Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this past week, I conducted a seminar for the elementary school principals of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois. During one of the breaks, one principal came up to me and thanked me for focusing the group upon the importance of building Catholic school identity and crucial role that principals play in promoting it among faculty, students, and parents. I spoke, too, about how important this was for the future of the Church and for strengthening Catholic families.

Prior to visiting with her, I had noticed this particular principal during my presentations. She stood out from the crowd of nearly sixty other principals. First, she appeared a little bit too youthful to be a principal. Principals are supposed to be old and mean; at least, that’s how I remember them. Second, it was impossible to miss her outgoing personality and the way she engaged people in conversation and joshing. The principals I remember were cold, distant, and stern. Third, she was very intent on what I was saying throughout the seminar. She didn’t just listen as some were; I could see her also taking it all in and pondering it.

"So," I asked after she complimented me, "why did you decide to be a Catholic school principal?" Her story impressed me because it spoke so eloquently about what work really is all about and what it means for Jesus’ disciples to be "salt of the earth" and "light for the world."

This woman grew up in a working class family but her parents were able to save enough money to send their children to Catholic school. She always wanted to be a teacher, but it was sometime during her high school years that she realized the profound impression her teachers had made upon her. Knowing that Catholic school teachers didn’t make much money and didn’t sport the latest designer fashions and flashy automobiles, she decided to observe her teachers more keenly to see what had made this distinct impression her. After surveying them for a while, this woman detected that her teachers possessed a true and abiding happiness.  This was despite not having all of the toys, gadgets, and trinkets that people commonly associate with happiness. This, she decided, is what she wanted in life, namely, the true and abiding happiness that comes from working in a way that is of service to others.

Following high school, since this woman couldn’t afford to go to a Catholic college or university, she attended a state university, majoring in elementary education. Then, after graduation and with her teacher's certificate in hand, she started her job search. Her plan was to teach in the public system until she could stash enough cash away to afford to teach in a Catholic school. But, with no openings in the several nearby public school districts, she accepted a position in a parochial school.

(As an aside, I had a student in the principal’s certification program at Villanova in the early 1990s who was teaching and continues to teach in a local public school district. His desire is to be a Catholic school principal but he can’t afford to, especially if and when he gets married and has a family. So he plans to teach in this public school district until he earns his pension. Then, he will set about doing what he really wants to do in life. That is, to be principal of a Catholic school.)

It was one day during this woman’s third or fourth year of teaching---as it turned out, she really liked the school and the kids and had decided to put off transferring to a public school for a while---the pastor tapped her on the shoulder following a school mass. He asked her whether she had thought about getting a principal’s certificate and being principal of a Catholic elementary school. As it turned out, she hadn’t given the matter any thought because she enjoyed teaching so much. "Well," the pastor said, "I think you’ve got what it takes. You’d be an excellent principal."

The pastor’s inquiry unleashed some big questions that this woman found herself needing to answer. "What did the pastor see in me that I hadn’t seen?" was one question. "What about teaching, which is what I really love?" was another question. The real big question was: "How would I pay for it?"

As she wrestled with these questions, the seed of the desire to become a Catholic school principal planted by the pastor started to germinate. And, after six months, this woman decided to earn a Master’s degree in educational administration and principal’s certificate. Why? Because she decided that she could do the work---even if it meant leaving behind her work as a teacher, which she found so meaningful---and, at the same time, to make a difference in people’s lives. Leading the students, teachers, and parents to form a Catholic faith community where the kids would experience everything she experienced in Catholic school and to make it a part of their lives proved to be a very strong motivator.

I’d assert, however, that this vision was not a psychological motivator. I believe it was a spiritual motivator, namely, the Spirit of God beckoning this woman to offer her work as a pure and holy offering to God and, through it, to allow her work give fuller expression to her vocation as one of Jesus' disciples. In her school, she would manifest God’s presence and love to others by serving them.

Her decision didn’t come without its share of roadblocks. The biggest roadblock was how to finance her educational program. Since the pastor---whose idea it was for her to study to be a principal in the first place---wasn’t willing to pay her tuition, this woman had to take a part-time job to earn the money it would take for her to attend the local public university. She was smart enough, too, to recognize that a Catholic school principal’s salary wouldn’t be sufficient to pay off an educational loan, so she avoided borrowing money for her degree and certificate program so as not to be indebted for years to come.

Two years later, this woman graduated with her Master’s degree in educational administration and a principal’s certificate. She’s now served as a Catholic school principal for five years and, she told me, she’s never been happier in her life. She loves to go to work every day and, based solely upon my observation of her at the seminar, I’d guess that practically everyone---her students, teachers, and parents---sees this quality in her and is very much infected by her spirit. The superintendent confirmed much of my observation when we spoke. The superintendent said this woman is "the brightest light for the future of Catholic education in the diocese."

I’ve taken a bit of time to relate this woman’s story because it stands in such stark contrast to so many other sad stories people have related to me over the years. In contrast to the joy and meaning this woman derives from her work, I’ve heard countless upon countless stories of people---some in our own parish---who absolutely dread going to work. Despite the fact they are paid very well for what they do and possess all of the toys, gadgets, and trinkets to prove their earning power, these people simply and absolutely dread their work. It’s not because they don’t want to work. Instead, these people tell me, they experience nothing but sheer and utter meaninglessness in their work day in and day out, week in and week out, and year in and year out. For them, work resembles a feast where the food hasn’t been spiced and its served in a room with no light…the food’s tasteless and darkness abounds.

What do these people look like?

These people are they’re the lawyers who grind away at the bar plying their trade, suing some parties while protecting others from law suits. How blessed these women and men would be if they would dedicate their time, talent, and treasure to advancing the cause of God’s justice where there is none to be found.

These people are the doctors who’ve dedicated themselves to promoting their patients’ health but now find themselves enslaved to HMOs and their rules and regulations. How blessed these women and men would be if they offered the divine gift of healing entrusted to them to the sick who have no insurance.

These people are the teachers who capably provide instruction so that their students pass standardized achievement tests. But, incapable of educating their students’ moral sensibilities because union and school district policies won’t tolerate it, how blessed these women and men would be if they taught in schools where they could challenge their students to seek holiness and to pursue its narrow pathway in their lives.

These people are the women and men who go to work each business day to earn money to pay the bills that keep piling up and to put away a little "nest egg" for the future. How blessed these people would be if they worked instead to contribute something of enduring value to the world.

And, what happens to these people?

One day, after many years of toil---and that’s what it really is because there’s no joy or meaning to be found in their work---these people wake up feeling restless, irritable, agitated, and depressed. If they'd pursue the root cause of these feelings, they might conclude that they’re suffering from "mid-life crisis," as psychologists call it.

But, in light of today’s gospel, I’d assert a different cause. These people are suffering from a self-chosen and debilitating spiritual disease now evident in their restlessness, irritability, agitation, and depression. That spiritual disease is the inevitable consequence of having chosen to make work a means to an end rather an end in itself.

Now, what does that mean?

Simply put, people suffering from this spiritual disease have viewed their work not as a vocation through which they can manifest God’s presence and love to others. Instead, they have viewed their work as a means for making money sand being able to get all of "the good things in life." Then, after having worked so hard for all of these years, these people wake up one day only to discover the sad fact that all of these toys, trinkets, and gadgets have nothing to do with true and abiding happiness. And now, a gaping wound---an ulcer, if you will---is sapping the strength of their soul and an infection is setting in, one having the potential to destroy their hope, their marriages, and their families, too.

"You are the salt of the earth," Jesus tells his disciples. You are the "spice" that brings out the real flavor of life for yourself and those around you. "You are the light of the world," Jesus also tells his disciples. The purpose of a lamp is not to be seen but to "give light to all in the house." As Jesus’ disciples, we are that light; not a light to be noticed but one that makes God’s presence and love visible in the world’s darkness. And, for most of Jesus' disciples, the workplace is perhaps the most important place where they can make God's presence and love manifest.

Now while this homily may sound like as if it’s directed solely at parents and the need to reconsider whether their work is "salt" and "light" for the world---and it is---my thoughts are primarily directed at the teenagers and young adults in the congregation.

You see your parents go to work. You hear your parents grousing about their frustrations with work. You find yourselves wondering why anybody would put up with what your parents do. And, you desire to do something more meaningful with your lives.

This July, World Youth Day is going to be held in Toronto. More than five hundred thousand Catholic teenagers and young adults from over 70 countries are expected to attend this important gathering. This World Youth Day is being designed to enable young Catholics to contemplate how they can discover true and abiding happiness in their lives by using their time, talent, and treasure to meet the challenges that they will face in the 21st century as Jesus’ disciples. Consideration will be given to the challenges presented by bioethics, globalization, freedom, and peace as well as proper relations between the sexes which is the sure foundation for Jesus' disciples to strengthen authentic family life.

For participants in previous World Youth Days, the events have proven to be a powerful experience of discipleship and Church. For Pope John Paul II who pressed for these events, the World Youth Day celebrations have created a "revolution" within the Church as youth listen to, ruminate over, and allow the Pope’s exacting words to challenge them to grow as Jesus’ disciples. The revolution caused by 1993 World Youth Day in Denver is very much evident in the Catholic youth who attended the event and today, as young adults, find meaning and purpose in their Catholic faith. These women and men are endeavoring---perhaps more than some of their parents ever have---to put their faith into practice not only in the lives as spouses and parents but also as they witness to the Catholic faith in their workplaces.

The theme of this World Youth Day is "You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world," a theme suggesting that there is much that you will be able to accomplish in the not so distant future if you offer God your time, talent, and treasure. "Your light must shine before others," Jesus said to his disciples, "then they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."

To those of you who are searching for true and abiding happiness, never forget that it is entirely within your grasp to transform ordinary work into a divine vocation by letting what you do become a fuller expression of your baptismal and commitment reaffirmed when you asked to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. To witness to the gospel and the Catholic faith, you will not need, as St. Paul said in today's epistle, "persuasive words of wisdom." No, what you will need is "a demonstration of Spirit and power." You will have this as you respond to God’s promptings in your life and return the fruit of your work, like Abel did, as a pure and holy offering. And, if you do, you will never experience a "mid-life crisis" only the true and abiding peace that comes from fulfilling one's commitment to Christ and the Church.

Like the elementary school principal I spoke about earlier, observe other people carefully. See what stirs up your hope and interest. Seek that which promises true and abiding happiness. Don’t fall for any illusory form of happiness. And, above all, don’t be afraid, even if following that pathway means that you will not possess all of the toys, gadgets, and trinkets commonly associated with happiness.