil and the world that try to stop us from seeing and understanding these revelations of Jesus. Pray for us to know your joy, and that of the saints, in turning the work of our business lives into the the ultimate return, the salvation of souls!
This excerpt from the writings of St. Rose of Lima (Ad medicum Castillo: edit. L. Getino, La Patrona de America, madrid 1928, pp. 54-55) focuses on the role of afflictions, tribulations, and struggles as the access to the unfathomable riches and treasure of divine grace. It is s used in the Roman Office of Reading on the feast day of St. Rose of Lima, August 23.
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