cubicle

August 1, 2014 By Bob Waruszewski 5 Comments

Catholic in the Cubicle, Part 5: On the Road

This post is part of an ongoing series on living the Catholic faith in the workplace.

Often in an office job, a bit of travelling is required. When you travel to a different city, your normal routine is upset and it can be easy to become distracted and fall away from God. Here are some tips for you to keep up your prayer life while on the road.

Plan Your Prayer Routine Ahead of Time – Consider the type of work you will be doing on the trip. Will the workday be longer? Are there business dinners that you will need to attend? Do you have to get up early for a meeting? Will you have to spend time at night catching up on work you missed while in meetings? Since your own daily routine changes on the road, make sure to adjust your prayer routine as well. If you know the days will be long, plan to get some prayer early in the day. This will help you be more peaceful and patience with others. Make sure to pack your favorite prayer book or download some spiritual reading for your phone or e-reader.

Find a Nearby Church – Masstimes.org is a great tool to find a Catholic Church near your place of travel. Maybe the parish nearby has an early Mass you could attend before work, or all day adoration that you could attend during lunch. Or maybe there is a great shrine close by that you could visit after work and say a quick prayer. Do your best to stay connected to the Catholic Church while travelling, as this is a great opportunity to experience the universality of the Church.

Listen to Catholic Talks on Your Drive or Flight – If you have a long drive for a business meeting, Lighthouse Catholic Talks can be a great companion to you. They offer both CDs and MP3s on a variety of topics, such as the Saints, the Bible, growth in virtue, conversion stories etc. that will surely help you grow in your faith. The Fulton Sheen App is another great source of Catholic material.

Unplug the TV in Your Hotel Room – After a long day at work, it can be easy to check in to the hotel, plop yourself down on the bed and zone out in front of the TV. Next thing you know, it is 11 PM and you haven’t prayed yet, checked in your with family back home or exercised. To avoid this, unplug the TV and remove the temptation to waste your limited free time on the road. Fill this time with prayer, exercise, sleep or reading instead.

Depending upon whom you are travelling with, not all of these tips may be applicable. You may have to travel with co-workers who are not Catholic and you are unable to listen to Catholic talks in the car or drive to a daily Mass. That is okay. The important thing to do is find different ways to keep up your relationship with Christ on the road, even if it is different than your normal routine.The important thing to do is continue to pray and stay close to God.

St. Brendan the Navigator, pray for us.

Bob Waruszewski is a cradle Catholic from Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from St. Vincent College with a bachelor’s degree in both mathematics and economics. Currently he works in the regulatory department for a natural gas distribution company in the Steel City and is enjoying life as a married man and father. He and his wife recently welcomed their first child. He enjoys playing sports, hiking and reading a good book. His favorite saint is St. Joseph.

May 5, 2014 By Bob Waruszewski 7 Comments

Catholic in the Cubicle, Part 4: Setting up Your Work Space

The following post is part of a series on living the Catholic faith in the workplace.

The layout of a space matters. Just look at the time companies spend designing their headquarters. From cube farms to wide open areas, offices are designed to create a particular culture at a company. You too can create a specific culture focused on Christ within your work space. Since a typical office worker spends more time in the cube than in the pew, it is important to structure this area to bring us closer to God. While our cube may not look like a cathedral, we can set it up as a place to encounter God. Here are a few suggestions of making your cube more Catholic.

A Daily Prayer to a Saint on Your Work Desk

Right next to my computer I have a plaque to St. Joseph the Worker which contains a prayer to begin the work day. I start every work day by praying that prayer to St. Joseph, asking him to help me to work well for the Lord that day. This helps me stay grounded and mindful that my work should be an offering to God. When I get into a tough problem, the plaque reminds me to ask St. Joseph to help me through the situation. I have experienced great power through his intercession and highly recommend praying to him in time of distress.

Turn Your Desktop Background into an Encounter with Christ

Instead of using the generic background on your desktop, add in a picture of Jesus, Mary, a Saint, or your favorite story from the Bible. If you want to be creative, you could change the background each liturgical season to remind you of what feast the Church is currently celebrating. That way, every time you close your program and return to the desktop, you are instantly drawn closer to Christ, instead of yellow tulips, goldfish or whatever picture currently graces your desktop.

Sticky Notes on the Laptop

Placing a quote from a saint or a Bible verse on a laptop is another great reminder. It just takes one glance down from the computer screen to that note to allow God to speak to you. While you may not have five minutes at work to read a meditation, you can take five seconds to read a quote that draws you back to Christ.

HR Policy and Religious Items

One company I used to work for had a policy of no religious items on the desk or on the cube wall, though I could have them in my desk drawer. I was rather frustrated when I was told to take my crucifix down in the name of inclusion and diversity. However, I became creative in the ways that I displayed my faith in the cube. I placed a couple of push pins on the wall in the outline of a cross. I kept my desk drawer open a crack so that I could see the crucifix inside it. If HR restricts your expression of the faith, find some creative alternatives. The early Christians used symbols like the fish to show their faith, why can’t we?

The possibilities of customizing your work space to focus on God are endless. In this season of Easter joy, find one thing that will remind you of that joy to place in your work space.

Bob Waruszewski is a cradle Catholic from Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from St. Vincent College with a bachelor’s degree in both mathematics and economics. Currently he works in the regulatory department for a natural gas distribution company in the Steel City and is enjoying life as a married man. In his free time, which will be cut dramatically when his wife gives birth in May, he enjoys playing sports, hiking and reading a good book. His favorite saint is St. Joseph.

March 15, 2014 By Sam Guzman 19 Comments

How to be Catholic in the Cubicle

The following is a guest post by Bob Waruszewski. It is the first in a series on sanctifying our work.

A few weeks ago, I was reading an excerpt about how a man chose to serve as a missionary on a college campus following graduation. He said that he decided to become a missionary because he wanted to something meaningful with his life and not just push papers in an office. As an office worker his story struck a chord with me and I began to wonder, Can you only be holy if you work for the Church? Are those who work in an office destined to live a life of mediocrity without meaning?

Upon further reflection, I realized that the various saints show us that holiness is possible in every state of life, even at the office cubicle. Maybe one day we will even have a patron saint for office workers. Yet until an office worker is canonized, I have offered a few suggestions in living out your faith at work.

Schedule Brief Times for Prayer at Work – I like to start my day with a prayer to St. Joseph, patron saint of workers. This helps me focus for the day and reminds me that my work should bring me closer to Christ. Other ways to pray could include saying the Angelus, grace before lunch, spiritual reading during lunch or a prayer of thanksgiving at the end of the day. While an office worker is not a monk, and should not attempt to pray the whole Liturgy of the Hours during work, we should aside a few moments each day to communicate with God as we go about our work.

Offer Up the Annoyances of Cube Life for the Souls in Purgatory – Cube life has little privacy. The habits of our co-workers such as loud talking on the phone, barging into your cubicle without permission, or crinkling open a bag of chips can be rather annoying. However, whatever irritations you encounter, treat them as opportunities to grow in patience and offer them up to Christ for the souls in purgatory who are suffering much greater than any irritations at the office.

Contribute Financially to the Needs of the Church – If God has blessed you with a well-paying job, then one of the easiest ways to serve Him is to support the different ministries of the Church. Maybe you can’t do a year of service in Jamaica or work full-time at the soup kitchen because of your office job, but you can support full-time missionaries and religious of the Church. By financially supporting charities and religious, our work can take on a new dimension. Not only are we providing for our needs and those of our family, but also for the needs of the Church at home and abroad. Even if our work does not always appear to be meaningful, we can take solace in the fact that a part of our labor is sponsoring people serve the needs of Christ around the world.

These three ideas only scratch the surface of ways to grow closer to Christ through our work. As we approach Lent, consider new ways to become holy, especially at the office. Remember that in our work, “Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others” (Colossians 3:23)