Saint Paisios - Adding "Spiritual Value" To Our Work...

 

 

It is through prayer that we sanctify our work as well as ourselves.  Therefore, it is important to teach our employees to be renewed spiritually and to work prayerfully.  When work is sanctified, it gains a spiritual value above the material value of the service or product. When workers are cursing while they work their work is also cursed and its value is diminished.

Elder Paisios says,

In our days, people prefer to purchase their icons and other items from monasteries.  They do so because they know that monks and nuns say the Jesus prayer while working, and every thing they do is blessed.  When people visit a monastery and eat food cooked without oil they find it tasty and say, “I haven’t eaten such a tasty dish even in the best restaurant.  How can it be so tasty when it is cooked without oil?

When the cook of a restaurant curses while he is cooking and never goes to church, how can the food be blessed?  On the contrary, the monk is praying while cooking and his heart is filled with positive thoughts; he thinks that he is preparing food for earthly angels to eat.  Moreover, when monks sit at the table to eat, they say a prayer to bless the food.  How is it possible then for the food not to taste good?

Therefore when someone comes to your business to start work, first see that he is spiritually revived and then show him the work, so your business will have God’s blessing and be prosperous.

With this advice, try to create a spiritual attitude in your workplace and observe the difference it makes on yourself, your employees and your customers.

Source: Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, p 82

 

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