Maintaining the fabric of the world

One of my bestest friends phoned the College today to ask if I was alright because I missed a day on my blog! I love it when people miss me – makes me feel wanted. And if they miss me on my blog then I am even more affirmed. I’m pleased to say I’m fine. Busy with the stuff that needs to be done in the administrative nether worlds of academia these days – but we all have our routines and tedium which is part of training in patience, attention to detail, and just sheer faithfulness to our vocational commitments. That’s true whether you are a nurse or a scaffolder, a cook or a taxi driver, a blacksmith or a goldsmith, a social worker or a computer analyst, a cleaner or a mathematician, checking out items at the supermarket or checking in baggage at the airport, whether you’re a brain surgeon or a tree surgeon.

In the Wisdom of Sirach, are words that speak about the importance of the ordinary, the consecration of routine, the faithfulness of those who just do it… they are words that have often been my own inspiration when what has to be done isn’t fun, but it is necessary, and when the payoff is perhaps only what St Ignatius prayed at the end of his prayer, "..not to ask for any reward, save that of doing thy will". And with that to be content – Here’s Sirach, a wise man

25. How can he become wise who handles the plow, and who glories in the shaft of a goad, who drives oxen and is occupied with their work, and whose talk is about bulls?

26. He sets his heart on plowing furrows, and he is careful about fodder for the heifers.

27. So too is every craftsman and master workman who labors by night as well as by day; those who cut the signets of seals, each is diligent in making a great variety; he sets his heart on painting a lifelike image, and he is careful to finish his work.

28. So too is the smith sitting by the anvil, intent upon his handiwork in iron; the breath of the fire melts his flesh,

and he wastes away in the heat of the furnace;

he inclines his ear to the sound of the hammer, and his eyes are on the pattern of the object.

He sets his heart on finishing his handiwork, and he is careful to complete its decoration.

29. So too is the potter sitting at his work and turning the wheel with his feet; he is always deeply concerned over his work, and all his output is by number.

30. He moulds the clay with his arm and makes it pliable with his feet; he sets his heart to finish the glazing, and he is careful to clean the furnace.

31. All these rely upon their hands, and each is skilful in his own work.

32. Without them a city cannot be established, and men can neither sojourn nor live there.

33. Yet they are not sought out for the council of the people, nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly. They do not sit in the judge’s seat, nor do they understand the sentence of judgment; they cannot expound discipline or judgment, and they are not found using proverbs.

34. But they keep stable the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the practice of their trade.

And by the way – my friend who checks up on absentee bloggers is also one of those who keeps stable the fabric of the world.