Salami, Guardini, and the Glory of God

A few nights ago, God spoke to me in a dream. 

Wait, stop. Please don’t run away screaming for deliverance from yet another wanna-be visionary. I am not. I was only going for a provocative opening line.

At least hear me out as I explain the dream. 

There wasn’t much to it really; in the realm of impressively interesting, frightening, or absurd dreams, it would be easily outdone. I was sitting at a table, while a man, presumably my host for lunch, was making sandwiches. As he made them, he exuberantly explained the process to me and another guest. He was excitedly explaining how to find the best meat-fruit pairings. As I recall, he was especially fond of his salami and grape combination, as well as a turkey and melon sandwich. (It was a dream, okay? Don’t try this at home.) This man’s total devotion to and enthusiasm for his task was surprising; after all, they were only sandwiches. 

For some reason, upon waking, the dream stuck with me. I mused over it and turned it around in my head, wondering why it had left me with such a strong impression. Even after getting home from Mass, it was still there. And then, as I scrubbed breakfast dishes, 1 Corinthians 10:31 started running through my mind. I muttered the words almost subconsciously:“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” And suddenly, I thought, “could that be it?” Perhaps the sandwich man in my dreams had made such a great impression on me because he was exemplifying how a Christian should have a certain joyful seriousness in any task he undertakes. When we do all we do for the glory of God, we ought to show devotion to each task our state in life presents to us, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem. And if we are truly doing it for the glory of God, this devotion will not manifest itself in a miserable drudgery, but rather in a joy-filled enthusiasm and delight. 

Romano Guardini, writing of the virtue of unselfishness in Learning the Virtues that lead you to God says: 

“A man may have a task to do, something demanded by his vocation. He can do it with his eye upon himself, upon the impression he will make upon others, the advantages which will accrue to him, and so on. If that is the case, he has been seeking himself in his work. As far as the work is concerned, it has probably been done badly, or at least not as well as it might have been. And that upon which his eye was fixed, his self, has not fared very well in the process; for keeping our eyes upon ourself makes us crooked, and paying attention to the impression produced deprives us of genuineness. To be unselfish here would mean as much as to be objective, to fix one’s attention upon the task and not think of oneself; to do the work correctly and properly, as it should be done. Then the work flourishes, for the person doing it is concerned with the task, not with his vain self. In addition [...] such an attitude produces a singularly free mental area in which the person really becomes himself.”

An area in which the person really becomes himself! It is when we do what we do well and without self interest – in other words, for the glory of God – that we can truly become ourselves. 

Guardini continues:

“As soon as the person fixes his eye upon himself, he fills the mental space, so to speak, in which a portion of life is to take place; he gets in the way of his own realization. But if he forgets himself and turns his attention simply to the matter in hand, the space opens out, and now the person truly becomes himself.”

How many of us forget to do all that we do for the glory of God. Sometimes we are dangerously self-centered, doing things for our own glory, and end up, as Guardini described, doing things poorly, and in the meantime becoming “crooked.” Or else, we write off the small duties of our state in life as unimportant; then, we not only lose a chance at growing in holiness, but also forget that God calls us to the present moment, to do what is presented to us right now, and to do it well – for His glory! 

So, during these remaining days of Lent and beyond, let’s try to 1) do all we do for the glory of God 2) take joy in our duties 3) do everything well, to the best of our abilities and 4) remember to never serve anyone a salami and grape sandwich.