The Beautiful Work - by Tim Joy (Paperback)

About the Book

The Beautiful Work follows the staff of a Catholic high school in its unceasing work and worroes, depicting their daily efforts as a sacred calling.

Book Synopsis

The Beautiful Work: Contemplation On Why We Teach is a spiritual correspondence between the staff of De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon, and the writings of St. John Baptist de La Salle, the Patron Saint of Teaching. Drawing from his experience as Principal and Director of Mission, Tim Joy weaves day-to-day high school moments in his weekly Sunday night emails to his staff, along with imagined visitations from the pivotal life of John Baptist de La Salle. In the long arc of a single school year, the staff's unceasing work among students emerges as a consequential moral act.

The Beautiful Work is a direct message from the mission field of education to amplify the vital nature of the profession, to elevate the dignity of all those who work in schools, and to restore the work as a sacred enterprise requiring adults to submit to their calling and embrace its grave and transcendent responsibilities.

Review Quotes

Mary Fox, Professor Emerita at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, AFSC

• Tim has created an excellent means of Lasallian accompaniment for us all, even when - perhaps especially when - we feel we are walking alone. The quotations and reflections gathered here provide succinct yet meaningful points of departure with which to begin or end our days. Highly recommend!

Thomas Groome, author What Makes Education Catholic, Professor of Theology and Religious Education at Boston College

• Truly a lovely and inspiring work. Only a spiritual grounding can sustain education for what it is meant to be - Beautiful Work. Tim Joy's book offers such a resource.

Tom Southard, Executive Director Christian Brothers Conference, RELAN

• The Beautiful Work reveals how teachers - in the light of faith - can see the ordinary as sacred, where teaching is not merely a profession but a calling, a vocation, and a prayer. Tim's messages will inspire teachers to persevere in the ceaseless, beautiful work entrusted to us.

Susan Hines, Vice President for Student Affairs, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

• Tim Joy brings John Baptist de La Salle's meditations into clear focus through the daily realities of school life. His reflections show how Lasallian spirituality comes alive in the small, ordinary moments of teaching and leading. The Beautiful Work is thoughtful, honest, and deeply rooted in the experience of a principal who understands both the challenges and the grace of educating students-and why teaching truly matters.