Hajja Salesjana January-March 2020

11 H AJJA S ALESJANA through the streets and all their journeys by bus and train with prayer. In this way they strove to rescue their interior life from the avalanche of apostolic work. “For the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart” (Matt. 12:34; Luke 6:45). Active work must be the manifestation of the interior life and not vice versa. It is only what we have thought and prayed over that we can give to others. These are the “laws” that must regulate our active life. Ordinary everyday work leads us to prayer, and to union with God. The more this work absorbs us, the closer to God it should be. Social groups must balance interior life and exterior work It is the same in social activity. A group of a social character, devoted to active work, is something more than a contemplative order. Greater demands are made on it. For although the contemplative order retains its precedence, the duties of the members of social groups are greater. While maintaining unity with God, they must also worship Him by serving their neighbours. This is a difficult problem but is, at the moment, particularly apposite. The times are tough and demand the fulfillment of exceptional tasks: of warmer love of God and more active love of one’s neighbour. Once again the problem of interior life has to be solved. This is no longer the problem of “Martha or Mary” but the problem of “Mary in Martha.” We solve it in active daily work — “for the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart.” We solve it by fulfilling Christ’s command: “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father” (Matt. 5:16). (This article is adapted from Cardinal Wyszynski’s Sanctify Your Daily Life: How to Transform Work Into a Source of Strength, Holiness, and Joy, which is available from Sophia Institute Press) Photo: Arthur Poulin from www.unsplash.com