When did Catholics Forget that Excellence Honors God?
Why Catholics Should Work Hard; A Guest Post from Edu Foss of Exodus
BEFORE WE START:
Nov 20th (afternoon) | Catholic entrepreneurs gathering in SF (register here)
We’ll be hosting a dinner in NYC in December — time, TBD (reach out to get on the list / help out)
Hey everyone!
I unfortunately ran out of time this week to get you a podcast episode. So in place of it, we’re sharing a guest post from a member of the Catholic Founders Guild, Edu Foss.
Edu is the Founder of Exodus and the advisor of ByWay App. He’s working on a real estate development. And he recently joined Longbeard as a PM (Longbeard is the maker of Magisterium AI).
He’s very sharp, and has strong education on The Faith.
He holds a deep belief that life is too short and so we must only say Yes to meaningful, relentless work.
Connect with Edu on Linkedin.
P.S. Since you’re already here, I encourage you to read this guest post from one of our CF pod friends, Derek McMonagle entitled Lean Into the Fire (I Promise, It Will Refine You)
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Why Catholics Should Work Hard
By Edu Foss | Exodus
To express, to overcome, to demonstrate, to imitate, to dominate.
To Express - Adam tended the garden and named the animals. His survival was not at stake, neither was his comfort. He was not aiming at perfection. He just ‘was’, and he was perfect while working, and he worked without toil or burden. He worked because work is inherent to his Original Sanctity, his pre-fall nature. And so, we who are the children of God in a state of grace, work to simply express our nature. It is a form of exuberance: we’re the image and the vessel of God’s love for creation.
To Overcome - the curse of the fallen is this “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return”.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in wearing a crown of thorns, overcame the this world: “In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” and he showed the way to reframe the curse.
Therefore, we work to overcome the thorns of this world in joyful solidarity to Christ, our King, thanking God for the just curse and for His merciful work of salvation.
To Demonstrate - Abel offered the best he had, Cain didn’t. Abel demonstrated his love for God, Cain demonstrated his carelessness towards God and his hate and envy towards his brother.
Cain and Abel’s story may be construed as a story about tithing. Biblical Jews tithed approximately 20% per year, but on agricultural products only (except at every 7th year), while Rabbinical Jews pay a month tithe of 10% on any income.
But the measure of Christ’s demand is neither 10% nor 20%... Christ demands 100% of our lives. What will the New Earth, the New Havens, and the New Jerusalem be like? We may speculate, but if we devote ourselves 100% to Christ, then this Earth will be a bit more like it.
To be clear, the material goods that we provide to our brothers and the rest of mankind only go so far. We cannot claim, from products and services alone, to be lifting anyone out of misery or enhancing their comfort, because misery and comfort are ultimately spiritual. But, as they say when one receive’s an imperfect gift “What really matters is the intention!”, to work hard in love is the right intention and the perfect gift.
Therefore, we work to demonstrate our love for God and mankind, in anticipation of the Kingdom of Heaven.
To Imitate - in these Post-COVID times, Americans seem to have quietly and surreptitiously adopted ‘Iceland’s experimental 4-day work week‘ and nothing gets done on Fridays!
But God gifted us 6 working days, not 5!
“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”To Dominate - In our age, we emphasize Jesus’ many parables about stewards when we call ourselves “stewards of creation” in encyclicals and “servant leaders” in books everywhere.
And the English word ‘steward’ may elicit in us moderns images of a refined English butler, like we’re God’s many butlers, and not anymore like medieval vassals to a king. It’s a preemptive strike at anyone’s authoritarian temptation, it’s an immediate nod to one’s responsibilities. Yes, we are called to be servants of God and of one another, but the vibe we get from Genesis is a bit more self-confident:
“And he said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth. And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.”
We’ve been empowered and we should put strict limits over our own self-doubts:
“I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.”
At this point in the article I face a crisis: should I go for 7 reasons? 7 signifies perfection, 6 signifies completeness, 5 does nothing. Maybe I should add a 6th reason, to Enlighten, something about the ‘Works of Mercy’, and go rest?
I will keep this work unfinished then... as a reminder that work without prayer is imperfect -- Ora et Labora!
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