Denver Catholic

23 DENVER CATHOLIC | MARCH 24-APRIL 13, 2018 Don't forget to bring God to work I belong to a prayer group on Face- book. People post their inten- tions, and the other members pray. It's a great use of social media. The other day I posted, as I some- times do, a request for the members to pray for a transaction I've been working on in my real estate business. It's been stressful, and caused me some pretty significant anxiety. The other members, as always, were very supportive and assured me of their prayers. But then one very faithful member asked if I think it's appro- priate to ask for success in business negotiations. She wasn't objecting, mind you. But apparently she had done the same on another prayer site, and was told this was not a proper topic for a prayer request. She went on to tell me that she thought it was perfectly appropriate, since her business is really an apostolate, and they make rosaries. Surely worthy of prayer. And I started to wonder — are rosary manufacturers the only "businesses" we can pray for? Do we have to be somehow engaged in direct, Church-related ministry before God wants to hear what we're up to? I think, as Christians, we tend to divide the world — and our lives — into the "sacred" and the "secular." "Sacred" is Sunday Mass. Prayer time. Evangelization. Work is only sacred if it's for the Church, or directly related to evangelization. Everything else — our softball teams, the PTA, our grocery shopping, our non-pilgrim- age vacations, and especially "the business world" — is purely "secular." God is interested in the former. The latter, He doesn't care about so much. Is that true? St. John Paul, in his encyclical Laborem Exercens, tells us that work is a fundamental aspect of man's life on earth, and the place where he joins with God in His work of creation, and fulfills His early commandant to "subdue the earth." That same St. John Paul II, in his beautiful book Love and Responsibil- ity, defines what he calls the person- alistic norm, which states that the only proper and adequate response toward a human person is love. In the negative, because each of us is created in the image and likeness of God, no person can ever be seen merely as an object of use. The "business world" is simply the place where these two concepts meet. To me, that makes it a sacred place. And God cares very much what hap- pens there. When we walk into work on Monday morning, we don't leave the personalistic norm at the door. We are persons created in the image and likeness of God, joining with other persons created in His image, to accomplish some work here on earth. And we are called to that as Chris- tians — loving each other, doing our best, and through that bringing Christ into our workplace. And we need His help to do that. If we dismiss the "business world" as merely secular, we risk dismissing God from our lives during the 40+ hours we spent at work every week. And, to the extent that we apply these ideas to the "business" side of min- istry, we corrupt that as well. I have been told by ministry leaders that poor treatment of their employees was justified because "We have to run it like a business." That's not how any business, sacred or secular, should be run. C.S. Lewis once wrote that "you have never met a mere mortal." In the same way, I think you have never done anything that is merely "secu- lar." We are working out our salva- tion, every minute of every hour of every day. That includes our time at work. Whatever the work you do, the God who has numbered the hairs on your head wants very much to be involved in it. He wants you to pray — for your co-workers, for your safety, for your mission. And yes, for the success of your endeavors, if that is His will. Don't forget to bring God to work. Guest Column Bonacci is a syndicated columnist based in Denver and the author of We're On a Mission from God and Real Love. MARY BETH BONACCI Christians in the Middle East. The chapter "Historical and Theo- logical Reflections on Persecuted Christians," by Robert Fastiggi, provides a good starting point for understanding the state of Christian in the Middle East. It describes how the Christian community fell from a strong majority following Islamic conquest to a small minority in the present day. The Islamic population increased gradually for centuries, but it was not until the late 900s that sustained violent persecution began, inspiring the Crusades. From that point on, Christianity fell into a steady decline: from 21 to 3.4 mil- lion between 1200 and 1500 alone, followed by even more aggressive persecution from the Turks (103-04). Major massacres occurred in 1895 and during World War I, especially the Armenia Genocide. Fastiggi notes how Christians fell from 10 to 3% of the Middle East's population in the twentieth century alone (110). After this long period of decline, the Iraq War and the civil war in Syria may have set oŠ the final elimination of Christians from many parts of the Middle East. The book details the tactics used by ISIS and other radical groups to commit genocide: sexual violence, torture, financial extortion (falsely portrayed as the jizya tax), and outright murder. It also describes the eŠorts and many failures of the international community to address the problem. The Holy See, for its part, has supported Christian refu- gees, encouraged prayer and fasting, organized diplomatic meetings, and even cautiously supported military intervention (254-57). The final chapter, by radio host Al Kresta, reflects on how "Christians in the West can respond" in soli- darity with persecuted Christians (364). The issue of religious liberty should unite all people of good will, as threats to religious expression are common throughout the world, espe- cially in China and North Korea, but increasingly in the West. Christians throughout the world need to over- come a "lack of urgency" and even indiŠerence to religious persecution. Even though ISIS has been largely subdued, Christians still suŠer dis- proportionately in the Middle East from violence and displacement and remain extremely vulnerable. One concrete way to support them finan- cially comes from the papal agency, the Christian Near East Welfare Asso- ciation (cnewa.org). PHOTO BY CRAIG WHITEHEAD | UNSPLASH

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