Pray and Work

It is often very discouraging to see how bad people seem to be so successful and the good ones seem to be forever stuck in failures or mediocrity. I become even more disheartened by how good people are long on good intentions and inspiring words but short on actions and accomplishments. Like, I have been very disappointed by how Cory and Noynoy have assumed the presidency on a tsunami of goodwill and on very high moral grounds but have failed to deliver what a good president is supposed to do for the nation.

There are instances where good people seem to wallow in mediocrity or even passive resignation as long as they feel good about their good intentions. Following the old spiritual adage, they pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you. The problem is that the prayer part is done with great zeal and then the work part is forgotten, leaving and expecting God to do everything.  Prayer and work must go together. The Benedictine formula has always been: Ora et labora.

Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
~ Psalm 113

When the crowds were increasing, Jesus began to say,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it
except the sign of Jonah.
For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh,
so the Son of Man will be to this generation.”
Luke 11:29-30

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