Addiction to Work

by
Fr. Ed Dill, S.T.

Addiction to work? Certainly it’s a far sight better than addiction to television or gambling or being a couch-potato, right? The fact is that when we use the phrase “addiction to work” it is frequently with tongue-in-cheek or with a mental wink of dismissal. It is one of those “Yes, but…” failings, like practicing excessive penance or being “generous to a fault,” which deep-down we think of as having a base of solid virtue.

But work, even the most zealous, intelligent, and important work, can be too much. Rather than being a direction of our energies and interest, it can be something we use to define ourselves. It can be used to fill that void we feel in our lives, the void we cannot name. It can substitute for other duties or obligations we just don’t feel like facing up to. This condition is fostered and exacerbated – at least in the U.S. culture – by the ethos of the self–made man, the myth that hard work will conquer all obstacles. Catholic though we be, we are all victims of what is simplistically called “the Protestant work ethic.”

That is why the Twelfth General Cenacle pointed out “the addiction to work” as one of the “challenges to our passionate desire to be faithful to the vowed life.” (Acts XII, 1, 1) It went on to say that this addiction is one of the things that threatens “the very viability of our life together as Religious…” What is the sense, after all, of trying to develop our lives as Religious men, men of prayer and fraternity, if our work – my work – is everything?

I don’t know whether we could call Martha (of the Mary and Martha sisters) addicted to work, but Jesus’ words to her and her busy-ness seem proper Gospel advice to all who work too much: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42) What the Twelfth General Cenacle is saying to us is that taking time to focus on our life as Religious, our identity as Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, is the thing that is needed and we should not let our work be an excuse to avoid it.

Jesus practiced what he preached to Mary by taking time, plenty of time it seems, to commune with his father in prayer. I think it is safe to presume that part of that time was reflecting on his mission of proclaiming God’s Kingdom. He didn’t let the press of the crowds or demands of petitioners deter him from time by himself and with his companions.

Addiction to work probably has different roots for different addicts, but one of the more obvious ones is the prideful conviction that the work to which we are assigned simply couldn’t go on without us and there is no one, at least no one available, who could do as good a job as we can. Another is the inability or unwillingness to settle into ourselves and allow the time for God to speak to us. As a consequence, we have to fill all the time we have with activity. Blaise Pascal, the 17^th century mathematician and philosopher, undoubtedly over simplified when he said that all men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone, but the Twelfth General Cenacle is telling us true that our tendency to be out and about and busy all the time is destroying our ability to be deeply committed Religious men and Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity who have a deep understanding of what that means.

One of the sure signs that I am addicted to work is finding that I am using it as an excuse to avoid personal and community prayer, community gatherings, regular days off, full annual retreats. In urging us to be more reflective about our life as Religious and Missionary Servants, the Twelfth General Cenacle made specific suggestions, some of which direct the General Administration to action and all of which challenge each of us to take seriously “reflection process for house meetings, small gatherings of confreres, regional and Missionary Cenacle Family gatherings, retreats…” and to “engage in this reflection process on a regular basis through faith sharing and conversational methodology.” (Acts XII, 1, 1 B & C)

Taking these suggestions seriously, being committed to growth in our vocation as Religious men, demands a balanced understanding of just where work – and how much of it – fits in our lives.

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Questions for personal reflection:

· In the priority of my daily activities, where does personal prayer – not including Office or Eucharist – fit in?

· Do I have even a bit of a Messiah Complex, thinking nobody can do the work as well as I can, or that the quality of work has suffered in places after I left?