Are you fulfilled by the work you do?

Peter Canisius worked incredibly hard throughout his lifetime. Why? Because he knew it was what he was put on this earth to do. In fact, today he is honored as a Doctor of the Church for the incredible work he accomplished in his lifetime through teaching, preaching and writing catechisms. 

Peter was a Jesuit priest in Germany who founded eighteen colleges, wrote thirty-seven books, and lived to see his catechisms go through 200 printings. We still benefit from the work he did during his lifetime. It was meaningful work. It was impactful work. 

But what about the work we do every day? No matter what you do—whether you’re a teacher, a doctor, a stay-at-home mother, an accountant, a waiter—we can find satisfaction and fulfillment in our work by offering it as a prayer to God. We can find happiness in our work by doing our very best. We can find meaning by helping others every day through whatever work we do. 

We all spend too much time working not to be able to experience a deep sense of satisfaction from our work. Fulfillment at work and enduring happiness are inseparably linked.

The words of Lin Yu-t’ang, a writer, translator, and editor, lend a powerful perspective to our reflection at this point: “So much unhappiness, it seems to me, is due to nerves; and bad nerves are the result of having nothing to do, or doing a thing badly, unsuccessfully, or incompetently. Of all the unhappy people in the world, the unhappiest are those who have not found something they want to do. True happiness comes to him who does his work well, followed by a relaxing and refreshing period of rest. True happiness comes from the right amount of work for the day.”

Let us endeavor to find the right work and then seek to do the right amount of that work each day. With all things, let’s turn to God and ask him to lead us to the work he created us to do, the work that will grow us in the ways he wants us to grow. Prayer in all things. It is so easy to set God and his help aside, and it is always a mistake.



Feast Day: December 21 

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Micah

Patron Saint of: Catholic Press and Germany

Also Known As: The Second Apostle of Germany

Canonized: May 21, 1925

Canonized By: Pope Pius XI