Posted November 29, 2012 Book: Loving Work: A spiritual guide to finding the work we love and bringing love to the work we do Author: Mike Hayes Orbis Books. Maryknoll, NY. 2012. pp. 120 An Excerpt from the Preface: This book is based on developing a spirituality of love. This love is based in passion not merely for what you do as a career, but also, and primarily, for who you are --- who God has designed you to become with your own unique gifts and talents. The title has two meanings, Loving work could refer to a passion one has for his or her career. I certainly love my work as a campus minister, spiritual director, and marriage minister in the Catholic Church. I firmly believe that we all can find work that we truly love, if we are willing to take some risks and perhaps even be a bit patient in developing that career. But the larger question is whether the work we do is loving. Does our work express how much love we have for the world in which we live? Can we pinpoint how we make a contribution and how that contribution is based on a passion that only we alone may have? That’s work that’s worth doing. And it will make you feel like you are not only on vacation every day. Rather, it will literally make you feel like yourself. And that’s who God has called you to be anyway. An Excerpt from the Book: We are called to be people of passion. Imagine how you’d be if you woke up and realized that you were going to be doing something that you are truly passionate about. How would you express yourself? How would you act? Wouldn’t that be exciting? Sometimes that passion can be best expressed in the workplace, and sometimes it’s best expressed outside your career. Sometimes your passion is directly linked up with your job, as my job in ministry is. Living out who you are may best be expressed at home with your family, or with friends, or in your community. Regardless, that expression is your true self --- it is how you express the person you’re called to be. You might be able to make that into the way you make your living, but that’s not the point. You need to be this person, paid or volunteer. And even when you fight against it, it creeps up on you, haunting you, calling your name, waking you up in the middle of the night. Table of Contents: Is something missing? Who am I? If you could be anything Building a relationship with God Where should I work? Leaping over pitfalls