Labor, Not In Vain
A Labor Day Reflection for September 4, 2016
Based on Genesis 2:2, Exodus 23:12, Matthew 11:28, Luke 12:27By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM,
Mission Saints. Sergius & Bacchus
Order Franciscans of Mercy
www.missionstsergius.org
www.orderfranciscansofmercy.org
“Six days you are to do your work, but
on the seventh day you shall cease from labor
so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as
well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.”(Exodus
23:12) “On the seventh day God completed
His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work
which He had done.” (Genesis 2:2) “Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest”
(Matthew 11:28) "Consider the
lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even
Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these”(Luke
12:27)
Many passages in Holy Scripture refer to labor and/or
the need for people to rest from their labors.
On this Labor Day weekend, I felt compelled to examine how we look upon
labor and what we consider important to labor for.
At one time in my youth the only thing that people did
on a Sunday was go to church and spend time with family and friends. That was
before our society began the progression into materialism and greed that seems
to permeate our society today.
Today, even a national holiday that is supposed to
honor all who labor and a holiday that at one time almost every store was
closed to give the workers time off, we find the day turned over to Super Sales
and enticements to go shopping. The papers are filled with ‘Labor Day Sales”. The holiday that in many states in the US
since 1894 and finally in 1897 meant to give the average worker a day off, with
pay, to enjoy their family has turned into a day where people are required to
do the same old thing they do every day, work, work and more work.
Pope Francis
has made statements about the dignity of work and the need for every person to
have equal opportunity and fair wages.
Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to use an image,
"anoints" us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to
God, who has worked and still works, who always acts...
There is no worse material poverty, I am keen to stress, than the poverty
which prevents people from earning their bread and deprives them of the dignity
of work.
Where there is no work there is no dignity! ... [lack of work] is the result
of a global decision, of an economic system which leads to this tragedy; an
economic system centered on an idol called “money”.
In Exodus 23:12 God directs people to take time off to
rest, and in verse 16 God tells the Israelites “Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of
your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering
at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the
field.”
This is God’s instruction upon which the Labor Day
Holiday was based.
In addition to speaking on the dignity of work Pope Francis
has also spoken on how it is necessary as well for people to take time to rest
and take time to give thanks to God for their ability to work.
Responding to the question, “Do we need to rediscover the meaning
of leisure?” Pope Francis replied: “Together with a culture of work, there
must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people
who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy
themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. But this is being destroyed,
in large part, by the elimination of the Sabbath rest day. More and more people
work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer
society.” In such cases, he concludes, “work ends up dehumanizing people.”
On another occasion the Pope continued his thoughts on
the dignity of work and the necessity of taking time off for God, family and
rest. That is what this holiday we will be celebrating on Monday was intended
to do when it was established
The pope said; “ rest and celebration are part of the very
order of creation, “We recall the conclusion of the account of Creation…’And on
the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the
seventh day.’”
In
other words, Catholics believe in taking time off for rest, relaxation and
recreation, and what is recreation except
“re-creation”? The pope reminds us
that a day off or vacation is therefore not laziness or shirking from work. He
said; “A celebration is first of all a
loving and thankful look on work well done; we celebrate work…. a true time of
celebration halts professional work and is sacred, because it reminds man and
woman that they are made in the image of God, who is not a slave of work.”
While
encouraging the celebration of time off, the pope also reminds us that there
are many around the world who do not enjoy this simple right. “Millions of men
and women and even children that are slaves of work! In this time they are slaves, they are
exploited, slaves of work and this is against God and against the dignity of
the human person!”
While
work is good, The Pope Teaches; “ it is not everything. Greed drives us to
work without a break and to put ourselves and others at risk and leads to
terrible waste of human lives and resources. So he cries out, “Do we work for
this? The greed of consuming, which entails waste is an awful virus that, among
other things, in the end makes us feel more tired than before. It harms true
work and consumes life. The disorderly rhythms of a celebration create victims
— often young people.”
Instead,
life should be abundant and full of joy. We should take pride in our work and
be satisfied with a job well done. We should enjoy the financial benefits of
hard work and celebrate that prosperity with family and friends. Sunday is the
unique day when Christians should take time off work to celebrate positively
with family and friends.”
1. So in taking
the Popes thoughts and putting them into action, what we should be doing this
entire weekend is take time to give God thanks for the ability to work and then
take time to enjoy our family and friends as the holiday that, By the time it became an official
federal holiday in 1894, thirty
U.S. states officially celebrated Labor Day. Thus by 1887 in North America,
Labor Day was an established, official holiday meant to provide every employee
a day off with pay to enjoy their family and friends at the official end of
Summer.
Work is a necessity often mentioned throughout the Old
and New Testaments and worthy of dignity, equality in pay and decent working
conditions but like the old proverb say’s “All
work and no play makes Jack and Jill dull persons”
I have taken the liberty to make the proverb gender
neutral.
When we work hard for something we appreciate it more
than things that are handed to us, although we all appreciate unsolicited
gifts.
I hear so many excuses as to why someone is unable to
take time for God and go to church on Sunday or for that matter to even take
time daily to pray. We can find time to
watch television, listen to our I-Pod or send texts or post on Facebook every
place we go but we cannot take 20 minutes out of our day for God or an hour on
Sunday, the Sabbath day of rest, to gather together with our brothers and
sisters in Christ and offer God honor, praise and our offerings to Him and
receive in return God’s gift to us of the Bread of Life, The Eucharist.
We fail to reflect on what Luke 12:27 was trying to
teach us; “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they
neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his
glory clothed himself like one of these” The lesson is that if we have
faith and complete trust in God and if we acknowledge Him properly, He will
provide us with the necessities of life we need just as He does the birds of
the air and the fish of the sea and the flowers of the field.
Labor Day is a day to take time off from work and to
spend time with the greatest gifts God has given us, our family and friends and
to take time acknowledging and giving thanks to God for those things we have
been given.
Labor Day should not be a day to spend, spend, spend
and put ourselves further in debt but a time to take inventory of the heavenly
treasure we are storing up for ourselves and to evaluate what we might have to
do to increase that heavenly treasure.
On this Labor Day we also want to pray for all those
people who are unable to find work after being laid off from their previous employer,
and those who do not receive a fair living wage or are forced to work in
unsanitary and unsafe conditions. We need to pray for those are physically
unable to work because of illness or war or discrimination.
We need to be thankful that we have jobs to go to and
be thankful for the time off to enjoy our family and friends.
I will close with two passages we might reflect on
this Labor Day weekend, the first is from Psalms 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builder’s labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand
guard in vain” and the second is from 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Always give yourselves fully to the work of
the Lord, because you know that your labor
in the Lord is not in vain.”
May Almighty God bless all who labor to sustain
themselves and grant unto them just wages and fair, healthy and safe working
conditions and May we come to know love and thank God for the
gifts He has provided to us and his infinite mercy and love for us. AMEN
