By Tom Venzor
“It is appropriate, therefore,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor, “that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership—the American worker.” While I wish to take away nothing from the real sense in which this statement is true, there is another sense in which this statement is lacking: the recognition of the Ultimate Creator, God, who has bestowed upon man the dignity of work.
As we enter into the Labor Day weekend, it is fitting that we take a moment to ponder the deeper philosophical and theological foundations of work. Such an opportunity allows us to more fully understand work—to see work not only as a toil and suffering that has accompanied man from the beginning of history, but also as a creative activity that provides for the blessings and flourishing of human life.
Defining Work. In his encyclical, Laborem Exercens, Pope Saint John Paul II defined work as “any activity by man, whether manual or intellectual, whatever its nature or circumstances; it means any human activity that can and must be recognized as work, in the midst of all the many activities of which man is capable and to which he is predisposed by his very nature, by virtue of human itself.” This definition of work captures the ordinary sense by which work can be defined.
But the Holy Father also provided another definition that captured the ethical sense of work. Work is an activity that “corresponds to man’s dignity, that expresses this dignity and increases it.... Work is a good thing for man—a good thing for his humanity—because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human and indeed, in a sense, becomes ‘more a human being.’”
Through these two senses of work—the ordinary and the ethical—JPII provides the foundations for seeing work as an activity which is fundamental to the human person. It is an activity that directs the human person toward his or her fulfillment, as well as the fulfillment of the family and the larger society (e.g., city, state, nation, world). In all of this, work even helps the human person in their ultimate destiny toward the Creator—the very Creator Who, in the garden, tasked man with the responsibility to subdue and exercise dominion over the earth.
Ora et Labora. Later in his encyclical, JPII focuses a dimension of work that is often forgotten, especially in the busy-ness of day-to-day living. The dimension he focuses on is the integration of work and spirituality. JPII notes that “an inner effort on the part of the human spirit, guided by faith, hope and charity, is needed in order that through these points the work of the individual human being may be given meaning which it has in the eyes of God and by means of which work enters into the salvation process on a par with the other ordinary yet particularly important components of its texture.” This inner effort forms the spirituality of work that allows the human person to enter more closely into union with the Creator and Redeemer.
But, again, because work is not only an activity for the individual human person alone but also an activity that is directed toward the other (that is, my neighbor, to whom God calls me to charity), the spirituality of work should lead the human person to “assist one another to live holier lives” as is stated in the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution, Lumen Gentium.
In this regard, work is meant to be intimately connected to prayer. We are to live lives of work and prayer (ora et labora, as stated by the great Benedictine monastic tradition).
Work Transforms Culture. Properly understood, work also becomes an opportunity for a transformation of the culture. And, by transforming our culture the realm of politics is inevitably transformed. Such cultural and political transformations generate in societies the justice and peace necessary for families to thrive, for the needy and vulnerable to be cared for, and for the immigrant to be properly welcomed. May this understanding of work permeate our hearts this Labor Day weekend—and may it ignite in our souls a greater desire for virtue and prayer in the workplace.
