Who Me? A Prophet??

As If by Magic...

Last Word or First…?

Choose your poison…
or not!

Darkness Giving
Way to Light...?

Time To Say Yes

Of Science, Oatmeal
and Meaning

The Cypress in the Garden:
A Koan Revisited…

Divine Hospitality
at Work...

For the Time Being...
Some Thoughts on the Stewardship of Time

As If by Magic...

By Whitney Wherrett Roberson

Insight into the connections between spirituality and work can come almost anywhere. The radio musings of former football coach and sports commentator John Madden, for example, once led me to the realization that fun is a sign of Spirit at - and in - work. On another occasion, the sight of a bare tree on a January afternoon unexpectedly prompted my seeing the usefulness of occasional professional "winters," seasons of barrenness and darkness that invite deeper self-reflection. But I was totally unprepared for the latest surprise: I was relaxing, reading the just-released Harry Potter book. (I could insist that, as a priest to children and youth - when I'm not coordinating Spirituality at Work - I must necessary keep up with the latest in youth culture, but the truth is I enjoy the books and joined my adult daughters in purchasing the novel the day it was released!) Nevertheless, I was, as I say, not expecting to garner any great spiritual insight from Harry's latest adventure. As if by magic, however, one arrived unbidden:

The young wizard and his schoolmates are visiting a patient in the wizard hospital; it's Harry's first visit to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries since he had been raised by ordinary human beings - called Muggles by the magical world. As they enter the hospital, the young people notice witches and wizards clad in lime-green coats. Harry turns to his best friend, Ron, who's more experienced than he in the ways of the magical world:

" 'Are they doctors?' he asked Ron quietly. 'Doctors?' said Ron, looking startled. 'Those Muggle nutters that cut people up? Nah, they're Healers." *

I stopped reading, startled in my own right. Author J. K. Rowling had put into a few words spoken by an adolescent wizard the distinction between "work" and "vocation," and hinted at what happens when we become more enamored of the means - "technique" - than the end - the mission or purpose of our work. Most of us will have had the unfortunately experience on occasion of falling into the hands of a "doctor" rather than a "healer," of suffering the attentions of one who treats us as a symptom rather than a person. Medicine thus practiced is about technique rather than healing.

But as I continued to reflect I realized that this phenomenon is not simply an occupational hazard of one profession; it happens to all of us, no matter our field. Business folks, for example, are fond of pointing to the importance of "the bottom line." But, I wonder, is profit really the purpose of business? Well, yes, to be sure, it is important, and I suppose many - maybe most - in today's culture would insist that creation of wealth is the purpose of business. But here I began to wonder what a conversation between Harry and Ron might have been like if Ron had been critiquing Muggle business instead of medicine. For surely there is more to business as a vocation - a calling - than making money. If healing - rather than "doctoring" - is the purpose of medicine, what is the purpose of business? Or law? Or education? Or ministry? Or... of, well, your own work?

In my work, I notice how easy it is to get caught up in the various tasks of ministry: administering programs, meeting with colleagues, keeping track of finances, recruiting volunteers. Sometimes, I'm so focused on planning a spiritual event or program that people become "staff," a means to an end; the program becomes my focus rather than the people it's intended to serve. "Are those priests?" "Nah, those are soul friends."

What is the purpose of work? How is what we do a calling to serve the common good, beyond profit, beyond task, beyond winning and losing? Where in our work is the Spirit calling, inviting us to become partners in the greater Work? No magic here; no magic needed: only a deeper awareness of the Mystery Who awaits us, just ... everywhere.

* Rowling, J.K., Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, (Scholastic Press: New York,) 2003, p. 484.