The Prayer for When You’re Dreading Going Back to Work

"The vacation is over, the inbox has multiplied, and you've forgotten your password. A little divine assistance may be in order." And invoke St Joseph, Patron of Workers!

From Aleteia

By Cerith Gardiner

The vacation is over, the inbox has multiplied, and you've forgotten your password. A little divine assistance may be in order.

There comes a moment towards the end of every vacation when work starts creeping back into your thoughts. You might be lying beside a pool, walking along a beach or finishing an extremely leisurely lunch when suddenly you remember: your inbox exists. And not only does it exist, it is starting to overflow in your absence.

Soon there will be alarms again. Shoes that require socks. Passwords you've completely forgotten. A colleague asking, "Good vacation?" approximately 14 seconds after you've walked through the door, when you're still trying to remember where to find your desk.

Even if you like your job, returning after a proper break can feel surprisingly daunting. The freedom of vacation disappears overnight and all those responsibilities we successfully forgot about come marching back into view. If work is already difficult — perhaps you're unhappy there, overwhelmed, worried about a colleague or simply exhausted by what your job asks of you — that last Sunday evening can feel heavier still. So this is exactly the sort of moment when a prayer can help.

Not just any regular prayer, or even a prayer asking God to make us excited about Monday morning -- that may be beyond even divine intervention at 6:30 a.m. Rather, you can ask for the grace to return well: to have patience with the people who immediately need things from you, energy for the work waiting on your desks, wisdom about the problems you left behind, and enough perspective not to let 643 unread emails convince you that civilization has collapsed.

A prayer before returning to work

Lord,

Thank you for the time I have had to rest,
for the people I spent it with,
and for the moments when work felt wonderfully far away.

Now, as I return, help me not to carry tomorrow's worries before tomorrow arrives.
Give me energy for what needs doing,
patience with the people I meet,
and wisdom to know what truly matters.

When the workload feels overwhelming, help me take one thing at a time.
When I am frustrated, guard my words.
When I feel unnoticed, remind me that the value of my work is not measured only by who praises it.

And when things go wrong, give me enough humor not to make every small disaster enormous.
Help me remember that my work is part of my life, but it is not the whole of my life.
May I do it honestly, generously and well, while keeping space in my heart for the people and things
that matter beyond it.

Walk through the door with me on that first morning back.
And, if possible, Lord, let me remember my password.

Amen.

Finally, there's a temptation after vacation to believe we need to return transformed: more organized, more productive, finally on top of everything. By Tuesday afternoon, reality generally intervenes. A gentler goal might be simply to return present.

St. Joseph, who spent so much of his life doing ordinary work without applause or recognition, is a particularly good companion here. His work mattered because of the love and responsibility with which he did it, not because every day in the workshop was thrilling. Most of us could probably say the same.

Work will still be work. The commute won't get any shorter, those emails will eventually need answering, and as for the flurry of essential meetings waiting to be scheduled, well, that's a whole other article!