"We are each called to live an authentic life, the exterior qualities of this life can take many different forms and ten to differ substantially from one person to the next.

Professionally, some of us may work as doctors and lawyers, teachers and nurses, mechanics, bakers, and carpenters. Others may keep the home and dedicate the professional aspect of their lives to motherhood. Some may dedicate their professional energies to full-time ministry, which could include anything from counseling to volunteering at a local soup kitchen. These are all just different manifestations of the authentic life. Every honest human activity is compatible with the authentic life.

The external activity is less important than the internal transformation this activity is designed to achieve in our lives.

A man's work may be to sweep the street, but if he does it well, and hour by hour turns to God in his heart and says, "Father, I offer you this hour of work as a prayer for my neighbor Karen, who is struggling with cancer," then he has truly discovered and lived the words "pray constantly" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). He has transformed an hour of work into an hour of prayer, and his work has improved his intimacy with God and his neighbor.

This is the very essence of the inner life ~ the transformation of ordinary activities into prayer. Every activity of our day can lead us to experience God. Those who foster this interior life live uncommon lives in the midst of common circumstances.

Whether our work in this life is to be a street cleaner or a senator, we must remember that the interior effect that the work we do has on our soul is infinitely more important than the exterior fruits of our work.

~from pages 58-60 of Rediscovering Catholicism, by Matthew Kelly used with the permission of the Matthew Kelly Foundation

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"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil,to give you a future and a hope.” ~Jeremiah 29:1