Being A Credible Witness in the Workplace
Peter Buckley and Mark O'Donnell open a new series turning to the Acts of the Apostles for lessons on being faithful, credible witnesses in the workplace. Drawing on the Ascension, Pentecost, and the early Church, Mark shows how ordinary professional life — done with excellence, integrity, and openness to the Holy Spirit — becomes the primary altar of a layperson's sanctification and evangelization.
Notes
- Don't confuse holiness with disengagement. Most lay Catholics aren't called to a vocation that separates them from the world — the office, classroom, hospital, or kitchen table is the primary place where faith gets lived.
- Work itself is the altar of sanctification. The first step is excellence at your craft — be a great dentist, teacher, mechanic, salesperson — because doing hard work well is what forces the virtues of patience, attentiveness, truthfulness, and sacrifice.
- Concrete daily offering: take 30 seconds before opening your laptop to say "Lord, I offer you this work," and keep a list of 5-10 names of people (especially the spiritually sick) you're praying for nearby.
- The apostles replacing Judas with Matthias is a model of professional integrity — clean up miscommunications, fix bad handoffs, clarify roles, apologize where you've contributed to tension, and rebuild trust.
- Three practical ways to make room for the Holy Spirit: start the day with a gospel passage or saint of the day, take silent 30-second pauses between meetings ("Speak Lord, your servant is listening"), and do a brief end-of-workday examen.
- Distinguishing impulse from inspiration: real inspiration leads toward faith, hope, and love rather than ego or anxiety; it comes with a quiet firmness, and it stays compatible with your duties of state — it won't ask you to be irresponsible.
- You don't need an impressive résumé to evangelize — Peter was an uneducated fisherman. Credibility comes from prayer, consistency, competence, humility, and visible charity; if you're praying for colleagues, the conversations come up naturally and you let them lead with questions.
- The lay person's call is to work, not necessarily to start new ministries — that work is "enough raw material" to become a saint and to help others. Refuse self-isolation: mentor, collaborate, forgive, celebrate others' wins, and make room for those on the margins.